1. DISCLOSURE CHECKS & COMPLIANCE
Latest Developments to Compass
Welcome
Welcome to everyone joining this webinar. Tonight’s presentation will be in 2 parts, the first is aimed at all volunteers, while the second part is aimed specifically at Commissioners. If you’re not a Commissioner, you’re welcome to stay for both parts, however you’ll find that part 2 is not relevant to your role as only Commissioners have the functions we’ll be talking about on Compass.
The purpose of this webinar is to reinforce and clarify the information that has already been published in a set of s during August and September. We hope that you will find that you are not receiving any fundamentally new information, but equally we hope that the webinar will clarify the processes around ensuring compliance with the relevant Disclosure processes.
Introductions
Hamish Stout – Regional Commissioner for the South West and lead volunteer on the Membership Information Programme.
Rachel Davidson – Membership Engagement Manager
Owen Ward – Volunteering Officer (Trustees), but has been working on this project for the past few months.
Q&A’s
Please feel free to post questions in the chat area. Any questions not answered here tonight will be passed onto the Scout Information Centre who will you the answer to your question over the next couple of days.

2. Why is safeguarding important?
To protect the young people in Scouting.
Disclosure Checks are an important part of The Scout Association’s Child Protection Policy.
Certain roles require Disclosure Checks by law – See “POR – The Appointment Process” chapter.
Why is safeguarding important?
Number 1 reason is to protect the young people who take part in Scouting and allowing them to do so in a safe environment.
The Scout Association has a vigorous vetting process, with Disclosure Checks being a one key element of the National Vetting Process.
Certain roles require a Disclosure Check by law as they are considered to be in regulated activity. The Appointment Process Chapter in Policy, Organisation & Rules has a table showing which roles require a Disclosure Check (in the table it is referred to as a Criminal Records check and it is the right hand column of the table).
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3. What’s changed?
Updates to the Disclosure tab on member records with more helpful statuses.
A new Disclosure Management Report has been created.
The creation of reminders
Improved synchronisation between Atlantic Data and Compass.
BUT NO CHANGE to the Disclosure Process
What’s Changed?
There’s been quite a lot of work on the back end of the system which will make processes easier and information clearer on Compass.
We’ve rolled out updates to Compass which you will have seen if you have looked at the Disclosure tab on a members record. The change will now mean that where as before Compass just said “Pending”, the status will now read the action that needs to be taken e.g. ‘ID check required’ or ‘Application form required’
For England and Wales we have improved the synchronisation between Compass and Atlantic Data – meaning that when a role is ended on Compass, it will remove the application from Atlantic Data.
A new report has been created to help manage the Disclosure Process. This is called the Disclosure Management Report and is available to Commissioners, Appointment Secretaries and Group Scout Leaders. Using the report you can drill down to a list of adults in your hierarchy who do not have a current Disclosure. Note that the previous Disclosure report is still useful for you to be able to plan forwards, because it enables you to see which Disclosures will expire in the next 90 or 180 days.
Compass has started to remind members when their Disclosure is about to expire. We’ll go into more detail about this later in the presentation.
It’s important to remember though that these improvements DO NOT change the Disclosure Process in anyway. We’ve only improved many of the rough edges of the process to try and make it as easy and pain free for you as possible.
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4. Changes to POR Chapter 2. 2.4 (j)
The District Commissioner or the County Commissioner, as appropriate, must be satisfied that all those whom they appoint are: (a) appropriate persons to carry out the responsibilities of the appointment, and
(b) if required, maintain a current valid disclosure.
They must ensure that all applicants demonstrate an understanding of and a commitment to the principles and procedures supporting the Association's Child Protection Policy.
2.4 (k)
Group Scout Leaders must be satisfied that all those whom they invite to assist them in the work of the Scout Group are:
appropriate persons to carry out the tasks to be given to them,
are aware of their responsibilities under the Association's Child Protection Policy and,
if required, maintain a current valid disclosure.
Changes to POR Chapter 2
Policy, Organisation & Rules has been updated over the summer. The main changes, relevant to this presentation are in Chapter 2 and Chapter 15. [Full details can be found online
In Chapter 2, I’d like to draw your attention to 2.4 (j) and 2.4 (k).
