Hi
I'm increasingly getting jobs in playgroups & old peoples homes. Nobody has asked yet, but I think a CRB check could be a good thing.
I am, of course, as pure as the driven snow in thought & deed.
How do I get one sorted? Anyone know?
Not sure about England but in Scotland an individual can't get one off their own back. It has to be through an umbrella organisation or a potential employer. It looks similar in England according to this
To cut a long story short, I worked with vulnerable individuals for 15 years without a disclosure. I then moved positions within the health board and was required to get one. It came back stating I had been to court and convicted of theft 10 years previous. It put the blocks on my move and I was close to losing my job.
I contacted disclosure Scotland who deal with it and after several letters / phone calls I was advised to go to a local police station to have my picture and finger prints taken. A week later I received a new enhanced disclosure that had no convictions the way it should be. Not even a sorry or anything. I phoned them up and was told, maybe someone had given my details when they got into trouble with the police!
If I had convictions on mine that didn't belong to me, there could equally be plenty of folk with no convictions who should have them!!
Ask the question over in uk.legal.moderated - if you do, your post may take a little time to appear OR Peter Crosland may answer here first :-)
Brian G
I'm not sure if you can just like that, and rather like an MoT, it doesn't have any validity after you've got it, although some organisation might decide to accept an old one.
I had to have one for a job. There are limited organisations who are allowed to request them. My employer arranged it through one of them. The employer says which aspects they want checked up (e.g. not bankrupt, not a criminal, OK to work with vulnerable people which is an enhanced check), and I think they are only permitted to ask about the aspects necessary for the job.
Your idea of having some type of certificate you can carry around saying you don't eat children for lunch probably doesn't exist.
Dave
I also work in these sort of environments, as a self employed external contractor you do not need a CRB check, indeed you cannot apply for one yourself, only employers (& certain charities/NGO's and voluntary organisations) can do so. Furthermore the CRB is only 'valid' for that employer, if you move employers the CRB doesn't transfer with you, the new employer would have to apply for a further check. I've been in many Nursing/Residential & private hospitals and never had an issue - had some tools nicked though !! presumably by the CRB checked staff. Oh well.
Neil
In deed, I trust you are. In thought, is anyone perfect?
wish to recall (30 plus), she has been required to undertake a CRB for taking handicapped childen to school.
I also have been required to undertake a CRB check in order that I can continue to act as either Santa or his Elf for a local charity so I think you are wise to consider this move.
It's crazy, but that's the Nanny State we live in!
Things may be (are) different in England and Wales.
In Scotland you can get a Basic Disclosure yourself. If you want a Standard or Enhanced Disclosure then this has to be obtained by the organisation themselves or by an approved nominee. It cannot be obtained by the subject i.e. you. It is valid only for that organisation at that date, and cannot be transferred to any other organisation.
The simple answer is that you should never be left alone with vulnerable people - for your own safety as well as theirs, having children or doddery wrinklies wandering around when you're up a ladder or have sharp tools or hot work in progress isn't allowable. If this means a member of their staff has to escort you at all times, so be it.
At least for playgroups, can you arrange jobs for outside playgroup hours?
Owain
An individual can't get a CRB check directly. It has to be done through a registered organisation. What you can get for £10 is a copy of your file(s) by applying to your local police. This takes up to 40 days. It will not actually be any direct use to anybody else but it might show up any errors and allow you to get them sorted.
Peter Crosland snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in news:f9im9f$hm$ snipped-for-privacy@registered.motzarella.org:
Dave,
As a past owner of a private nursery school, I would advise that you should never be left alone with children or vulnerable people. The facility should make sure of this.
You should also ensure that you are always escorted and supervised in the vicinty of children or vulnerable people - for your own safety ! You are fully entitled to ask that you not be left alone. Allegations (false or true) are very easily made and extremely difficult to counter.
As others have said - you cannot ask for a CRB check for yourself.
Terry W.
Sadly, I have to endorse your advice. When my younger was at primary school, when I had but few opportunities to share time with him due to work, I was faced with a barrage of sceptical faces.
It still hurts me and has done him a great deal of harm.Can we please get rid of this silly Nanny State
Spot on. Seems to reflect my experience to date.
On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:45:13 +0100 someone who may be "The Medway Handyman" wrote this:-
For the public, a waste of time [1].
For those operating the "service", an excellent way of placing a large bung in their pockets.
For party politicians, a way of being able to say they have "done something".
For officials, a box to tick after which they sit back on their bottoms and forget about child protection. The ticked box also is to defend themselves in court.
[1] Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went to see their former classroom assistant. Sadly she wasn't there, but her boyfriend was. Party politicians tell us that these "checks" are to prevent the same thing happening again. Unless these "checks" are to be extended to all friends and family who may be alone in a house they are not going to do anything.How far through a family should these "checks" go, how long would someone be a lover before they had to have a "check", would married people having an affair be happy to expose their affair to nosey officials? That is before one considers false information, those not caught and first offenders. Just the sort of stupidity one would expect from the Labour Party.
Only insofar as they have got into the bad habit of responding to Daily Mail editorials. There are no votes to be won and lots to be lost had from responding to calls for CRB checks, Part P and a load of other stuff with "look, occasionally things are going to go wrong, but the cost of preventing this is not justified, and we cannot prevent them anyway".
The school that wanted me to do the work organised mine.
They asked me to pay £45 pounds for it. No problem it was returned in the extras bill as "misc undefined £95"
Adam
Thats exactly what has happened for all the playgroup jobs I've had. And rightly so.
I guess you are probably right there. It seems logical to me, that if I could get myself checked it would reassure my customers, protect me to some extent and be a marketing plus.
I wouldn't have a problem with an (accurate) police record being available to my potential clients. It would help me and if everyone did the same scrotes like Ian Huntley couldn't get away with murdering innocent little girls.
Whats the phrase? Hitting the targets & missing the point?
I endorse the advice given. SWIMBO is a consultant paediatrician for nigh on 30 years and has yet to be asked to supply a CRB check ... so much for systems. As a rowing coach I am required to get one if I coach under 18s and it is a complete pain applying and what is really annoying is that I cannot take it with me to other regions of endeavour. For working with play groups I suggest that as part of your COSHH assessment you take the "risk" posed by ANY proximity of young to a work area and that alone should protect you. The other protection is to keep job sheets and make contemporaneous notes on your work record sheet should any even remotely "risky" situation occur. Courts simply love the evidence of a contemporaneous note and they have considerable weight. Chris
There should be no problem you obtaining a CRB for yourself as you are effectively an organisation, just speak to your local umbrella body...or you could try and online service like -
Steve
Ian Huntley would have passed a CRB check. He was never convicted of anything before the two murders.
Adam
You can't pass or fail a CRB check, it merely summarises any involvement with the police you may have had (even if you were not arrested or cautioned), or whether your name is on one of the lists of people considered unsuitable for work with vulnerable adults or children. The Enhanced CRB check would have picked up that allegations had been made against Huntley even though they had never been substantiated. However in the days before the CRB, he would have come up clean in one of the (then) police checks as not only did different forces not communicate with each other, but the check would only pick up convictions.
Steve
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