1. Who needs a CRB check?

The Criminal Records Bureau advises that CRB checks are conducted on all staff and volunteers involved with an organisation that have direct access to, or work directly with, children and young people. It is also important to remember that is you have a problem in your organisation and the relevant people within it have not been adequately checked, your organisation could be held legally liable.

2. How long does a CRB check take?

The Criminal Records Bureau aim to process 90% of Standard Disclosures within 10 days and 90% of Enhanced Disclosures within 4 weeks. However the time taken is dependent on whether the forms are properly checked and verified by the umbrella organisation you use.
A Standard CRB is only available for those who work in the financial and security sectors or are administrators for health organisations, such as receptionists.
An Enhanced CRB is required for people involved in the regular care, training or supervision of children and young people. Enhanced checks show current and “spent” convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National Computer.

3. How long does a CRB last?

CRB checks are only accurate up to the date of the check. Consequently it is good practice to carry out CRB checks on returning staff and volunteers who may have taken a break for 3 months or more.

For those working consistently with children and young people it is good practice to carry out a CRB check every 3 years. However this is an organisational decision that should derive from your annual risk assessment.

Which is better, online or face-to-face training?

It depends on your circumstances really. Face-to-face training allows the subject to be explored in more depth but then you must attend the course at a specific place and time. This may well involve you travelling to a venue with all the attendant costs and travel time.

As a general rule, face-to-face training courses also tend to be more expensive on a per person, per course basis. This makes online training the more cost-effective delivery method for learners who find it inconvenient to attend face-to-face training programmes.

However for organisations and groups purchasing online training courses, good online training providers will provide a set of online management tools so you can track the status of everyone’s online training and keep  central training record. Great when you get an unexpected inspection from Ofsted for example.

So it’s horses for courses really. At the ChildProtectionCompany.com we get round the problem by offering both training types. But that’s because we always put the needs of the user first.