Criminal records checks may be carried out in respect of staff working with children and vulnerable adults. In addition to criminal records the checks should reveal whether people have been put on a list in respect of not being able to work with children or vulnerable adults.
There is a legal requirement for specified occupations to undertake criminal records checks, these include teachers, for example.
There is no legal requirement at the present time for optometrists to undertake criminal records checks in respect of people working in their practices, but it may be advisable to do so when making a recruitment decision, so that the problems which might arise from someone who should not be working with children or vulnerable adults may be averted. At the present time the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which undertakes checks in England and Wales, is looking to undertake checks on people who have been offered jobs, rather than people applying for jobs or already working in a practice, in order to allow the employer to make a recruitment decision. This is probably the same for the disclosure services in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
If a check reveals a criminal record that is not necessarily a reason for not offering someone a job: an employer should consider whether the nature or seriousness of the offence should preclude the person from taking up the job.
Criminal records checks may be undertaken by the business signing up to its national criminal records disclosure service or through an umbrella body. Details of umbrella bodies can be obtained form the national criminal records disclosure service.
CRIMINAL RECORDS DISCLOSURE SERVICES
England and Wales:
Criminal Records Bureau:
P O Box 91
Liverpool, L69 2UH
Telephone: 0870 90 90 811
Websites: www.crb.gov.uk
Northern Ireland
Child Care Unit
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Room 508A, Dundonald House
Belfast, BT4 3SF
Tel: (028) 90 52 50 20
E-mail:PECS@dhsspsni.gov.uk
Scotland
Disclosure Scotland
PO Box 250
Glasgow, G51 1YU
Telephone helpline: 0870 609 6006
Fax: 0870 609 6996
e-mail: info@disclosurescotland.co.uk
Web: www.disclosurescotland.co.uk
