Latest News
This page of the website provides details of recent developments which affect Disclosure Scotland and those who use our services.
Previous news items, which contain certain historical information and which may still be relevant or of interest, have been moved to the ARCHIVE
Current Turnaround Times
As of 29/06/09, our current system turnaround time for a correctly completed application, with no further enquiries, is approximately 5 days.
Disclosure Scotland has a Service Level Agreement to produce 90% of all types of Disclosure within 14 calendar days. This is measured from the day we receive the application to the day of despatch. Applications that are sent via a Registered Body or an Umbrella Body can spend time being processed by these organisations prior to being received at Disclosure Scotland. Factors that can delay the processing of a Disclosure include:-
- incomplete information provided (please see our Helpful Hints on how to complete an application form);
- inability to authenticate at Home Address (particularly for Basics, please provide COPIES (NOT originals) of some form of official documentation showing your current name and current address e.g. Utility Bill, Bank Statement);
- where Disclosure Scotland needs to carry out further enquiries, especially in respect of Enhanced Disclosures.. This can be due to nominal details, address details, or if the applicant has had any dealings with the police in the past. Under legislation, we are also obliged to contact other government organisations to obtain information, in order to determine whether there is any information held that is relevant to the post applied for
Important Information - Potential Price Increase
21st May 2009
Subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament, the fee for all levels of Disclosure Applications is expected to rise, by £3, to £23, on the 1st of August 2009.
Disclosure Scotland’s fees last increased in 2006, since when it has been possible to absorb inflationary costs and develop our infrastructure to meet the rising demand for disclosures.
The increase is driven entirely by external pressures and we have, regrettably, had to make this decision in order to continue providing our accurate and quality service.
A Scottish Statutory Instrument to bring about the fee increase was laid before Parliament on Monday, 30th of March. Subject to Parliamentary approval, further information on the fee increase and the actions you will need to take will follow. Disclosure fees for volunteers working in the voluntary sector will continue to be available free of charge.
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Important Notice: 6th April 2009
Royal Mail Charges
Please be aware that due to significant changes introduced by Royal Mail, increased charges apply to both SIZE and WEIGHT of the envelopes/items you send. These changes take effect from the 6th of April 2009.
If there is insufficient postage on your mail to Disclosure Scotland, Royal Mail WILL NOT deliver the items (letters/packets etc) to us. We cannot therefore be held accountable for mail not received.
Royal Mail will retain them for a period of up to six weeks before initiating their 'return to sender' policy. It is recommended therefore that you endorse the envelope with sender details so that Royal Mail can return such mail direct to you.
If you do not endorse the sender details on the envelope, Royal Mail will open it in an effort to identify the sender.
If you contact us to enquire about the progress of your Disclosure Application and we have no record of having received the items, you should contact Royal Mail to investigate. Royal Mail Customer Services can be contacted on 08457 740 740
It is your responsibility therefore, to ensure that the correct postage is paid on your item(s), taking into account both Weight and Size of the package.
Care should be taken in sending supporting documentation (copies of Birth Certificates/Tax/Bank Statements etc). as failure to comply with Royal Mail's charging policy could result in these being lost.
The most common error is when a standard 1st class stamp is attached to a large A4 envelope, which is not sufficient. An envelope of this size requires at least a 61p stamp (prices as of 06 April 2009) depending on the weight of the items.
Postal Charge information can be found on http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump2?catId=400023&mediaId=11200122
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22 January 2009
Changes to Disclosure System in England and Wales , January 2009
From 20 January 2009, the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) took over responsibility from the Secretary of State (SoS) for the making of barring decisions on new referrals under the POCA, POVA and List 99 schemes for England and Wales.
From that date, while any person listed by the ISA will be listed in the children’s barred list or adults’ barred lists under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act they are to be regarded as included in the POCA and POVA listings. The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 (Transitory Provisions in Consequence of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006) Order 2009 ensures that the changes are recognised in Scots law by providing that any reference to listing in the POCA or POVA lists on Disclosure Scotland certificates (or elsewhere) includes those person added to the SVG lists from 20th January.
