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Vetting and barring

The vetting and barring scheme, which aims to safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults, will be introduced in 2010. NUT assistant secretary for employment conditions and rights, Amanda Brown, explains why the NUT is concerned about it.

In July 2010, the work of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) begins in earnest. Over the following five years, those who work with children, young people and vulnerable adults will be required to register with the ISA under the new vetting and barring scheme. The ISA will check the records of almost 10 million individuals, deciding whether they are suitable for their chosen occupation or volunteering activity and, if satisfied, accepting them for recording, under a unique registration number, on a publicly accessible database.

Last year, the scheme caught the public’s attention as some of those affected spoke out at what they saw as over-regulation, forcing the government to announce a review of the scheme by the chair of the ISA, Sir Roger Singleton. A number of well known children’s writers, including Philip Pullman, Anne Fine and Anthony Horowitz, publicised their reluctance to be registered before being able to visit schools. Parents were worried they would have to stop driving other people’s children to or from school or clubs.

Eventually the government bowed to Sir Roger’s recommendation that the scheme be overhauled, relieving an estimated 3 million volunteers from the duty to register. Now only those who work at least once a week in a role covered by the scheme must register, and there will be exemptions for parents hosting school exchange students and for pupils on work experience.

About the scheme

The changes are a step forward, though some say the scheme is still disproportionately intrusive. Child protection measures were put in place to prevent those who had not had criminal record checks from having unsupervised contact with children. Now the focus has shifted to how an individual might be perceived by children. Anyone who might be seen as a trustworthy representative of the school should be checked. So regular visitors will come within the scheme’s remit.

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