Following a legal challenge at the Court of Appeal, by the campaign group Liberty, the court  announced that criminal record checks were not in line with Article 8 of the European Human Rights Act, where everyone is entitled to privacy in home, health and correspondence.  This follows cases where people applying for jobs had been refused work due to police cautions, some for old and minor offences, which showed up on their criminal record checks

Quoted in a news report the Home Office declared their intentions of taking the ruling to the Supreme Court. A spokesman for the Home Office said: “The protection of children and vulnerable groups must not be compromised. We are disappointed by this judgment and are seeking leave to appeal.”

Without a successful appeal the government will have to make amendments to the current Disclosure and Barring checks (which have recently replaced CRB checks) to make them compatible with the Human Rights Act.  What these changes would be and their likely impact on the protection of children and vulnerable people has not been detailed.

A DBS check is a new term, which has appeared recently.  It has come about from the recent merger (1 December  2012) of the Criminal Records Bureau and the Independent Safeguarding Authority to form the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).   Essentially this means that there will be only one organisation dealing with checks and barring decisions.  So a DBS check is just a CRB check under a new name.

From early 2013, thousands of volunteers and employees will no longer have to apply for a new criminal records check each time they apply for a job.  Instead they will only have to apply once to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for a certificate which can then be checked online to find out whether it is still up to date.

This will avoid the need for individuals to apply for multiple checks to work with different organisations.  Volunteers will be able to use the service for free when they apply for different volunteering opportunities.  For paid employees there will be a small annual subscription fee, which will be less than the cost of a new criminal record check.

The change to the current system will speed up the recruitment process for public and private sector employers, saving organisations time and money and making it easier for people to change jobs in the same sector (i.e. the NHS) while ensuring robust safeguarding measures are in place.

Among those who will benefit from the new service are agency workers who may register with a number of employment agencies looking for work, junior and locum doctors who would have previously had to apply for a new check every time they move hospital and volunteers who work with more than one organisation.

On 1st December 2012 the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) merged with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) under a new name of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).  DBS was established under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and is a Non-Departmental Public Body Sponsored by the Home Office.

The DBS will be responsible for the Vetting and Barring Scheme in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and for Disclosures (criminal records checks) in England and Wales. AccessNI will continue to check criminal records in Northern Ireland and Scotland will be unaffected by the merger.

As a result of the changes, CRB checks will now be known as DBS checks and the documentation will be rebranded accordingly.

A recent survey by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found that more than 200 companies in England who employ staff to provide social care to vulnerable people in their own homes have hired staff who do not have sufficient appropriate qualifications for the jobs they are required to do.

It also found that eight companies in the Midlands hadn’t carried out any Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks on staff and one firm was found to be employing staff who had 23 workers with criminal convictions which included assault and theft.

The Department of Health has expressed concern but said that individual companies have a responsibility to employ suitable staff.

The Care Minister, Norman Lamb, said that the survey is deeply concerning and the organisations concerned need to be held to account by the CQC as there are stringent rules concerning the employment of social care workers.

Two major changes have been implemented in September by the CRB:

• Checking Process changes started on the 1st September 2012, with new lists of acceptable ID documents and new guidance on CRB checks being brought into force. The CRB say these changes are to help improve public protection of vulnerable adults and children. The strengthening of the ID checking process should mean a decrease in individuals being able to conceal criminal records by hiding name changes. For the full details on the new ID Checking process please click here
• Disclosure and barring scheme changes came into effect on 10th September 2012. These include a scaling back on which positions now require and qualify for a CRB check.  These changes include: a new definition of regulated activity, which has been changed to focus on work involving close and unsupervised contact with vulnerable groups including children;  the removal of  the term and category of controlled activity, thereby unless a person has a role involving a regulated activity they will no longer be eligible for a CRB check; a new minimum age (16) at which someone can apply for a CRB check; and  more rigorous ‘relevancy’ test for when the police release information held locally on an enhanced CRB check.  Full details on the changes to the Disclosure and Barring scheme are available here

The coalition government has been committed to reviewing and reforming the CRB vetting and barring processes in order to give them a more common sense approach. The culmination of the review has led to changes coming into force today.

The key changes are:

- abolishing registration and monitoring requirements
- redefining the scope of ‘regulated activities’
- abolishing ‘controlled activities.

At the ChildProtectionCompany.com we work alongside Disclosure Services for all our CRB needs. For further information or guidance, please contact them.

The Criminal Records Bureau’s fees for criminal record checks are:

Standard – £26
Enhanced – £44
Volunteers – Free of charge.

Disclosure Services (partner to ChildProtectionCompany.com) online fees for processing your online CRB are just £5 for volunteers and £10 for employed persons, although these figures may reduce with sufficient volume.

ChildProtectionCompany.com has a partnership with Disclosure Services in order to provide a fast and efficient criminal record check processing service. This can be done either on-line or in paper form. The online average for a Standard level CRB check is one day or for an Enhanced level CRB check, 6 days.

Do you have any questions about CRB Checks?  If so, have a look at our new CRB checks frequently asked questions page.

If you can’t find your answer there, please do let us know and we’ll find an answer for you.