What is the PVG Scheme?
The PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) Scheme, is a registration system for anyone who carries out work (paid or unpaid) with vulnerable groups in Scotland. It is designed to exclude people who are known to be unsuitable from working with vulnerable groups and detects those who become unsuitable while in the workplace.
People who are protected by the PVG Scheme are:
individuals under the age of 18 (children)
individuals over the age of 16 who are provided with care, health, community care or welfare services (protected adults)
Key points:
If your community group or organisation has volunteers or paid staff who are in a regulated role, your committee or board has a legal responsibility to make sure that those people are suitable to work with children or vulnerable adults.
Regulated roles can be both paid and volunteering positions. This category includes people working directly with both children and vulnerable adults and others who hold a position of responsibility, such as charity trustees and Board Members.
Volunteer Scotland have created some helpful guidance to determine who needs to be members of the PVG scheme. It can be found here
It is an offence for an individual who is barred to undertake a regulated role. It is also an offence for an employer to offer a barred individual a regulated role unless they can show that they did not know and could not reasonably be expected to know that the individual was barred.
If your organisation has paid staff or volunteers who are in a regulated role, you need access to scheme records. You must either:
register with Disclosure Scotland, which will enable them to countersign disclosure applications or requests
or enrol with a registered body that can provide countersignatory services for them, Volunteer Scotland Disclosure Services can help with this.
Links for more information
Scottish Government - Disclosure Scotland
Types of Disclosure and Fees
https://www.mygov.scot/disclosure-types/
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, CVO
Overview of the PVG Scheme
https://scvo.org.uk/support/running-your-organisation/legislation/pvg-scheme
