Protection of Freedoms Act 2012

Understanding the impact of the changes

4 March 2013 Joy Tottman Governance and Compliance Officer

The journey to here …

Significant changes introduced by the Protection of Freedoms Act New definition of ‘Regulated Activity’ Merging of ISA and CRB to form DBS Applicant only / single certificate Updating Service (portability)?

Overview of Timelines for the Protection of Freedoms Act , 2012 2012 01 May 10 Sept 01 Dec 2013 Spring Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 received Royal Assent New definition of Regulated Activity (unsupervised); Repeal of Controlled Activity; Repeal of registration and monitoring requirements; Repeal of additional information; 16 yrs is minimum age at which CRB check can be done; More rigorous 'relevancy' test for police re release of information held locally on an Enhanced CRB check.

Merger of Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) & Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) = Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Updating Service / Single Certificate

Summary of September 2012 Changes New definition of Regulated Activity Understand and apply new definition Define supervision in your context Repeal of controlled activity Don’t ask for barred information for individuals with access to sensitive data Introduction of 16yrs old as minimum age for Disclosure Don’t ask for Disclosures on under 16s Repeal of registration and monitoring requirements Repeal of additional information More rigorous relevancy test for when police release information held locally No action

New definition of ‘Regulated Activity’ Why do you need to know about the new definition?

Fulfil your legal duties Ask for (only) the information you are entitled to see 1. Required by law to refer an individual to ISA/DBS if remove them from Regulated Activity if they have harmed or may pose a risk of harm a child or adult at risk; 2. Only request barred information on individuals who are ‘IN’ Regulated Activity 3.

Not knowingly employ a barred person in ‘Regulated Activity’

New definition of ‘Regulated Activity’ What is the new definition?

Excludes

supervised

volunteers from new legal requirement (unless administering health or personal care to under 18s).

Supervision = ‘such day to day supervision as is reasonable in all circumstances for the purposes of protecting any children concerned’

New definition of ‘Regulated Activity’

Sport and recreation organisations responsible for defining supervision to the level that is reasonable in all of the circumstances to protect children

New definition of ‘Regulated Activity’

New definition of ‘Regulated Activity’ What do you need to do?

•

Work up a definition of supervision that helps you determine in your environment who you are legally required to check;

•

Work through all of the roles within your organisation and ask yourself: 1. Do they meet criteria for an enhanced check?

2. Do they meet criteria for Regulated Activity and a barred list check?

•

Decide how you will communicate to your membership on who will be defined in ‘Regulated Activity’

Merger of CRB and ISA to form DBS What do you need to know?

New branding New questions on application forms: Question 64 “are you entitled to know whether the applicant is barred from working with children?” Question 65 “are you entitled to know whether the applicant is barred from working with adults ?” New application forms: 1 st March – only DBS forms can be submitted

Single Certificate What will change?

Organisations no longer automatically sent a copy of the disclosure for individuals undertaking roles for them. Applicant only copy being sent by DBS Certain circumstances = request a copy from DBS Individual already in your workforce, subscribed to updating service and during your regular check on existing workforce you see their status has changed; You ask them to do a new disclosure; You are aware the new disclosure has been issued with the new content on it; You have not received it from the individual in 21 days Submit by e-bulk = notification if a disclosure is clear or has content on it

Single Certificate What do you need to do?

How will you get the disclosures from individuals?

How will you get the disclosures back to individuals?

What rules or regulations do you need to put in place to make this happen?

Will you use e-bulk? Will you chase all disclosures even the ones that say they are clear?

Do you have to switch to using an umbrella body to take advantage of e-bulk?

Model regulations for sports rulebooks • When to chase for disclosures • When to suspend people • How to regulate the workforce to ensure maximum compliance

Update Service What will change?

Individuals can choose to join an online updating service to help make their Disclosure more portable e.g. for the same type of roles with different organisations.

Individuals issued with a Disclosure and a unique number which they can show to multiple organisations – who can log on and check the validity of the Disclosure they have been shown.

You can log on at periodic intervals to check your workforce are still up to date.

The update service is free for volunteers to use (sign-up at point of application or within 14 days of receiving disclosure)

Update Service What are the challenges?

You may have some of your workforce on the update service and some of them not on the update service.

Disclosure are only portable for the same type of workforce and so it is limited portability but this has not been explained.

You won’t know if the content you see on an existing disclosure is tailored for a specific role or if there are omissions.

If there is a change in an individual’s status you have to ask the individual for a new disclosure and go through the process of getting the new disclosure from them.

You have to decide how often to log-on and re-check your workforce.

Actions New definition of ‘Regulated Activity’ Merging of ISA and CRB to form DBS

• Work out roles in your organisation • Communicate to membership on legal requirements • Use new forms and terminology

Single certificate Updating Service

• Look at process for managing single certificate • Look at how and if you want workforce to use updating service • Consider if you can manage this in house

Questions