Government vetting scheme scrapped

Date published: 22 June 2010

A vetting scheme proposed by the previous Labour government has been put on hold amid claims that it was “draconian”.

Anyone working with children as of July 2010 would have needed a check from the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to prove that it was safe for them to work with children.

This has been put on hold and the Lib Dem-Conservative coalition will review the scheme.

The check would have cost £64 for anyone intending to work with minors and between 9 and 11 million people would have been placed on a national database determining whether they were allowed to work with children.

Teresa May, Home Secretary, said that to be “guilty before proven innocent” was the wrong approach to the problem, which came under the spotlight following the murders of two young girls in Soham in 2002 by school caretaker Ian Huntley.

Criminal Records checks will still apply as previous.