Many Council contracts involve working with children, young people and vulnerable adults. Wakefield Council policy and legislation requires that all relevant staff and volunteers that are working with children and the vulnerable have Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks carried out.

All contracted-out Social Care services also need to be registered with the appropriate regulatory body where applicable, for example, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI).

The Commission stipulates the minimum level of the CRB check to be carried out on staff and volunteers working with the following client groups:

• Children and families
• Child protection
• Older people
• People with mental health needs
• People with physical or sensory disabilities and for people with learning disabilities.

Where staff are supplied to provide services regulated by the Care Standards Act 2000 (for example, registered providers of care homes, domiciliary care agencies including employment agencies and businesses who supply care workers to these providers and adult placement schemes) the contractor or supplier is required to comply with the Department of Health’s Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) Scheme and the Protection of Children Act (POCA) list, as appropriate.  This requires:

• Ensuring staff and volunteers are checked against the POVA and / or POCA lists.
• Ensuring staff/volunteers, including former employees, are referred to the appropriate Secretary of State for inclusion on the POVA and / or POCA lists where a member of staff or volunteer has been guilty of misconduct which harmed or placed at risk of harm a vulnerable adult and / or is considered unsuitable to work with children.  Detailed guidance is available from the Department of Health.

It is also a requirement for CRB checks at the enhanced level to be carried out  on contractor’s and supplier’s  staff who have access or contact with the  vulnerable client groups listed above in services that are not registered with CSCI .

When employing agency staff, Council officers will stipulate when ordering whether a current CRB disclosure is required to work in various posts connected with the vulnerable.

See 'Related Links' for more Information about CRB checks.