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Much has been made of the government’s new ‘Vetting and Barring Scheme’, due to enter its next phase in October of this year. Designed to ‘prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults’, the scheme will make it a legal necessity for anyone wishing to work or volunteer with those classed as vulnerable to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). But what does this mean for private tutors, and how do you go about registering? The practicalities of ISA Registering
The first thing to bear in mind is not to panic. While the Vetting and Barring Scheme will eventually make it illegal to work with children without ISA vetting, compulsory registration will not begin until November 2010. The changes this October are more administrative in nature, and generally will not require you to make any immediate changes to your working life. In November 2010 however, it will become a legal requirement for new tutors and those switching jobs to apply for ISA registration, with those in existing roles having to apply from January 2011.
If you intend to continue tutoring it is highly important to be aware of the Vetting and Barring Scheme, as it is likely that you will eventually have to register with the ISA. Those required to register under the scheme are defined as anyone in contact with children or vulnerable adults frequently (once a month or more), intensively (three or more times within 30 days) or overnight (between the hours of 2am and 6pm). In practice this means that the vast majority of tutors will have to register with the ISA regardless of whether they work in a school, at a tutoring agency, from their own home or at their pupils’ homes. So it will be important that you register, preferably as soon as the scheme becomes active in July next year.
ISA registration is concerned solely with the suitability for working with vulnerable people. As such, it does not replace a full (or ‘Enhanced’) Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check, as it may not disclose certain offences such as theft or fraud, which will not disqualify a person from working with vulnerable groups. Nor is ISA registration free: the ISA requires a one-time payment of £64 to cover administration costs. The most efficient way to make sure you are fully registered will be to apply for ISA registration and a CRB check on a single application form, available in July 2010 from the Independent Safeguarding Authority website.
After receiving your application, the ISA will complete a background check using data gathered by the Criminal Records Bureau, including ‘relevant criminal convictions, cautions, police intelligence and other appropriate sources’. Once successfully vetted, you will receive a personal ISA Registration Number, confirming that you are suitable for working with children and vulnerable adults. You can give this number to any prospective employer, who can confirm your vetted status on the ISA website. You do not need to re-register upon taking up new employment or changing jobs.
Those applicants with a record that makes them unsuitable for working with vulnerable groups will be put on the ISA’s Barred List, preventing them from obtaining such work. Similarly, by 2011 it will also be illegal for those who have not applied for registration to seek employment with children or vulnerable adults. By July 2015 the government plan to have registered all those working with vulnerable groups, and it will become illegal on the part of both the employer and the employee to have anyone not ISA-vetted working with vulnerable parties.
So while ISA registration is not something that tutors need to be immediately worrying about, it is something that all must be aware of. This scheme is designed to protect children, something everyone can relate to, and with a minimum of forethought the inconvenience for tutors should be small. Vetting and Barring Scheme TimelineFor your ease of use, we have constructed a timeline of important stages in the Vetting and Barring Scheme: October 2009:
| The ISA takes over responsibility for administrating barred lists from several different government departments. This means little practical change for tutors.
| July 2010:
| The ISA starts taking applications for registration under the Vetting and Barring Scheme. We recommend applying as soon as possible after this time. | November 2010:
| Registration becomes mandatory for those starting or changing work with children or vulnerable adults. | January 2011:
| Those in pre-existing work with children or vulnerable adults must also start registering with the ISA. | July 2015:
| By this date all people working with children or vulnerable adults MUST be registered and fully vetted by the ISA. |
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