This article by Tom Whitehead has been extracted from the Daily Telegraph here A teacher’s human rights were breached after police included unproven allegations against him in a criminal records check, the High Court ruled yesterday. The PE teacher has not worked for more than two years because the allegation remained on his record even though police [...]
Proposed reforms to Rehabilitation of Offenders Act criticised – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
This article by Lucy Corin appears on the Halsebury Law Exchange website here Imagine you are a middle-aged man with a young family looking to change career to work as a primary school teacher. When you were 12 you took a chocolate bar from a shop. You learnt a salutary lesson and never repeated this [...]
A breach of human rights: Court of Appeal rules CRB check law must go
This item by Paul Peachey appeared in the Independent on 29th January A major overhaul of the criminal records regime could be required after three judges ruled that the current system breached human rights. [See judgement here] The Court of Appeal today said that a blanket requirement for some job seekers to supply details of [...]
Strasbourg rules that the retention and disclosure of caution data is unlawful (in Northern Ireland)
This article first appeared on the Daily Telegraph website (here) on 13th november 2012 European court ruling could see minor criminal records withheld from employers People with minor criminal records may not have them disclosed to potential employers in future after the European Court of Human Rights condemned the lack of scope for discretion in [...]
Disclosure and barring – Government update advice for police officers
Disclosure and barring Information on changes to disclosure and barring, which will come into force in September 2012, is available in the leaflets below. There is a leaflet covering England and Wales, as well as a separate leaflet for changes in Northern Ireland. There is also a Welsh language version. Date: Thu Jun 07 15:36:00 BST [...]
Manifesto Club report reveals 32 million CRB checks undertaken since 2002 – at a cost of £1.5 billion.
32 MILLION CRB CHECKS SINCE 2002 A new Manifesto Club report reveals that there have been 32 million CRB checks since 2002 – at a cost of £1.5 billion.The report which can be downloaded here was reported. For an exclusive see report on the front page of the Daily Telegraph The Manifesto Club are calling for a serious policy review of [...]
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 published
The Protection of Freedoms Act has now passed Royal Assent and will come into force on the 9th May 2012. Part 5 will be particular interest to falsely accused carers and teachers. Chapters 1 and 2 amends the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and Police Act 1997 with regards to carers and Criminal Records Bureau checks. The Bill also [...]
Home Office stakeholders meeting on future statutory guidance on CRB’s
FACT’s Chairman and Secretary both attended the Home Office Stakeholders Working Party on the future statutory guidance on CRB’s where they took a full part in the discussions. The main items under consideration were ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) Quality Asssurance Framework (QAF) for the Disclosure of CRB’s, and the wording of future draft [...]
Teacher fails to persuade Court that information on an enhanced CRB ought not to have been disclosed
An experienced teacher who previously worked in a special school and who had been successful in arguing that he had been unfairly dismissed sought a declaration by way of judicial review that the issue by the Defendant Chief Constable on 20th July 2011 of an Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate under section 113 B of the Police Act [...]
New regulations issued in respect of the need for taxi drivers to be CRB’d
The Government have issued regulations amending the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) Regulations 2002 and the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) (No. 2) Regulations 2009 to enable an application for an enhanced criminal record certificate (including suitability information relating to both children and adults) to be made for the purpose of assessing the applicant’s suitability to [...]
Manifesto Club discover that many people who do not work directly with children are still required to submit to a CRB check
A Manifesto Club report, Vetting Tree Surgeons, finds that nearly a million checks a year are being carried out by local authorities – at a cost of £45 million. Councils CRB checked hundreds of parent volunteers in schools, including parents listening to children read or helping out at the school disco. They also checked tree surgeons, [...]
Judge reluctantly dismisses Enhanced CRB clam
R (T) v (1) Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, (2) Secretary of State for the Home Department (Secretary of State for Justice an interested party) [2012] EWHC 147 (Admin) In July 2002, the Claimant was 11 years old. He received a warning (a private procedure, under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998) from Greater [...]
Home Office announce taxi drivers will become eligible for enhanced CRB’s
Taxi drivers will be eligible for enhanced background checks under new proposals announced today. Today’s proposals will allow taxi licensing authorities to carry out enhanced criminal records checks on their drivers before they are issued with a licence. Current drivers will get additional checks when they renew their licence. Under the current regime, only drivers who pick [...]