ECRB

Any Standard Disclosure applications being sent to CRB from the 12th October onwards with the relevant boxes on the application form selected are rejected by the CRB mailroom. The price of the Standard Disclosure was lowered from £31 to £26 to reflect these changes.

The 'Enhanced' disclosure (commonly referred to as a 'ECRB check')

Enhanced disclosure is for positions involving greater contact with children or vulnerable adults (for example: teachers, nurses, midwives, doctors, dentists, social workers, student nurses, student midwives, medical students, dental students, pharmacists, pharmacy students) and for certain additional professions (for example, judicial appointments).

In general, the type of work will involve regularly caring for, supervising, training or being in sole charge of children or vulnerable people. Examples include working as a teacher, or Scout or Guide leader. Enhanced checks are also issued for certain statutory purposes such as gaming and lottery licences.

In addition to the information provided on a Standard Disclosure, the Enhanced Disclosure involves an additional check with the police, who check if any other information is held on file that may be relevant (for instance, investigations that have not led to a criminal record).

The police decide what (if any) additional information will be added to the Disclosure. In rare circumstances the police may write to the employer separately giving confidential information about an ongoing criminal investigation into the applicant. This information may not be released to the applicant and the employer cannot reveal it to them.

The CRB aims to issue Enhanced Disclosure within 28 days of receiving the application, however the involvement of local police forces can affect the time taken to process an Enhanced Disclosure application

Overview

The CRB was established under Part V of the Police Act 1997 and was launched in March 2002, following public concern about the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults. It was found that the British police forces did not have adequate capability or resources to routinely process and fulfil the large number of criminal record checks requested in a timely fashion, so a dedicated agency was set up to administer this function.

One of the main reasons for the formation of the Criminal Records Bureau was to reduce the risk of organisations being sued for employing convicted criminals who went on to abuse vulnerable people while in the course of their duty.

An organisation which is entitled to ask exempted questions (under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) must register with the CRB before they can request Disclosure data about an applicant. The individual applies to the CRB with their application countersigned by the organisation. The applicant's criminal record is then accessed from the Police National Computer (PNC), as well as checked, if appropriate, against lists of people considered unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable people maintained by the Independent Safeguarding Authority and others; these include the ISA Children's list, the ISA Adults' list and List 99. Copies of completed disclosures are sent to the applicant and the countersignatory organisation.

Employers and temporary staff agencies have bemoaned the time it takes for a worker to be cleared by the CRB and in an effort to cut waiting times the government allowed the establishment of "ISA Adult First". Registered bodies may check whether an applicant appears on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults(POVA) list through this online checking system, which takes around two working days to turn around. If the check is clean the body may provisionally employ the applicant, subject to an increased level in supervision, until the return by post of the full disclosure.

Disclosure process

The process by which the CRB provides criminal record data is called "Disclosure". There are two levels of Disclosure: Standard and Enhanced. These checks cannot be obtained by members of the public directly but are only available to organisations and only for those professions, offices, employments, work and occupations listed in the Exceptions Order to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

A third form of disclosure, the "Basic Disclosure", is not currently available, but is intended for individuals to obtain copies of their own criminal record, though members of the public can currently do this by requesting 'subject access' under the Data Protection Act from any British police force, regardless of where the
subject lives.