Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)

[IrritableTech]

Has anyone else had conversations at school about the new ISA scheme which is going to run along side CRBs?

For anyone that doesn't know. The Independent Safeguarding Authority scheme is a register which holds convictions, allegations or suspicions of illegal activity on the registered members. The scheme is more proactive at contacting the organisation (schools, colleges, nursing homes etc.) as soon as information comes to light rather than waiting for the next round of CRB checks.

We had a presentation about it yesterday and it looks like it will become an absolute mine field.

Basically as I understand it, people who are not already employed directly by the organisation who make frequent (once a month or more) or Intensive (activity takes place on 3 or more days in any one 30 day period) visits will need to be ISA registered. There is no pre-registration before the law comes into power on the 12th of October. Registration will normally take 4-6 weeks. Current CRB'ed employees have up to 5 years to get on the ISA register. Interestingly, it’s the individuals who are responsible to pay the £28 one off lifetime registration fee.

So currently, our contractors may not be able to work on site between October 12th and possibly the end of November (assuming they are on site once a month or more) until their ISA registration number comes through.

The major problem I have is me and the rest of the team work in primary schools in the area. We are contractors to these primaries, and technically won't be able to visit until our ISA registration is complete even though we can work at our high school.

I understand why this has been brought in, but it scares me that it's more a case of guilty until proven innocent.

Has anyone else had this scheme pointed out to them? More info is available at Independent Safeguard Authority - Home