Employers should note that from the same date, PoCA and PoVA provisional listing on new cases will end. The ISA will not provisionally bar a person while considering a referral. Therefore ISA recommend recruiting employers ensure that they fulfil existing pre-recruitment responsibilities, such as taking up references and scrutinising employment history.
For more information on the changes click here.
14 January 2009
Basic Disclosure - Confirmation of birth details
This change applies to applications received on/after 19 January 2009.
Please note that if you are applying for a Basic Disclosure, when returning the completed form to Disclosure Scotland you should provide the following:
- A copy of a utility bill or similar, confirming your current address detail
- A copy of an official document e.g. birth certificate, passport or driving licence, which confirms your Date of Birth details.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS
Failure to provide this information will delay the processing of your application.
Please do not hesitate to contact us on our helpline number 0870 609 6006 (Monday to Friday 0800 - 1800) if you have any queries.
To apply for a Basic Disclosure Online click here.
16 October 2008
Disclosure Scotland Business Plan (2008/2009)
We are pleased to announce the publication of our Business Plan which summarises a huge programme of activity and development that will shape and drive Disclosure Scotland during the next three years. Please click HERE to view this document.
6 October 2008
Service Downtime - Update
As intimated in our previous news article (below), Disclosure Scotland required 2 periods of substantial downtime to allow essential upgrading of our system. This work has bow been completed however we expect the impact of this to last another 2 weeks. This will result in our turnaround times being higher than we would like. However every effort will be made to reduce these and updates will be posted here until normal service is resumed.
As before, we would request that calls to our helpdesk for updates on progress are kept to a minimum to allow staff to concentrate on processing applications.
11 September 2008
Planned Service Downtime
In line with our commitment to keep stakeholders informed Disclosure Scotland would like to advise you that due to essential upgrading to our existing system, which will give a more robust Disaster Recovery backup, 2 substantial downtimes are required.
Disclosure Scotland systems will be unavailable from:
Outage 1:
07:00 Saturday 20th September 08 till 07:00 Monday 22nd September 08.
Outage 2:
07:00 Saturday 4th October 08 till 07:00 Monday 6th October 08.
Plans are being implemented to minimise any delay to our customers and processing times.
This may also impact on our current turnaround time of 7 days, however we do not envisage that this will exceed our current service level for correctly completed applications of 14 days. As with our current process this does not include applications which require additional information from a 3rd party.
During this time we request that calls to our helpdesk for progress returns are kept to a minimum. This will allow the staff to concentrate on processing applications.
4 August 2008
Amendment to the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003
The above amendment has been approved by the Scottish Parliament and came into force on 1 July 2008.
The amendment surrounds certain changes to the definition of a child care position and details are available on the undernoted documents:-
- The Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI)
- Executive Note which accompanied the SSI
- Guidance document
1 July 2008
Disclosure Scotland Annual Review (2007/2008)
Please click HERE for details on our performance during another successful year in 2007/2008.
27 June 2008
Improved access to Umbrella Bodies
Do you need to use the services of an Umbrella Body to countersign a Standard or Enhanced Disclosure? If yes, please click HERE.
1 May 2008
Update to Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme
For an update on the consultation exercise which was carried out, please click HERE. A summary of the PVG scheme is also available HERE.
1 May 2008
Are you registered as an Umbrella Body with Disclosure Scotland?
If yes, would you like to promote your services to those who may require to have Disclosures countersigned? Further information is available HERE.
17 April 2008
Overseas Criminal Record Checks
The Scottish Government's Health Workforce Directorate has produced a guidance document on overseas criminal record checks which supplements its policy document "Safer pre and post employment checks." Whilst these were developed for NHS Scotland for its own recruitment procedures, elements of them may be helpful as "best practice" guidance documents for other business sectors.
15 April 2008
Customer Satisfaction Survey 2007
Disclosure Scotland appointed George Street Research, an independent market research agency, to carry out its biennial customer satisfaction survey. It's with pleasure that we can report that there have been some improvements on what was already a very high score from the 2005 survey.
Further details are available from the Executive Summary or Presentation.
