Changes to Disclosure and Barring Services Stephanie Parker

Workshop contents Brief history of vetting and barring The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 The changes on 10 September 2012, including the change in adults’ policy Criminal records checking and the Update Service The new Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) DBS and Shared Lives Plus Question and answer session Useful links

A brief history Coalition Government stated its intention in May 2010 to scale back criminal records checking, and barring regimes to more proportionate and common sense levels Government halted the delivery of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS), commissioned an internal review into the scheme and also an independent review of the criminal records regime These reviews informed the development of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 The Act provided the legislative vehicle to make the changes recommended by the reviews including: –Scrapping of registration with the ISA, and monitoring –Scaling back the barring regime to cover only those who have regular or close contact with vulnerable groups –The merging of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to form a single body to provide a new combined service –The ISA being given a power to review bars in appropriate circumstances –Enabling ‘portable’ criminal records checks with online updating

Changes on 10 th September New definition of ‘regulated activity’ (RA) for adults and children Repeal of registration & monitoring; controlled activity; and additional information Introduction of a minimum age (16) at which someone can apply for a criminal records check More rigorous relevancy test for local police information on an enhanced criminal records check, and a new right of review available for applicant Most people will be barred only if they have engaged, are engaging or might in the future engage in RA Greater powers for the ISA/DBS to review a person’s inclusion on a barred list

Changes to RA for adults VBS sought to define adults as vulnerable by using circumstances and personal characteristics DH wished to move away from this approach Focus should be on the ‘activity’ or ‘service’ that adults require, limiting RA to the activities that pose the greatest risk of abuse We are seeking to safeguard everyone who needs those ‘activities’ or ‘services’

RA from 10 th September Those providing: Healthcare Personal care Social work Assistance with cash, bills or shopping Assistance with the conduct of their own affairs Conveying services Now there is no ‘frequency test’ For a plain English guide to RA please follow: services-definition-of-regulated-activity /

Criminal records checks and the Update Service Eligibility for standard and enhanced checks will remain as it is currently Government is considering providing plain English guides to eligibility for standard and enhanced checks The Update Service is due early 2013 and will: –Be a subscriber service –Provide free instant online ‘status checks’ of an existing certificate for employers and voluntary organisations

The Disclosure and Barring Service The DBS will: –be a Non Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Home Office –take over the functions of both the ISA and the CRB from 1 st December 2012 –have a new chief executive, Adrienne Kelbie, former deputy chief executive of Hull City council –have a new chair, Bill Griffiths, who has held numerous board roles including chair of the forensic science service

DBS and Shared Lives Plus Processes –None of the planned changes will affect application processes, checks will still be done by LAs or Umbrella Bodies –From 1 st Dec 2012, all contact (for example about referrals or progress of applications for checks) will be with the DBS (Home Office will make contact details available in due course) Eligibility –for criminal records checks remains unchanged –for barred list checks has been scaled back

DBS and Shared Lives Plus Likely checking situation depending on activities: –Shared Lives carers – required by CQC to have enhanced criminal records check with barred list check –Family members – Shared Lives Schemes can do barred list checks on family members who live in the same household, no eligibility for criminal records checks –Support carers – likely to be eligible for enhanced criminal records checks and may be eligible for barred list checks as well. If the are eligible, CQC would expect the checks to be undertaken

Useful information Home Office website: and-barring queries to: CRB website: ISA website: DH note on regulated activity for adults: barring-services-definition-of-regulated-activity/ DfE note on regulated activity for children: ingchildren/a /disclosure-barring From 1 st December 2012 – new DBS website launched: - here you can sign up for updates