All new staff working with service users have been expected to join the PVG Scheme from the February 2011 commencement of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG). Providers of care services have also been expected to ensure that staff employed before then join the PVG Scheme retrospectively.
Disclosure Scotland have been bringing these workers into the scheme since 2012. The Care Inspectorate is pleased to report that staff in over 90% of registered care services have now joined the PVG Scheme. However, for staff who have still not joined, there is still time to apply before the 29 October 2015 deadline.
Care service providers need to make sure staff have joined the PVG Scheme to be satisfied that they can comply with the regulations for care services. These say that any person who is listed in the PVG children's list must not provide, manage or be employed employee in a care service for children and the same applies for adult care services if someone is listed in the PVG list for adults.
PVG checks provide a higher level of protection and public assurance than previous police checks and help ensure safer recruitment as those barred from working with children or protected adults cannot join or remain in the Scheme. If an employee accrues new criminal information of a type such that Scottish Ministers consider that it may be appropriate to bar them, the employer will receive notification of this.
Whilst PVG membership is not mandatory for employees or employers, it is an existing offence for an employer to employ in regulated work someone whom Scottish Ministers have notified them is barred with the protected group they are seeking to work with. It remains the intention of Ministers to consult on whether this offence should be retained as is, or if it should be extended to cover employers who had not been directly told about the barring. Disclosure Scotland will begin that work later this year. In the meantime, the Care Inspectorate is urging providers to ensure that all staff are PVG Scheme members or have applied for membership by 29 October 2015.