2 April 2008
New complaints and disputes procedures
Click on the following links for details of the new procedures.
7 February 2008
Safer pre and post employment checks
The Scottish Government's Health Workforce Directorate has produced a policy document titled "Safer pre and post employment checks." Whilst this was developed for NHS Scotland for its own recruitment procedures, parts of it may be helpful as a "best practice" guidance document for other business sectors. With regard to the Disclosure service, particular reference may be made to sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 whilst other sections may be more generally of interest.
7 February 2008
Recent important changes to the Disclosure service
New regulations came into force on 6 February 2008 which have implications for the Disclosure service. Click HERE for more information.
10 January 2008
Determination of the form and manner of the Disclosure application form
On 11 January 2008, the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2007 will come into force. This Commencement Order has an impact on Part 5 of the Police Act 1997. From 11 January, the requirement for Scottish Ministers to prescribe in regulations the manner and form of applications to Disclosure Scotland will be repealed. Instead, under a new section 125A that is inserted into the Police Act 1997, Scottish Ministers will be able to determine the form and manner of an application to Disclosure Scotland. Further information is available HERE.
19 November 2007
Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007
The Scottish Government has published its consultation on policy proposals for the secondary legislation required to implement the PVG Act. The consultation will run until 12 February 2008. Further details are available HERE.
16 October 2007
New Code of Practice and Guidance for Countersignatories
The Code of Practice and its associated Explanatory Guide together with an additional guidance note (InfoGuide) have been re mailed to all lead and countersignatories today. Additional copies of the Code and Explanatory Guide are available HERE and you can click on the InfoGuide for copies of it.
27 August 2007
Do you receive invoices from Disclosure Scotland?
Click HERE for information on how we manage outstanding payments.
25 July 2007
Revised Code of Practice
The Code of Practice and its associated Explanatory Guide have been updated and you can access copies from the appropriate link. It is anticipated that copies of the documents will be issued by late August/early September 2007 to all registered persons and additional countersignatories.
13 July 2007
Transgender Applicants
Disclosure Scotland operates a special application process for transgender persons to assist in ensuring discretion is afforded to such individuals who do not wish their previous gender (and names) to be disclosed to the person or organisation requesting the Disclosure. More information is available HERE.
14 June 2007
Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007
Click HERE to link to the Scottish Executive's webpage which provides updated news on the provisions contained within the Act.
14 June 2007
Were you adopted?
Please read the attached NOTICE which provides guidance on completing B16 of the new application form (B14 of the old form) if you were adopted.
30 April 2007
Information for Social Work Services
Please click HERE for information relating to non-exempt childcare positions (this is an updated version of a letter dated 19 October 2006 which was issued to all Directors/Heads of social work in Scotland).
11 April 2007
Applicant's Guide to completing the Disclosure application form - various languages/formats
In addition to the English printed version of the above Guide, it is also available in the undernoted printed languages/formats which are available for downloading:-
As well as the printed versions, the Guide is also available in Braille and audio formats. Please contact us if you require either of these formats.
11 April 2007
Roadshow Presentation
Many of you who attended the Disclosure Scotland Roadshows in January/February 2007 expressed a wish to obtain an electronic version of the Powerpoint presentation which was given to delegates. A PDF version of the presentation is available HERE.
The presentation covers the following:-
- recommendations from the Bichard Report and Disclosure Scotland's progress;
- launch of the new application form with guidance on how to complete it;
- Code of Practice - proposed changes and guidelines (the revised Code and Explanatory Guide have still not been agreed - we will advise as and when they've been agreed); and
- outline of the provisions of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill
19 February 2007
Completing the new application form
Countersignatories should click HERE for additional guidance on completing the E5/E6 and E7/E8 parts of the new form.
8 January 2007
Roadshow Feedback
If you attended one of our recent Disclosure Scotland road-shows and would like to offer any feedback or have any further queries please complete the feedback form HERE.
29 December 2006
New Disclosure Application Form
Click HERE for the latest news on the introduction of the new form.
6 December 2006
New Disclosure Application Form
The Scottish Parliament is considering the proposed new application form and it's expected that it will reach its decision later in December 2006. A copy of the Scottish Statutory Instrument that the Parliament is considering is available HERE - this includes a sample of the new form.
