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When you won't have to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority ISA: Personal and family arrangements and other exemptions from the new Vetting and Barring Scheme

This information appears in an annex to a letter from Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, to MPs in England and Wales.

Some people felt confused by media coverage in Autumn 2009 about when the Vetting and Barring Scheme will require people to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). We want to set the record straight. Also, we announced new exemptions on 14 December 2009.

The key principles that govern when the Scheme does not come into play (and when it does) are as follows. 
The Scheme:

• does not apply where an arrangement is a family arrangement
• does not apply where an arrangement is made personally between friends, and is not on a commercial basis
• does not apply where an activity is not 'regulated activity', because it is not:
  • an activity specified by the Scheme
  • work for an organisation specified by the Scheme
  • a post specified by the Scheme
  • does not apply where an activity is an exception to the Scheme.

Whether the Scheme’s requirement to register with the ISA will apply depends in particular on two key principles:

• if an activity is arranged by an organisation (as opposed to being a private arrangement)
• if that activity is ‘frequent or intensive’ (explained below).

Our aim throughout has been to develop an approach which is proportionate, balanced and effective. 

Examples of when the Scheme will not require you to ISA-register

As a result of the Government accepting the recommendations in Sir Roger Singleton’s Drawing The Line report, none of the following will have to ISA-register:

• any individual who does certain work with children less frequently than once a week each month, or on fewer than four days in one month
• any individual who goes into different schools or similar settings to work with different groups of children – providing they don’t meet any of these children more than once a week as above
• 16- to 18-year-olds who do regulated activity as part of their education
• visitors working in England and Wales for up to three months with groups of children they bring from elsewhere to e.g. international Scout camps or the Olympics
• parents hosting a child for exchange visits under 28 days, where the parents of the child accept responsibility for selection of the host parents.

In addition:

1 An elderly person being kept company by a teenager from a local school. The elderly person is not doing work (paid or unpaid) with the teenager. The elderly person is in receipt of the volunteering by the teenager, so the Scheme doesn't apply to the elderly person.

2 A teenager keeping an elderly person company for a couple of hours a week. The teenager is not caring for, or supervising, the elderly person, so the Scheme doesn’t apply to the teenager.

3a A parent making an arrangement with a friend, to take the friend’s children to play football at a club.

3b A parent who takes part in a rota with other parents to take each others’ children to school once a week.

3c  A parent who arranges with another parent to take that parent’s child home from a youth club (e.g. because that child’s parent is delayed at work).

3d A parent in sole charge of a football kick-about in the park with his and his friend’s children, which he arranged with his friend.

3e A parent arranging, with the parents of her child’s friends, for the friends to stay at her home for a sleepover.

In each of the five examples above, the parent is making a personal arrangement. Even if friends will return the favour, this is not on a commercial basis. The Scheme does not apply to any of the parents.

4a A parent supervising their own child at a parent and toddler group where 70 parents come with their children and remain for two hours a week without any other staff. The parent is not supervising anyone else’s child, so the Scheme does not apply to the parent.  (As the Pre-School Learning Alliance says, 'Parents … are responsible for their children during the session.')

4b  A parent home-schooling their own child. The parent is not teaching anyone else’s child, so the Scheme does not apply to the parent. 

The Vetting and Barring Scheme does not apply to family relationships.

5a  A parent visiting a school, to see the school play or a Christmas Nativity play, or discuss their child’s progress with school staff, etc.

5b  Any individual visiting a school or schools, without working for those schools.

In the two examples above, neither the parent nor any other individual is doing any work for the school, so the Scheme does not apply to any of them.

It is not now, nor will it ever be, Government policy to vet parents just because they attend events that their own children are taking part in.

6  An individual (16 or over) babysitting children, whose parent is a relative or friend of the individual.

• where the parent is a relative, it is a family arrangement
• where the parent is a friend and it’s not on a commercial basis, it is a personal arrangement.

