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Go-live date announced for the Independent Safeguarding Authority

HOME OFFICE News Release (082/2008) issued by The Government News Network on 1 April 2008

Changes to checks for those working with children and vulnerable adults will start from October 2009 it was announced today. The fees structure for the scheme has also been set.

The creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is part of the biggest overhaul of vetting and barring arrangements ever undertaken in this country. It will cover 11.3 million people wishing to seek work or volunteer with children or vulnerable adults.

The ISA scheme will mean a single vetting authority maintains a constantly updated list of people who are not allowed to work with children or vulnerable adults - this will incorporate all existing barring lists.

If a person is not barred from employment with vulnerable people they will be ISA registered, although it will remain the employer's decision whether to hire them. The authority will work alongside the Criminal Records Bureau, which will continue to issue criminal records disclosures to help employers make recruitment decisions.

Home Office Minister Meg Hillier said:

"The Independent Safeguarding Authority is at the heart of the Government's drive to increase the protection of vulnerable members of our society.

"The mandatory scheme aims to prevent those who are deemed unsuitable to work with children and/or vulnerable adults from gaining access to them through their work.

"From October 2009 employers will be able to check that individual staff members have been assessed for work with vulnerable groups, further enhancing one of the most robust employment checking systems in the world."

The ISA is an independent body with its own remit and barring criteria which will decide on a case-by-case basis if an individual poses a risk of harm to vulnerable groups.

Individuals wishing to undertake paid employment while engaging with vulnerable groups will pay a one-off fee of £64. The fee will consist of two components: an ISA registration fee of £28 and a CRB enhanced disclosure, currently £36, which provides employers with details of information held on police records about potential staff members.

However, there will be no cost for volunteers.

Sir Roger Singleton, ISA Chairman said:

"The Independent Safeguarding Authority will provide a groundbreaking vetting and barring service to prevent those deemed unsuitable from working with children or vulnerable adults from October 2009.

"The go-live date has been reached after consultation with key strategic partners to make sure that it is not only operationally feasible, but that it also gives employers enough time to fully prepare for the introduction of the scheme.

"This is a complex scheme which will cover 11.3 million people within a wide variety of workplaces. Starting in 2009 will allow us to ensure an improved level of safeguarding as well the development of better information sharing systems."

Notes to Editors

1. The ISA was established in January 2008 after being created by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. The scheme is one of 31 recommendations in the Bichard report.

2. The overriding aim of the ISA will be to help avoid harm, or risk of harm, to children and vulnerable adults. It will aim to do this by preventing those who are deemed unsuitable to work with children and/or vulnerable adults from gaining access to them through their work.

It will do this by:

* working in partnership with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which will gather information on a person who will or wishes to work in regulated or controlled activity with vulnerable groups;

* using this information to decide on a case-by-case basis if an individual is poses a risk of harm to vulnerable groups; and

* securely storing information about people's ISA status for employers and voluntary organisations to use when they are recruiting.

3. The scheme will be largely self-financing. Individual applicants wishing to seek work with vulnerable groups engaging in regulated or controlled activities will have to pay a fee of £64. The fee will consist of two components - a CRB enhanced disclosure which currently costs £36 and the cost of an ISA registration which will be £28.

Volunteers will not have to pay a registration fee.

4. The ISA is a Non-Departmental Public Body. It will be based in Darlington and it will consist of a small Board of public appointees and up to 300 ISA employees. The employees will be highly skilled and trained to make barring decisions.