The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (SVG Act), which will be fully implemented from September 2008, places specific legal duties on organisations whose staff or volunteers work ‘frequently’ or ‘intensively’ with children and vulnerable adults.
Under the SVG Act the existing Criminal Records Bureau will provide its disclosure service to the newly created Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), which will then either register individual applicants – or bar them from working with children and vulnerable adults. Employers will have a legal responsibility to check whether prospective staff or volunteers are registered with the ISA. They will also be able to request CRB checks as before if required.
Some elements of the Act’s implementation are still under development and the latest information is available at http://www.isa-gov.org.uk.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in these pages do not constitute any legal advice but are views that have been gleaned by CCPR from various information sources.
