Disclosure and Risk Assessment
Disclosure Scotland (criminal record checks) process for University Employees
Disclosure Scotland is the agency responsible, on behalf of the Scottish Government, for issuing disclosures of an individual’s criminal convictions and for managing and delivering the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme.
- Basic Disclosure is the lowest level of disclosure and shows details of all unspent convictions (as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974). It is not job-specific and may be used for any purpose. Individuals may make their own application online.
- Standard Disclosure involves higher-level checks and are required for specific professions or duties. Applications must be countersigned by the applicant’s employer and are therefore processed by HR.
- A PVG certificate contains all unspent and certain spent conviction information. University employees may be required to become PVG Scheme members where their job means that they will be undertaking regulated work with children and/or protected adults as part of their normal duties. Applications must be countersigned by HR.
- Staff in posts involving contact with NHS patients will also require a NHS Honorary Contract or Research Passport. Please see the section on NHS Honorary Cover for guidance on the process required to arrange this.
PVG Eligibility - summary video from Disclosure Scotland
Application Process
The below form and accompanying documentation should be submitted to Human Resources as early as possible during the appointment process to ensure that the Disclosure certificate is received before the employee’s start date.
Procedure
- On commencing recruitment, the need for pre-employment checks should be considered and advice sought from HR as required. Requirements should be established when a job description is submitted for grading.
- For advertised posts a job requisition is raised through People & Money. The advert and/or job description should state that a Disclosure check/PVG Scheme membership is required for the post and the relevant PVG or disclosure screening questionnaires inserted to the requisition. Raquel Munoz should be added as an Offer Specialist under the Hiring Team section on behalf of HR.
- In conjunction with carrying out a right to work check, the recruiting department should also request additional forms of identification for the Disclosure/PVG check in order to take verified copies. 3 forms of ID, are required at least one of which should be photographic and one address-based (e.g. passport, driving licence and a utility bill).
- Once the decision is made on the successful candidate, an offer of employment must be made subject to satisfactory Standard Disclosure check or PVG scheme record/update as appropriate and outstanding details and documentation requested from the successful candidate at this stage.
- Note that current members of staff who are transferring internally within the University and are already registered with the PVG scheme (for both Children and Protected Adults) are not required to apply again. The University will already be registered as their employer and will therefore be notified if there are any changes in the person's scheme record.
- The recruiting department submits all details and documentation to Human Resources, including any additional forms required for NHS Honorary Cover.
- HR send Standard Disclosure applications to Disclosure Scotland for processing. PVG applications are initiated online by HR and the applicant will receive an email allowing them to complete their section.
- Once HR have received all documents required, including the completion of the ‘Upload proof of right to work (RTW)’ onboarding task, the recruiter can proceed with the ‘Request contract’ task in People & Money and the employment contract can be processed and issued.
Members of staff are not permitted to commence work until a satisfactory Standard Disclosure check or PVG scheme record/update has been received and they have received their NHS Honorary Cover if applicable.
Risk Assessment
It has been recognised that there may be situations where the timescale associated with the checking process causes serious problems within departments.
In such circumstances, Human Resources may, at their discretion, permit the new member of staff to commence employment.
Permission will be granted in CMVM in the following circumstances :
- where it can be demonstrated that the post holder will not undertake any clinical duties until PVG registration/update is confirmed;
- where the post holder's previous employer is NHS Lothian; they are already a member of the PVG scheme; and all their NHS honorary contract documents have been received by HR .
Other requests will be considered on an individual basis. In all circumstances, HR must be in receipt of all details and documentation required for the PVG registration/update before a risk assessment can be approved and before the post holder can commence employment.
To make a request for an individual to start before pre-employment checks are complete, a risk assessment form should be completed by the line manager who will be supervising the post holder (or their nominated representative) and must be authorised by Human Resources.
For queries regarding Disclosure checks, the PVG Scheme or risk assessments please contact Human Resources