So the Scheme does not apply to the individual.

7  An individual (16 or over) helping to run a stall at the annual parish fete, where some of the customers might be unaccompanied children.

• serving customers at the stall who are children is not an activity covered by the Scheme.
• working for the parish fete is not working for an organisation covered by the Scheme.

So the Scheme does not apply to the individual.

8 An employee providing first aid as an ancillary part of their job. Ancillary first aid is an exception to the Scheme, so the Scheme does not apply to the employee just because of the provision of first aid.

9  A volunteer who makes sets and sews costumes for youth theatres. The volunteer is not supervising or training children, so the Scheme does not apply to the volunteer.

10 A player at a tennis club, who arranges with the parents of junior players to regularly take the junior players to tournaments in his car. The player is making a personal arrangement, so the Scheme does not apply to the player.

11  A musician in a band that plays at evening events at a school, organised by the school's Parent Teacher Association. The musician is not doing work for the school with the opportunity of contact with the children, so the Scheme does not apply to the musician.

Further examples in relation to volunteering with adults
12  A volunteer who organises a bridge club, and regularly provides transport to another club for players, some of whom are elderly. The volunteer is not exclusively transporting people specifically because they have particular needs because of their age, so the Scheme does not apply to the volunteer.

13  A friend cleans the flat of a pensioner in sheltered housing each week, not for commercial profit. The friend is making a personal arrangement, so the Scheme does not apply to the friend.

Further information
Parliament legislated for the new Scheme in the 2006 Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, for which there was overwhelming support.  We recognised then, as we do now, that it is essential to ensure that children and vulnerable adults are properly safeguarded and that we do everything we reasonably can to protect them from those who seek to do them harm.

Instead of a blanket one-size-fits-all approach, the Government has proposed that the requirement to register with the ISA will apply only in specified circumstances. 

Outside those circumstances, the Scheme will not require ISA registration. 

And even when ISA registration is required, joining the new Scheme will be a simple, quick process. Once registered, you can stay registered for life, and  your registration is valid for any other organised work with children. The organisation running an activity will have to check your registration and will be able to do that easily, online, for free, so the new Scheme cuts bureaucracy.

In developing the Scheme we had to decide where exactly to draw the line that separates those situations that should be covered from those that should be excluded. Striking the right balance has undoubtedly been a difficult judgement and indeed, this issue was extensively debated in Parliament during the passage of the Bill in 2006. In particular, a critical point is deciding how precisely the principle of only requiring registration for work which is ‘frequent or intensive’ should be applied to real life situations. That is why Ministers asked Sir Roger Singleton, Chairman of the ISA, and the Government’s Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children, to report on whether any adjustments need to be made. The Government has now accepted all his recommendations, in its response published on 14 December 2009.

Above are examples of when the Scheme will not require an individual to ISA-register for work (paid or unpaid) in relation to children.  (For ease of reference, Example 1 covers the recent media reporting of mistaken “fears” about under-18s working with vulnerable adults, while 12-13 give further examples in relating to volunteering with adults.)

DCSF will update this document with further examples each month in response to queries raised with us, from now until the start of ISA registration in November 2010.  Updates will be available on the Every Child Matters website.

Other frequently asked questions on the new Scheme and registration

Q1:  What is the Vetting and Barring Scheme, and why do we need it?
The Vetting and Barring scheme will register all people doing certain specified work with children or vulnerable adults, providing a consistent measure of protection across a wide range of settings. Once it is fully implemented in 2015, every individual who is doing, or seeking to do, a specified range of work or volunteering with children or vulnerable adults must apply to register with the Independent Safeguard Authority (ISA).

The Government is introducing the Scheme to strengthen our ongoing work to support children and vulnerable adults by ensuring those who are unsuitable are not given positions of responsibility, while those against whom concerns are raised are detected earlier and are prevented from continuing to do certain specified work with them. 