County and District Commissioners need to ensure local processes are in place so that Disclosures are submitted well before they are due to expire. We’ll look at the reminder s, which we have introduced to help with this, shortly.
Previous (j):
The District Commissioner or the County Commissioner, as appropriate, must be satisfied that all those whom they appoint are appropriate persons to carry out the responsibilities of the appointment. [(b) added in July]
They must ensure that all applicants demonstrate an understanding of and a commitment to the principles and procedures supporting the Association's Child Protection Policy.
Previous (k):
Group Scout Leaders must be satisfied that all those whom they invite to assist them in the work of the Scout Group are appropriate persons to carry out the tasks to be given to them and are aware of their responsibilities under the Association's Child Protection Policy. [(c) added in July]
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5. Changes to POR Chapter 15. 15.2 (b)
Suspension of any involvement in Scouting by a Member, Associate Member or a non-Member is an act intended to protect all persons involved. It assists to ensure that any investigation or inquiry proceeds in as fair and objective manner as possible by preventing situations arising which could give rise to further concerns/allegations or which could potentially cause further compromise. Suspension is permitted in the following circumstances:
[i – v]
vi. where an individual involved in Scouting requiring a Criminal Record Disclosure Check for their role in Scouting does not hold such a disclosure and a period of 30 days (where an electronic system is used) or 60 days (where a paper based system is used) has expired since one was held or required.
Changes to POR Chapter 15
In Chapter 15, the key change here is the clarification around Disclosure Checks under rule 15.2 (b).
Previous rule:
Suspension of Membership or Associate Membership is a neutral act intended to protect all persons involved. It assists to ensure that any investigation or inquiry proceeds in as fair and objective manner as possible by preventing situations arising which could give rise to further concerns/allegations or which could potentially cause further compromise. Suspension is permitted in the following circumstances
(vi) Is new
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6. ENGLAND, WALES & NATIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Timescales.
ENGLAND, WALES & NATIONAL APPOINTMENTS
30 days
NORTHERN IRELAND
30 days
SCOTLAND
60 days
BSO
60 days
Timescales
You will notice in the last rule we looked at, there were different timescales. This is to take into account postage times with the different processes in each Country.
In summary, currently:
England, Wales and National UK Appointments it’s 30 days.
For Northern Ireland it’s also 30 days.
For Scotland it’s 60 days.
And BSO is also 60 days.
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7. Email Reminders. 3 month reminder 2 month reminder 1 month reminder
One of the changes which has been introduced on Compass over the last few weeks are reminder s about expiring Disclosure Checks.
So let’s take a look at an existing volunteer…
3 months (90 days) before their disclosure is due to expire the volunteer, their line manager, the relevant Commissioner and Appointment Secretary will receive a reminder that it’s due to expire.
This is repeated on a monthly basis until a Disclosure Check is submitted, the role is closed on Compass or the Disclosure Check expires.
At this point in the process, Commissioners and Appointment Secretaries will receive a weekly summary list of volunteers whose Disclosure Checks are due to expire (rather than a separate per member).
For those in England and Wales, disclosure applications are able to be manually transferred in to Atlantic Data by clicking on the ‘Request New Disclosure’ button up to 6 months before their current disclosure expires. Compass will automatically transfer a new disclosure application to Atlantic Data 30 days before the current one expires if one has not already been started or completed.
Disclosure Expires
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8. Email reminders cont. A new volunteer joins Scouting
Disclosure Expires
A new volunteer joins Scouting
1 more week reminder
Commissioner must suspend
reminders cont.
When a Disclosure Check expires the volunteer, line manager, relevant Commissioner and Appointment Secretary will receive an alert.
The volunteer will have 30 days to submit a Disclosure Check. For volunteers in Scotland and British Scouting Overseas this is 60 days to take into account the time taken to post paper forms.
For new volunteers to Scouting, from this point on, the time scales and process is the same.
1 week before this 30 or 60 day deadline they will receive a further reminder.
If a Disclosure Check has still not been submitted or the role closed on Compass, by the time 30 days has passed, the relevant Commissioner will receive notification that the volunteer MUST be suspended.
