Nursery World - Rules clarified for police checking

Private childcare providers across Scotland may heave a sigh of relief to learn that they do not need to register with Disclosure Scotland, the new police checks organisation, to access criminal records information about potential employees. Childcare providers' applications for police checks need to be countersigned by a body registered by Disclosure Scotland, which starts running checks next month. This has given rise to some anxiety and confusion in private childcare settings since it has been unclear whether individual providers would need to become registered bodies themselves, which would cost them 150 and require them to set up appropriate procedures for handling sensitive and confidential information.

Childcare providers' applications for police checks need to be countersigned by a body registered by Disclosure Scotland, which starts running checks next month. This has given rise to some anxiety and confusion in private childcare settings since it has been unclear whether individual providers would need to become registered bodies themselves, which would cost them 150 and require them to set up appropriate procedures for handling sensitive and confidential information.

Voluntary sector providers, including many playgroups and clubs, have not been faced with this worry, as the charity Volunteer Development Scotland can act as the registered body for all voluntary sector organisations.

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