The changes to the application form will form part of the Disclosure Scotland roadshows which are taking place in January/February 2007 (please see following article).
The process of managing the transition from the current form to the new form will also be communicated soon to all countersignatories in order that all customers are aware of the changes and existing stocks can be run down. We will continue to accept the old form for a period of 6 months until June/July 2007.
5 October 2005
Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill
The Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 25 September 2006.
A brief Summary and Background is available HERE.
Full details are available from the Scottish Parliament website.
20 September 2006
New Disclosure Scotland Brochure
Copies of our new 2006 Corporate Brochure are available by clicking on the links below.
High Resolution Version (7.3Mb) (slower to download)
Low Resolution Version (2.5Mb) (quicker to download)
29 August 2006
Scottish Vetting and Barring Scheme
The Scottish Executive has published the report detailing the findings from the "Protecting Vulnerable Groups: Scottish Vetting and Barring Scheme" consultation. Click HERE for the report.
26 July 2006
Organisations requiring Basic Disclosures
Not all employers or organisations are able to ask the exempted question (to obtain Standard or Enhanced Disclosures) for all or any of their employees or volunteers. Disclosure Scotland has now developed its Basic Disclosure service and Basics are increasingly being requested by a growing number of employers and organisations, both large and small. If you require further information, please click HERE or Contact Us. You may also wish to view these Case Studies - Scottish Power and Manpower.
15 May 2006
Adults at Risk
Click here for important information for those organisations who have posts working with Adults at Risk (vulnerable adults) and who may require Disclosures for such posts.
12 April 2006
Disclosure Scotland Corporate Plan
Our Corporate Plan for 2006 to 2009 is contained within SCRO's Corporate Plan Document.
5 April 2006
Recent important changes to the Disclosure service
New regulations came into force on 1 April 2006 which have implications for the Disclosure service. Click HERE for more information.
30 March 2006
Licensing the Private Security Industry in Scotland
Regulation of the private security industry is coming to Scotland. Part of the licence provisions may be a requirement to obtain a Disclosure. Further information is available from the Security Industry Authority here.
15 March 2006
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (update)
Registered Bodies and employers in Scotland may wish to update their recruitment advertisements and other recruitment policies where they refer to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. This has been amended by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions)(Scotland) Order 2003.
1 February 2006
Changes to Registration Details
Details of all registered bodies and lead & counter signatories are contained and maintained on the Disclosure Scotland registration system. It is vital that any changes to your registration details (e.g. to addresses, contact points, names, countersignatories, etc.) are updated on the registration system.
It is important, therefore, that you provide us with the necessary amendments as soon as you can. All you have to do is complete the appropriate parts of the Registration Application form and submit the completed form to us. Simply Contact Us and request a Registration Application pack. Alternatively, your Lead Signatory may have copies of the form.
January 2006
Childcare Positions
Applying for a childcare position? We would like to remind all applicants and countersignatories within Registered Bodies that the term "Childcare" or "C/care" should continue to be inserted at the beginning of the response to Question C2 (Position Applied For) on the Disclosure Scotland application form. In addition to this term you should also ensure that further details are provided as to the position involved - e.g. Childcare Teacher, Childcare Social Worker, etc.
This will ensure that Disclosure Scotland checks the Disqualified from Working with Children Lists (DWCL) as required by the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003. It must be stressed that the onus is on the applicant/countersignatory to highlight that the position is a childcare one. Disclosure Scotland will not check the lists unless the "Childcare" prompt is present.
Further information relating to the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 is available on the POCSA FAQ's.
January 2006
Adults at Risk Update
The process to legislate to better protect adults at risk was announced by the First Minister in his legislative programme for 2005/2006 in September 2005. The proposed Protection of Adults (Scotland) Bill is due to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament in March 2006.
The most recent consultation regarding adults at risk legislation was open from 7 July to 23 September 2005 and sought views on additional proposals that will offer more protection to vulnerable members of society.
Further information is available HERE from the Scottish Executive.
Childcare Position