If the suspension is not acted upon (or a Disclosure Check submitted, or the role closed on Compass) within a week, it will be escalated to the next relevant Commissioner. Again if nothing is done it is escalated again up the Scouting line management structure until the Country Commissioner is reached when UKHQ will suspend the volunteer.
It is worth stressing here, that at any point in this process, if a Disclosure Check is submitted (showing as ‘Application submitted – in progress’) or the role/s which require a disclosure are closed on Compass the reminder s will stop for that volunteer. It is not expected that many reminders will pass all the way through the process as there will be plenty of warning months before the Disclosure Check is due to expire.
Escalation to next Commissioner
UKHQ will Suspend
And to the next Commissioner
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9. If a volunteer leaves – end their role.
End roles that volunteers no longer do.
Accurate records will mean a reduced number of reminders will be sent.
If a volunteer leaves – end their role.
As just mentioned, ensuring that the records in Compass are kept accurate and up to date will reduce the number of reminders that will be sent out.
If a volunteer is no longer taking on a role, make sure the role is ended on Compass.
For Occasional Helpers recorded on Compass, it will almost always be better to end the role rather than to suspend. If the person needs a DBS in future it can easily be picked up at the point of need – e.g. during the preparations for the Group’s next Family Camp.
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10. Why is all this important?
To protect the young people in Scouting.
Disclosure Checks are an important part of The Scout Association’s Child Protection Policy.
Certain roles require Disclosure Checks by law – See “POR – The Appointment Process Chapter”
Why is all this important?
This is the same slide that we used at the start and is used here as a reminder of our purpose. Our driver is not that each person should have a Disclosure, rather it is a key part of our Safeguarding of young people – and that is an attitude rather than just being a process. In Scouting we want to deliver fantastic programmes to all of the young people who take part in Scouting – but it is vital that we do that in a safe environment.
The Scout Association has a vigorous vetting process, with Disclosure Checks being a one key element of the National Vetting Process.
Certain roles require a Disclosure Check by law as they are considered to be in regulated activity. I already mentioned that the Appointment Process Chapter in Policy, Organisation & Rules has a table showing details about each role, including whether or not the role requires a Criminal Records Check. Please also note that some other adults who help occasionally may also require a Disclosure, if they are undertaking a regulated activity (e.g. camping with young people).
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11. DISCLOSURE CHECKS & COMPLIANCE
How Commissioners suspend
a volunteer on Compass
We’ve come to the end of part 1 of tonight’s presentation.
In part 2 we’ll go over the process of suspending a volunteer on Compass. As this is a process which only Commissioners can do, those of you who are not Commissioners are more then welcome leave us at this point.

12. How is a volunteer suspended?
Only District/County/Area/Regional Commissioners can do this.
An will be sent when a volunteer must be suspended for failing to have a valid Disclosure Check. (Within 30/60 days of expiry)
Action must be taken within a week.
How is a volunteer suspended?
This is the same as suspending a volunteer for any other reason, expect for one small part.
Only DC’s, CC’s, AC’s and RC’s can suspend members. This is NOT something that GSL’s, DESC’s, Assistant Commissioners or SASU Managers can do.
The relevant Commissioner will receive a notification when a volunteer must be suspended for not having a valid Disclosure Check in place. This will be 30/60 days from when a Disclosure Check expires or a new volunteer is added to Compass.
The relevant Commissioner (in most cases the DC), will have 1 week to make the suspension, before it is escalated to the next Commissioner and so on.
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13. Suspension steps
The suspending District/County/Area/Regional Commissioner must ensure that the line manager is aware of the suspension.
The line manager will need to assess, and act on the implications of the fact that the Scout Leader (or Group Treasurer, or whoever) will not be available within Scouting for some time.
Suspension steps
It is important that suspension is not just a system activity on Compass. This is about people and roles, not systems.
So people need to be told by their line manager that they are being suspended from Scouting. And the line manager needs to take steps to mitigate any problems that this may cause in the Group/District/County.
For example, if a Group Treasurer is suspended, how will expenses get paid or receipts of money banked? If the Cub Scout Leader is suspended, what steps need to be taken so that the Pack can continue to meet.
The person without a Disclosure will have received an from Compass informing them of the suspension and the ‘rules’ of suspension.
