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February 14 2011

Scottish PVG Scheme is Rolled Out

Whilst ministers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are still working out the details of the revised Vetting and Barring Scheme, their Scottish counterparts have now revealed their plans for the Scottish Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme. In this email we will provide you with the information you will need to know over the coming weeks and months as the Scottish PVG Scheme is rolled out. Basic Disclosure - Important Information Concerning a Statutory Cost Increase. In addition to releasing details of the PVG Scheme and its costs, Scottish Ministers have used this opportunity to update the fee for the Scottish Disclosure Certificates. Unfortunately, due to the fact that only Disclosure Scotland offer Basic Disclosure checks throughout the UK, this change impacts all employers who rely on Basic Disclosure checks. The price of any Scottish Disclosure is increasing from ?23 to ?25 and will apply to all orders received by them on or after 28th February 2011. We bring this news to your attention as soon as we have received it from Disclosure Scotland. This price increase is not made by Verifile and we have no intention of increasing our own administration fees at the same time. As a result of this announcement, all Basic Disclosure application forms received by Disclosure Scotland on or after 28th February 2011 will be charged at ?25 + our unchanged admin fee. Therefore the cost that Verifile charges you for Basic Disclosure checks will increase by ?2 for all Basic Disclosure application forms received by us on or after 24th February 2011.Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007Please note that the following information only affects employers who employ staff in regulated activities in Scotland. Those of you using the CRB (England and Wales) or AccessNI (Northern Ireland) will not be affected by these changes.The introduction of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act (PVG) has meant that new application forms are needed going forward. At the time of releasing this communication Verifile is waiting for the first batch of these new forms to arrive at our office. If you know that you require these new forms please contact us as soon as possible and we will add you to our distribution list. The new application form will be used for all checks provided by Disclosure Scotland - Standard, Enhanced or PVG Registration/Update. If an employee or prospective employee based in Scotland is undertaking regulated work then Enhanced Disclosure is no longer the correct choice. If the employee or prospective employee is not yet a member of the PVG Scheme then the employer must order an initial registration with the PVG Scheme and a Scheme Record. If the individual is already a member of the PVG Scheme, a Scheme Record is to be ordered instead of the Enhanced Disclosure currently used. The Scheme Record will give all information in the individual's file.Many employers may decide to order only a Scheme Record Update on existing PVG Scheme members as it is cheaper. If the Scheme Record Update gives some information they will then be able to order the full Scheme Record.A new pricing structure will also be implemented on 28th February 2011 for checks offered by Disclosure Scotland. This means that all Disclosure Scotland applications received on or after 28th February 2011 will be charged at the new fee - see below.