Scotland has been reassessing its recently introduced child-protection law after fears were raised that the resulting red tape would cripple voluntary youth work. Emily Rogers finds out if enough has been done.

A lot can happen in the space of a few weeks if concerns are voiced loudly enough. Late last year, Scotland's voluntary sector was forecasting that it would be bled dry by new child-protection legislation requiring organisations to carry out checks on volunteers (YPN, 10-16 November 2004, p11).

Concerns about recruitment being crippled by the administrative burden and the length of the checking process led to a joint briefing paper being sent to all MSPs by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Volunteer Development Scotland and YouthLink Scotland, complaining that the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act had been pushed through the Scottish Parliament with no consideration of its impact on voluntary groups.

Under the Act, any youth organisation taking on a volunteer without checking his or her name against a list of individuals disqualified from working with children or young people will be committing a criminal offence.

Extra time to prepare

The Scottish Executive responded to the voluntary sector's concerns by postponing enforcement of this part of the Act until 11 April, to give voluntary groups time to arm themselves with the information and support they need. So with less than two weeks until the law comes into force, how prepared do voluntary groups now feel?

One of the Act's strongest critics, Tom Leishman, chief officer of Boys' and Girls' Clubs of Scotland (BGCS), believes much has changed. "From before Christmas to now, there is a big difference," he says. "There's still a bit of ambiguity, but things are improving daily."

Leishman's greater peace of mind is due in part to the efforts made by voluntary sector representatives and executive officials to find a clearer way of explaining to voluntary groups how this legislation affects them.

The Act covers any organisation providing services and activities to children and young people, but the posts to be checked need to be defined as childcare. Guidance on this has now been produced for organisations and was being finalised by the executive before Easter.

Margaret McLeod, head of development at YouthLink Scotland, one of the organisations that has helped the executive draft the guidance, cites the example of a football club with five volunteers. Three are coaches, one delivers refreshments and one is in charge of equipment. The latter two roles would not need checks because their jobs would not bring them into direct contact with young people, but the coaches would.

"It will help organisations assess whether they're covered by the Act and whether or not they're an organisation that needs to check people in the first place," says McLeod.

"We struggled long and hard over the wording. Those who have looked at the guidance feel it's hit the mark between the official guidance for organisations and something that's easily understood."

The guidance also tries to resolve concerns that organisations would have to wait three months between appointing a volunteer and actually taking him or her on, while waiting for checks to clear.

Much of this is a question of risk assessment. The guidance suggests organisations appoint volunteers under supervision in the interim, although McLeod warns this must be temporary.

"This gives a bit of comfort for people who have to look at ratios," she says. "If they really are desperate for another body, they don't have to say no. But the checks are the final piece of the jigsaw."

Much of the success of implementing the Act hinges on awareness raising, says McLeod. The executive has provided grants to umbrella groups including SCVO, BGCS and YouthLink Scotland to act as intermediaries by spreading the word about the legislation among their member organisations.

"Before Christmas, we had an enactment date set up on the assumption that everything was in place," says McLeod. "We had a consortium that had produced training and information, but it was only sent to a fraction of those who needed it. Since then, there has been more time and publicity."

But SCVO chief executive Martin Sime remains concerned about the difficulties of reaching the most disorganised and informal groups. "The Act sets up significant legislative responsibility for these people," he says.

"While we will do our best, we're inevitably dealing with the more organised end of the sector. There's a reluctance all round to interpret the Act before legal clarification."

More guidance needed

The executive has agreed to put on ice the enforcement of retrospective checks on existing volunteers.

But Sime says more guidance is also necessary on what system of checks is needed for those who transfer from one organisation to another, or work for more than one group simultaneously.

The fact that only three people have so far been placed on Scotland's list - two of them provisionally - indicates the time such changes take to bed in.

"There's a process that has to be gone through before other names are added," says a Scottish Executive spokeswoman. "But we've now got access to the English and Welsh lists as well."

www.scotland.gov.uk

THE CHECKING PROCESS

The Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 came into force on 10 January this year, with the creation of a list of individuals who have been disqualified from working with children and young people.

Checks are carried out by Disclosure Scotland and are free of charge to voluntary organisations through the Central Registered Body in Scotland, which has set up a helpline to advise organisations. For more details, call 01786 849777 or go to www.crbs.org.uk.