Q2:  How will ISA registration work?
It will be similar to filling in a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) form.  People will complete a single 4-page form.  It can include a CRB disclosure at the same time – which, for paid staff who must pay the ISA registration fee, is at no extra cost.  For unpaid volunteers, that fee is waived – also when a disclosure is done at the same time. An individual will submit their application for ISA registration through a CRB “registered body” which verifies the information and forwards the form for processing.  “Umbrella” registered bodies will accept forms from e.g. a tutor working in a private arrangement.

If the person is not already on the barred list, the CRB will aim to send the registration number to the applicant within 7 working days. Employers will check ISA registration status, which confirms that the individual is not barred, by a simple, quick and free online check. 

Q3:  How is ISA registration different from a CRB disclosure?
An enhanced CRB disclosure, made in connection with doing certain work with children or with vulnerable adults, contains information about an individual’s convictions and cautions, together with any information on that individual that is relevant to work with the relevant vulnerable group and is held by a local police force.  In addition, if a barred list check is requested with the disclosure, then the disclosure also says whether the person is on ISA’s list of those barred from doing certain work with children or with vulnerable adults.  All of this is sent to both the individual, and the body considering using that individual.  It shows information available up to the disclosure date.

ISA registration is different, and includes improvements, because:

• For registered individuals, the ISA will continuously receive any new criminal records information, will consider any information received, and can decide to bar if the person poses an ongoing risk of harm.
• the Scheme will not cause either an application for registration on its own, or an employer’s check on an individual’s registration, to release details of any criminal records information on an individual.  Such information goes to the ISA to consider, but an employer making a check of ISA registration status will only see whether or not the individual is registered;
• the Scheme will only require individuals to register once to work with a vulnerable group.  They can then use the same registration number for life, to apply for any future work with that vulnerable group;
• when a person is already ISA-registered, the Scheme will only require an employer to do a quick online check, which is free but secure, to confirm the person’s ISA registration; and
• the Scheme can tell employers if a worker’s registration status changes.
• Parents will also be able to check the ISA registration status of someone they employ in a private capacity, like a nanny, to work with their children.  Confirming that the worker is registered confirms that they are not barred.

This will provide a more up-to-date and convenient service than previously.

Q4:  When will ISA registration be required?
Individuals who start work in regulated activity after November 2010 will have to register before starting that work.  Those who are already in such work at that date will be phased into the scheme between 2011 and 2015.  

Q5:  How much will ISA registration cost?
For those who are not unpaid volunteers, a one-off fee of £64 will apply.  The fee will be waived for unpaid volunteers.  Registration lasts for life. 
 

Q6:  What other exceptions are there to the Scheme’s normal scope?
In addition to cases where the Scheme does not apply at all (see examples 1-13 above), there are some other cases where a specific exception applies. 

a  Where an individual is engaged in regulated activity (and so it is work which a barred person must not do), but the Scheme will not require registration. For example: an employee who supervises a work experience student aged under 16:

• The Government will recommend that employers should continue using a risk-based approach in order to choose whether the employer will require supervising staff to register. (Where a student is 16 or 17, the Scheme won’t require workplace supervisors to register either.) Updated work experience guidance will take account of the Scheme;

An individual who works in regulated activity in a private arrangement, e.g. where a parent pays an individual to be a private tutor or nanny for a child:

• the individual will not have to ISA-register, but can ISA-register if they wish. The parent will then be able to check the worker’s ISA-registration status if they choose to do so.

b  Where a volunteer does one-off activity, which would be regulated activity if it were frequent or intensive. A barred person must not do this activity even once.  But otherwise, the Scheme does not apply.  For example:

• a parent volunteering for a day or a couple of days on a one-off basis, e.g. to work with children at a Christmas event (carol concert, Nativity play); as opposed to just attending an event, which is completely outside the Scheme.

c  Where a worker instructing or supervising a child is “merely incidental” to instructing or supervising adults, e.g. coaches in all-age sports clubs (but the club can if it wishes check the coach is ISA-registered, and so is not barred).

