When you won't have to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority ISA: Personal and family arrangements and other exemptions from the new Vetting and Barring Scheme
This information appears in an annex to a letter from Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, to MPs in England and Wales.
Some people felt confused by media coverage in Autumn 2009 about when the Vetting and Barring Scheme will require people to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). We want to set the record straight. Also, we announced new exemptions on 14 December 2009.
The key principles that govern when the Scheme does not come into play (and when it does) are as follows.
The Scheme:
- does not apply where an arrangement is a family arrangement
- does not apply where an arrangement is made personally between friends, and is not on a commercial basis
- does not apply where an activity is not 'regulated activity', because it is not:
- an activity specified by the Scheme
- work for an organisation specified by the Scheme
- a post specified by the Scheme
- does not apply where an activity is an exception to the Scheme.
Whether the Scheme’s requirement to register with the ISA will apply depends in particular on two key principles:
- if an activity is arranged by an organisation (as opposed to being a private arrangement)
- if that activity is ‘frequent or intensive’ (explained below).
Our aim throughout has been to develop an approach which is proportionate, balanced and effective.
Examples of when the Scheme will not require you to ISA-register
As a result of the Government accepting the recommendations in Sir Roger Singleton’s Drawing The Line report, none of the following will have to ISA-register:
- any individual who does certain work with children less frequently than once a week each month, or on fewer than four days in one month
- any individual who goes into different schools or similar settings to work with different groups of children – providing they don’t meet any of these children more than once a week as above
- 16- to 18-year-olds who do regulated activity as part of their education
- visitors working in England and Wales for up to three months with groups of children they bring from elsewhere to e.g. international Scout camps or the Olympics
- parents hosting a child for exchange visits under 28 days, where the parents of the child accept responsibility for selection of the host parents.
In addition:
[1] An elderly person being kept company by a teenager from a local school. The elderly person is not doing work (paid or unpaid) with the teenager. The elderly person is in receipt of the volunteering by the teenager, so the Scheme doesn't apply to the elderly person.
[2] A teenager keeping an elderly person company for a couple of hours a week. The teenager is not caring for, or supervising, the elderly person, so the Scheme doesn’t apply to the teenager.
[3a] A parent making an arrangement with a friend, to take the friend’s children to play football at a club.
[3b] A parent who takes part in a rota with other parents to take each others’ children to school once a week.
[3c] A parent who arranges with another parent to take that parent’s child home from a youth club (e.g. because that child’s parent is delayed at work).
[3d] A parent in sole charge of a football kick-about in the park with his and his friend’s children, which he arranged with his friend.
[3e] A parent arranging, with the parents of her child’s friends, for the friends to stay at her home for a sleepover.
In each of the five examples above, the parent is making a personal arrangement. Even if friends will return the favour, this is not on a commercial basis. The Scheme does not apply to any of the parents.
[4a] A parent supervising their own child at a parent and toddler group where 70 parents come with their children and remain for two hours a week without any other staff. The parent is not supervising anyone else’s child, so the Scheme does not apply to the parent. (As the Pre-School Learning Alliance says, 'Parents … are responsible for their children during the session.')
[4b] A parent home-schooling their own child. The parent is not teaching anyone else’s child, so the Scheme does not apply to the parent.
The Vetting and Barring Scheme does not apply to family relationships.
[5a] A parent visiting a school, to see the school play or a Christmas Nativity play, or discuss their child’s progress with school staff, etc.
[5b] Any individual visiting a school or schools, without working for those schools.
In the two examples above, neither the parent nor any other individual is doing any work for the school, so the Scheme does not apply to any of them.
It is not now, nor will it ever be, Government policy to vet parents just because they attend events that their own children are taking part in.
[6] An individual (16 or over) babysitting children, whose parent is a relative or friend of the individual.
- where the parent is a relative, it is a family arrangement
- where the parent is a friend and it’s not on a commercial basis, it is a personal arrangement.
So the Scheme does not apply to the individual.
[7] An individual (16 or over) helping to run a stall at the annual parish fete, where some of the customers might be unaccompanied children.
- serving customers at the stall who are children is not an activity covered by the Scheme.
- working for the parish fete is not working for an organisation covered by the Scheme.
So the Scheme does not apply to the individual.
[8] An employee providing first aid as an ancillary part of their job. Ancillary first aid is an exception to the Scheme, so the Scheme does not apply to the employee just because of the provision of first aid.
[9] A volunteer who makes sets and sews costumes for youth theatres. The volunteer is not supervising or training children, so the Scheme does not apply to the volunteer.
[10] A player at a tennis club, who arranges with the parents of junior players to regularly take the junior players to tournaments in his car. The player is making a personal arrangement, so the Scheme does not apply to the player.
[11] A musician in a band that plays at evening events at a school, organised by the school's Parent Teacher Association. The musician is not doing work for the school with the opportunity of contact with the children, so the Scheme does not apply to the musician.
Further examples in relation to volunteering with adults
[12] A volunteer who organises a bridge club, and regularly provides transport to another club for players, some of whom are elderly. The volunteer is not exclusively transporting people specifically because they have particular needs because of their age, so the Scheme does not apply to the volunteer.
[13] A friend cleans the flat of a pensioner in sheltered housing each week, not for commercial profit. The friend is making a personal arrangement, so the Scheme does not apply to the friend.
