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New vetting & barring scheme - key milestone approaches
8 October 2009
The Government’s new Vetting and Barring Scheme is officially
launched on Monday 12 October 2009, introducing criminal offences
for failing to comply with the scheme.
The changes to the current system of vetting and barring come on
the back of Sir Michael Bichard’s report into the Soham murders,
and will impact upon those who work with children and vulnerable
adults.
The legal foundations for the new system were laid in 2006 with
the passing of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, but since
then the timetable for implementation of the new system has been
subject to a succession of delays. The system will become fully
operational in July 2010, with the full range of sanctions for
non-compliance being applicable from November 2010.
However, as of Monday 12 October 2009, the
following will be in place:
- It becomes a criminal offence for a barred individual to seek
work, or undertake work with children or vulnerable adults
- It becomes a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly
engage a barred person, whether as a paid employee or as a
volunteer
- A new legal duty is placed upon all employers whose business
involves children or vulnerable adults to give full details to the
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) if someone within their
business acts in a way that suggests they should not be working
with children or vulnerable adults. Typically an employer will have
dismissed this individual following an investigation, and it will
need to pass on much of the information generated by that
investigation to the ISA
- The ISA will administer two new barring lists, in place of the
current Protection of Vulnerable Adults (PoVA) list, Protection of
Children Act (PoCA) list and List 99. As of Monday, there will be
one list for those barred from working with children, and one for
those barred from working with vulnerable adults
- Individuals who are on the barred lists will be prevented from
undertaking a much broader range of activities. They are barred
from any activity which falls within the statutory definition of
'Regulated Activity'
If you would like to discuss the full impact of these changes on
your business further, and what practical steps you might want to
take, please call our team who would be happy to talk you through
the changes.
talk to us
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