is this right, my son's nursery say i need to be CRB checked to stay

[law3]

my ds nursery school say i have to be CRB checked, if i want to go in ocassionally, is this right??????????

Ive never heard of it before, with my other 2 ds's i used to stay behind and help out every now and then, but they are now 13 and 11, so that was so time ago, do parents have to have CRB checks?????

I think that strictly speaking so long as you are not left unsupervised you can stay without a CRB but it is common practice to get parent helpers CRB checked now

No, as long as there are CRB checked people always present with you.
BUT it may be their policy, in which case yes.

Our local primary school and nursery do this, I think most do now and why not it works both ways. Would you feel comfortable knwoing your child may be left alone with an adult who wasn't police checked?

I remember as a child a parent helper in my neighbourhood was abusing children whilst being a reading volunteer.

If you are a volunteer you don't have to pay for it

At dd1's pre-school you don't unless you are on the committee, but you can't accompnay your own child to the toilet in case another child is in there. AFAIK dd1's school does requite CRB checks for some parents but not all.

It's up to the individual nursery to set their own policy, do own risk assessment, and consider own liabilities, otherwise. So the nursery can have any policy they like about CRBs.

I know about preschool, sessional care, never sure what people mean by "nursery".

We spoke to Ofsted about this a few days ago.
OFSTED do not expect CRB checks for occasional visitors (or session parent volunteers) who do not have unsupervised contact with children. But regular volunteers, even if they only have supervised contact with children, Ofsted would expect CRB AND a full medical. One of our regular parent volunteers has just had to quit because of the cost of the medical (would be £40 for her or us).

The CRB is only free the first time it's issued in that setting -- and I'm not sure if they are ever free for private nurseries (run for profit). If the nursery wants to meet Ofsted "best practice" guidelines then the CRB must be repeated every 3 years, and these repeats in same setting are not subsidised for anybody.Currently, everything in last 2 paragrs prone to change with no notice.*

My ds nursery requires crb if you are going to help out in the nursery or go on class trips. It does sound a bit OTT but even if you are constantly supervised and don't take children to the toilet etc. then you can still befriend them. Children (and parents) can assume that if you are working in the school then you must be trustworty etc. making it easier for an incident to occur outside school (Ian Huntley).

Oh, and is OP situation reasonable? -- well I don't think occasional visitors with only supervised contact with children should have to cough up £51 for a CRB check, only valid in that setting, so that they can occasionally stay, but that's just imho.

Do you have to cough up the dosh, professorplum, so that your CRB is valid in that setting and in that role (as occasional visitor)? It's not valid to transfer them from anywhere else, you know....

Sorry, I said that wrong, prof-plum's nursery might be eligible for free CRB checks..., don't mean to make it sound like I'm having a go at PP. But they are expensive, and aren't transferable from other settings, and can take months to come thru.

My nursery pays for the crb. £51 is loads. It can't cost that much to do. Surely its not ethical for crb to turn a profit from doing these checks.

Why aren't they transferable? I can understand getting them redone every 3 years but it seems ridiculous that if you wanted to help out at nursey and at brownies or something it would cost £102. I think crb are scamming us.

I didn't pay for mine for pre-school (committee member), not sure if they did. It took about 10 days to come through. The web-site says they are free for volunters crb

I don't think CRB does profit... and yes costs about £51 each (including VAT!) except when they are done for free to a particular group (subsidised by another body, such as when Dfes pays for them for charity pre-school trustees/workers). They are also only subsidised the first time they are issued for a person in a particular setting -- so someone who has an old CRB in that role in that setting would have to pay to have it renewed (or the organisation would).

CRB has to organise lots of searches, not just criminal convictions, but criminal investigations, cautions, social services investigations, etc. Each database holder (separate for each county) charges for the time spent trawling thru their own records.

Not transferable because the onus is on each individual employer (vetter) to make sure the CRB application is done correctly and truthfully, especially ID and address checks. Also, each CRB disclosure is only good for a specific role in each setting.

On the previous logic given... why not CRB check all parents before ever letting them do school pick-ups -- after all, regularly hanging out near the gates is an excellent opportunity to befriend children, isn't it? AND on school property....

Actually, I might be wrong about summat -maybe you can get repeat free CRB checks in the same setting if it's a setting not under Dfes remit, maybe it's only DfES that doesn't fund repeats.... Maybe Scotland or Wales are different, too.
That would be sort of lack of joined up government services we've come to expect, isn't it?

... F*ck, I definitely need off the preschool committee. Am obviously thinking too much like a bureaucrat.

Enhanced disclosures are now portable if they are in the last 3 years. I have just had words with Ofsted re this.

If you are going to regularly help in a pre school/nursery, it is worth completing the CRB check. If it is your foirts for that setting, then you will get it free, whetjer it is through Ofsted, for commitees, or nthrough an agency such as TMG or Capita. If you are re doing your disclosure then you may have to pay.

It is still up to the "institution" though isn't it - but I agree a crb, enhanced or not, is only truly valid for the day it is done. I work in a school and we insist on doing a new crb for everyone. When I started there last August my crb (enhanced) had just been re-done in the February and I still had to get another one. However, as they paid, it didn't really matter. You cannot get a crb as an individual can you so it should never be a personal cost.

I think it is the law. In my school, all visitors who stay in the school, have to be checked, even if it is just for 1/2 an hour. This happened 2 years ago, and we were told, regulations had really tightened up on this.

There was a new iniative called "Every child Matters" I think, although am not sure that it was part of this.

I thought you only had to be CRB checked if you are going to be left on your own with children. It's not necessary at the pre-school I was on the committee of, or at my dd's school.

I think much of it comes down to Best Practice. It can't be a bad thing if all volunteers are checked.

I must chase up that portability thing; all our staff with old CRB in our setting have more recent disclosures from somewhere else.

Individuals do pay for CRB checks, sometimes -- friend works as a supply teacher and had to pay for his own. I imagine it would be the same for a childminder, children's entertainer, other self-employed...

Ofstyed have twice told me you can port them, as long as they ar ewithina certain time.

I wouldn't accept a CRB check from another organisation, even if it was done yesterday.

I have to be able to prove in the eyes of the law that I have taken every reasonable step to ensure someones suitability to work with children and the only way I can do this is to get a fresh check done.

They are free for volunteers but you may have to pay an admin fee to an "umbrella body" if the organisation is not a registered body with the CRB.