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14. Suspension steps
POR Rule 15.2(e) is clear that a suspended person must not:
participate in any activity connected with the Movement (whether or not young people are present) including administrative activities;
contact youth Members of the Association;
enter Association premises unless specifically given permission by the appropriate Commissioner;
be present at any place at which Scouting activities are taking place (including all types of activity whether or not young people are present);
wear the uniform or badges of the Association.
Suspension Steps (2)
This slide shows the core content of the that the role holder will receive, albeit using the text from POR. It is clear that people who are suspended must behave and act as suspended. This is a real suspension, not something tokenistic on Compass.
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15. How is a volunteer suspended on Compass?
However, it is important that the suspension is also properly recorded on Compass.
A full user guide on how to suspend a volunteer can be found on the Compass Support Site, however - very briefly - if you do get to a point when a member must be suspended this is how to do it.
You will need to find the member on Compass. Click on the roles tab at the top of their record and then click the “membership” button at the bottom of the screen.
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16. How is a volunteer suspended on Compass?
A pop up box will appear where you need to click on “Request Membership Suspension”.
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17. How is a volunteer suspended on Compass?
Fill in the boxes as normal.
Make sure in the “Reason” drop down box you select the option about not having a valid Disclosure Check. This is important later, because should a Disclosure Check be completed while the member is suspended for this reason, they will be automatically re-instated to their role. More on this shortly.
Once the boxes are filled in, click on “Next” and finish the process.
The next Commissioner up the line management structure will then receive a Compass alert so that they can then approve the suspension in the same way as any other suspension reason. Again, the user guides go into detail about how to do this.
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18. A suspended volunteer then completes a Disclosure Check.
Once the National Vetting Process is completed, the relevant Commissioner is informed.
If all is fine, the volunteer will be automatically re-instated.
The relevant Commissioner must inform the volunteer and their line manager that the suspension has ended.
A suspended volunteer then completes a Disclosure Check
Once the National Vetting Process is completed (this may be later than when the Disclosure certificate is issued), the relevant Commissioner will be informed as normal.
If the completed checks are fine, the volunteer will be automatically re-instated on Compass with their length of service intact.
The relevant Commissioner, however, must inform the volunteer, and their line manager, that the suspension period has ended and they can resume their evolvement with Scouting. A template letter for this notification is included in the sent to the Commissioner.
The automatic re-instatement will only work when the reason for suspension is due to not holding a valid Disclosure Check. This is why it is important for Commissioners to make sure the reason for suspension is selected correctly.
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19. If during suspension a suspended volunteer does not submit a Disclosure Check.
Suspension will last 60 days (England, Wales, Northern Ireland) or 90 days (Scotland and BSO).
The volunteer’s involvement in Scouting will be ended if no Disclosure Check application is submitted by the end of the period of suspension.
To re-join Scouting the appointment process will need to start from the beginning, as if they were a previous member who has taken a break from Scouting.
If a suspended volunteer does not do a Disclosure Check
The suspension will last for 60 days (90 in Scotland and BSO). In this time, the volunteer can submit a Disclosure Check.
If a Disclosure Check has not been submitted within the 60/90 days from the start of the suspension, the volunteer’s membership record will be closed automatically and the local Commissioner must make sure the individual has no further active involvement with Scouting.
The relevant Commissioner and Appointment Secretary will be informed of a volunteer’s record being closed.
If this does happen and the volunteer then wished to re-join Scouting, the appointment process and National Vetting Checks, would need to start from the beginning, following the same process as any other returning volunteer.
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20. Extra Support: Reminder emails Compass Support Site
Disclosure Check pages on the Member Resources area
Scout Information Centre
Extra Support
The s, which are sent, are written to give you and the volunteer as much detail as possible.
User guides, quick start guides and step by step videos for completing a Disclosure Check and suspended volunteers can be found on the Compass Support Site.
The Disclosure Check pages have been updated on the Member Resources area of scouts.org.uk On the pages are the specific processes for England, Wales and UK wide Appointments, Scotland, Northern Ireland and British Scouting Overseas.
The Scout Information Centre is open and can provide advice and guidance on the processes as well.

21. Thank You
Thank you for joining us.