Confederation welcomes safeguard proposals

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has welcomed proposals that will see all staff who work with vulnerable people registering with an Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

The REC, which represents over 8000 recruitment agencies, has submitted its response to the Government’s consultation on ISA scheme.

In future, all those who wish to work in environments with children or vulnerable adults will have to register with the ISA, which will check their suitability. This requirement will be in addition to current Criminal Record Bureau checks.

The Government estimates, around 11 million people will be registered on the scheme and Anne Fairweather, Head of Public Policy at the REC said that the new scheme sounds encouraging.

We’re pleased to see that the ISA will be a live scheme that will notify employers as soon as an employee’s status has changed.

However it is vital that such a wide reaching scheme is phased in properly. Recruiters are only too well aware of the problems that beset the introduction of the CRB which simply does not respond to the temporary work market, continued Fairweather.

The ISA offers a real opportunity to create a vetting scheme that responds to the temporary market whilst ensuring the safety of vulnerable groups, she added.