Q7:  Who will the Scheme require to ISA-register?
People who frequently or intensively do certain specified work with children or vulnerable adults as part of their jobs, or as unpaid volunteers for an organisation (for example a sports club, voluntary body or charity).  Many of these people currently get CRB checks. We think it is right that they go through vetting, because the degree of contact they have with vulnerable groups could potentially offer an unsuitable person opportunities to abuse or exploit them.  Also people in certain offices such as school governor will have to register, just by virtue of working in that capacity.

Q8:  Why will the Scheme require organised volunteers to register? 
We shall vet people when they volunteer regularly for an organisation, because parents are often at arms length from these arrangements and so unable to judge, as they usually would, whether an arrangement is suitable.  Parents rightly trust a school or club to ensure things are safe: that trust should be well placed.  That is why we shall not vet personal arrangements: parents will obviously use their own judgment in those situations.

Q9:  Why will the Scheme require some “host families” to register?
Where the parents of the fostered child are not responsible for selecting the parents who foster that child, and the school is responsible for organising care and accommodation in someone’s home (i.e. private fostering) for the exchange student, it is not a private arrangement.  ISA registration is a straightforward way for the school to be sure that neither parent is barred from regulated activity with children.  The DCSF will issue specific guidance to schools on such private fostering.

Q10:  Doesn’t the Scheme assume that everyone is guilty?
No.  The opposite is true.  We know that for the vast majority, there will be no evidence they pose a risk of harm.  This is about making sure we can stop that very rare risk, because if it led to harm, the harm could be devastating.
Vetting by a CRB check is already the norm for those in relevant work with children.  Parents have a right to expect this of any organisation entrusted with caring for their child.  All individuals seeking such work will be treated in exactly the same way – no-one will be singled out for vetting.

Q11: What changes is the Government making in response to Sir Roger Singleton’s “Drawing The Line” Report?
All the recommendations were accepted, so the Scheme will not require registration by:

• any individual who does regulated activity with children less frequently than once a week, or on fewer than four days in one month
• any individual who goes into different schools or similar settings to work with different groups of children 
• 16-18 year olds who do regulated activity as part of their education
• visitors working in England and Wales for up to three months with groups of children they bring from elsewhere to e.g. international Scout camps or the Olympics
• parents fostering a child for exchange visits under 28 days, where the parents of the child being fostered accept responsibility for selecting the host parents

and the Government will review three other points: CRB checks on people who will already be ISA-registered; the longer-term need for Controlled Activity; and possible registration for some self-employed health care practitioners.

Q12:  What is Government policy now, on “frequent” or “intensive”?
Frequent: at least once a week, for a month or more; we will publish detailed guidance on that.  Intensive: on four or more days in one 30-day period. 

 Q13. How can ISA make decisions consistent/ not based on rumour?
The ISA always follows a robust, transparent Decision Making Process; Guidance for it is on the ISA website. Trained, experienced caseworkers must assess each referral on a case by case basis, rigorously gathering and analysing information and documenting their actions, with quality assurance to ensure decisions are proportionate, consistent and fair. The ISA do not bar on the basis of gossip: before any decision, evidence is assessed, treating with caution any “soft” information e.g. allegations. Case-workers must carefully judge whether an alleged activity actually happened, before they can take it into account.  A case only progresses if evidence establishes a clear future risk; the individual sees the information used, and can (unless convicted or cautioned for the most serious offences) make representations. 

Q14. Will the systems be secure?
Yes.  The ISA’s IT systems fit the "confidential" standard, more secure than many other systems.  Less secure systems cannot download or access the personal information: it is on a system separate from the one which employers access online, which does not reveal names, addresses, or criminal history.

You can find out more about the ISA, and guidance on the Scheme (especially the barring and referrals aspects which started on 12 October 2009), on the ISA website.