Tag Archives: criminal records review

CRB fee increase

CRB has announced an £8 increase  for Enhanced Disclosures to £44.00, effective from 6th April 2011 .  The Standard CRB Check  (£26.00) and  ISA Adult First check  (£6.00) remain at existing prices and CRB checks will remain free of charge for volunteers .

The justification for the increase is a direct link to the Government’s decision to scale back the Vetting and Barring Scheme andwill fund the retained elements of the Scheme without the income which would have been raised through the £64 fee for registration.   This will cover the ISA’s budgeted costs of £17.1m per year – with the remaining money covering the other retained elements of the Scheme and contribute towards the development of the current criminal records regime, including portability.

Sunita Mason to conduct NI review

Sunita Mason, the Government’s Independent Advisor for Criminality Information Management, is reviewing the Criminal Records Regime in Northern Ireland and is seeking stakeholders opinions. 

The Northern Ireland Criminal Records Regime (NICRR) review will examine the use of the criminal record disclosure system for employment vetting in Northern Ireland to determine whether this is proportionate ,while still protecting the public and vulnerable groups.

 It will consider specific  aspects of AccessNI’s work ,  how criminal records are currently managed in Northern Ireland and consider whether there are any improvements that could be made.  The consultation will be open until 13 May.

Terms of Reference

Submissions to Consultation

Expert briefing – London 14th April

Following a number of enquiries, we are organising a briefing event in London on Thursday, 14th April with Simon Morrison, previously Head of Communications for the VBS , Mark Williams-Thomas,  a criminologist who is frequently interviewed in the media about child protection issues and Liz Morrison who led the VBS roadshow programme.  Continue reading Expert briefing – London 14th April

Reduced CRB regime announced

Details of the new Criminal Records regime will be announced today as part of the all encompassing Protection of Freedoms Bill.  Points that are likely to emerge  when it is published are:
  •  The need for checks to be drastically reduced to ‘common sense’ levels -now it will only apply to those who have the most close and regular contact with children or vulnerable adults, such as professional childcare workers or teachers.  The total number who will need to undergo background checks will halve to around 4.5million, although who this includes does not appear to have been defined judging from the  interview given by Nick Clegg his morning on BBC.  
  • Continual updating and portability will be enabled so that teachers and care home workers who do require checks will have their records constantly updated.  This is seen as a key benefit and was already planned in by CRB.
  • The content of CRBs will be reviewed  – for instance the changes will also drastically cut the use of ‘soft intelligence’ when examining a person’s history. Unproven allegations will only be placed on a person’s record if a Chief Constable believes they are true.
  • Checks that are unnecessary and which breach an employee’s privacy could be referred to the data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner, and any employer found knowingly to have requested an unlawful check could face fines running to thousands of pounds.  This will prevent the over zealous use of CRBs such as the school in Warrington that would not be allowed into the premises to see their children.
  • the Independent Safeguarding Authority will be merged with the Criminal Records Bureau. Continue reading Reduced CRB regime announced

CRB & ISA to merge into new body

An article in the Telegraph pre-empts the announcement about the results of the criminal records regime review by Sunita Mason and the parallel one into the Vetting & Barring Scheme. Headline: “An anti-paedophile vetting scheme that would have involved nine million adults will be ripped up next week in a major reworking of how background checks are conducted.” Continue reading CRB & ISA to merge into new body