Skills for the Job: Criminal records checks

What is a CRB check?
A Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check provides details of an individual’s criminal record and, for certain positions, information held by local police forces and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) barred lists. A person barred by the ISA is unable to work or volunteer with the group or groups from which they are barred.

Individuals cannot make criminal records checks on themselves so it is down to the employer to make an application for relevant information. If a prospective employee requires checking you should tell them what to do next.

Checks are generally required for jobs working regularly with children or vulnerable people, working in healthcare, foster carers, adoptive parents or childminders.

How do I make a check?
To submit a check your organisation must either use the services of a CRB-registered umbrella organisation, or be registered with the CRB itself.

As an employer or registered body, you provide the candidate with an application form to complete and return to you. You then need to ensure the application form is fully completed and the information is accurate. Confirm the applicant’s identity and verify evidence of their name, date of birth and current address. Once the CRB check is completed a certificate is sent to the applicant and the registered body.

How long will a CRB check last?
There is no official expiry date for a CRB check. Any information revealed on a certificate will be held by police at the time the check is issued. You should check the date of issue on the certificate to decide whether to request a new one.

In certain employment sectors a CRB check may be required periodically.

You can keep a CRB check – or other related information – for no longer than six months, to allow for consideration and resolution of any disputes or complaints after a recruitment or suitability decision is made. If it is considered necessary to keep the certificate information for longer, you should consult the CRB.

What potential changes to the system should I be aware of?
Following a review of the criminal records regime, the functions of the ISA and CRB will be brought together under one new organisation, called the Disclosure and Barring Service, which is planned to launch in November.

Under proposals set out in the Protection of Freedoms Bill; children under 16 will not be eligible for criminal records checks and CRB certificates will be issued to the applicant only; giving them an opportunity to dispute the information released before making it available to an employer.

It will be possible for employers to share CRB checks, using a check previously obtained for a position in another organisation. Improvements ?will be made to the relevancy test applied by chief officers to local police to decide whether the information is relevant ?for disclosure.

Additional police information, which is not disclosed on the CRB certificate but supplied separately by the police to registered bodies, will be abolished. However, police forces may use “common law powers” to release any relevant information to registered bodies.

What else should I bear in mind?
You must refer information to the ISA about an employee you have dismissed because they harmed or – had you not dismissed them – might have harmed a child or vulnerable adult.

You must still make an ISA referral even if the employee resigns before you have the chance to formally dismiss them. If you fail to make such a referral to the ISA, you are committing a criminal offence.

Steve Long, chief executive, the Criminal Records Bureau