Volunteer Centre Lewisham

Volunteer Centre Lewisham
2nd Floor Showroom
H E Olby
307-313 Lewisham High Street
Lewisham
London
SE13 6NW

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Screening and CRB

Your organisation is legally obliged to do everything reasonable to ensure the safety of the service users, staff and volunteers and you have a duty of care not to expose them to unnecessary risk. You need to take extra care when working with vulnerable people. Screening is valuable to help your organisation with this but remember it is not foolproof. Screening should be carried out on a continuous basis through supervision, feedback from line managers and risk assessments. If you are unsure a volunteer is right for the post you may consider they need extra training and support or, give them a probation period or provide a different volunteering opportunity in your organisation. If you decide the volunteer is not suitable it is good to be sensitive, give them feedback, explaining the reasons. Try and suggest an alternative role or signpost them to your local Volunteer Centre who may be able to help them with a more appropriate role.
Screening is part of good volunteer management and is carried out to safeguard your organisation as well as to check volunteers are suitable for the project and the work they will do as well as helping you meet their expectations. Screening should be part of your recruitment process, risk management and training procedures.
The responsibility of screening lies with the organisation; however, if your organisation is not properly constituted with a governing document then, at times, the responsibility could lie legally with the individual doing the recruitment. (For help developing governing documents contact your local Council for Volunteer Service, in Lewisham this is Voluntary Action Lewisham, phone number is 020 8314 9411).

Vulnerable people include

Children and young people under the age of 18. (However, if in employment or volunteering they are only considered to be vulnerable if aged 16 years and under).
Vulnerable adults aged 18 and over includes those with A learning or physical disability A physical or mental illness, chronic or otherwise, including an addiction to alcohol or drugs; or reduction in physical or mental capacity¹.

CRB checks

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) provides access to criminal records and other relevant information to organisations in England and Wales helping organisations make informed decisions when recruiting employees and volunteers for specific posts such as those who have regular contact with children and vulnerable adults in duty of work with the organisation. Volunteers, who care for, supervise, train or are in sole charge of people under 18 years old can receive a CRB check. Even if a volunteer knows they have had no previous convictions to prevent them working with children or vulnerable adults by law they may still need to have a CRB check.
Volunteers should not be asked to have a CRB check done unless they actually require one for the work they are doing in your organisation. If a check is needed your organisation must first obtain permission from the volunteer who will have to provide supporting documents of evidence such as passport, driving license, utility bills etc. Doing a CRB check for a volunteer is free, however, you will have to pay an administration charge. It is best to work through agencies that are registered to handle CRB applications. You can find a list of such organisations on www.disclosure.gov.uk or in Lewisham go to www.volunteercentrelewisham.org.uk.
The law does change from time to time regarding CRB checking and there is talk of introducing an extra check called the Vetting and Barring Scheme in which people will be issued an ISA (Independent Safeguarding Authority) registration number. It is important you keep up to date with the law regarding these issues. For further information you can contact the Criminal Records Bureau advice line on 0870 9090 811 or www.crb.gov.uk or contact www.isa-gov.org or phone 0300 123 111 or go to www.volunteeringengland.org.uk

Explaining CRB to your volunteer

Volunteers should be told at the point of applying if the post requires a CRB disclosure. Explain that this is standard procedures when working with vulnerable people. Also let them know all information disclosed would be kept in strictest confidence. Also explain having a conviction does not necessarily bar someone from being suitable to do the work. You may choose to state "We undertake checks with the Criminal Records Bureau for all our volunteers who work with children or vulnerable adults. Having a criminal record will not be an automatic bar to volunteering with us, as only relevant convictions will be taken into account. We can provide a copy of our policy on recruiting ex-offenders upon request."

(¹Volunteer England Information Sheet 2009 – An Introduction to Criminal Records Bureau Disclosures for volunteers page 37 &38 )