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The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) has been created to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults.

It is now a criminal offence for individuals barred by the ISA to work or apply to work with children or vulnerable adults in a wide range of posts - including most NHS jobs, Prison Service, education and childcare. Employers also face criminal sanctions for knowingly employing a barred individual across a wider range of work;

All organisations and bodies now have a duty to refer to the ISA, information about individuals working with children or vulnerable adults where they consider them to have caused harm or pose a risk of harm.

The Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS)
To enable the ISA to work effectively and ensure the relevant safeguards are in place, the Government has introduced a legal framework called the Vetting and Barring Scheme to manage legislative compliance. This scheme became enforceable with effective from October 12th 2009:

The VBS established three key changes at 12 October 2009 for employers and employees (including managers of, and volunteers in, unpaid work) are:

• For employers: you must not knowingly employ in "Regulated activity", or use as a volunteer, a barred person;
• For employers: if you dismiss or cease using a person in regulated activity (or in controlled activity) because you think they harmed or pose a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults, you must refer the case to the Independent Safeguarding Authority.
• For employees: if you yourself are barred from regulated activity, you must not work, or seek to work, in regulated activity from which you are barred, otherwise you will be committing an offence.

For a definition of "Regulated Activity" please download the attachment Vetting & Barring Scheme - Section 2 by clicking this link VBS Guidance Issued October 2009.

The implementation stages announced by the Government thus far are:

• July 2010: new entrants to work with vulnerable groups can register with the ISA;
• November 2010: new entrants must register with the ISA before starting work;
• April 2011: existing workers can start to ISA-register. The ISA will publish, in good time, the recommendations as to dates by when they should register.
  

The VBS report that they are aware that there is still a significant demand for this Full Scheme Guidance.

For further details please do feel free to contact us if you would like to talk through these changes and how they might affect your organisation.