CRB clearance - am confused!

[hippipotami]

Right, this may be glaringly obvious, but I have not yet had any coffee, so please bare with me...

I was CRB cleared in 2005 when I joined the PTA. I have now become class rep and we had our first meeting with the deputy head of the school yesterday. She said that CRB clearance runs out after a period of 3 or 4 years and needs to bere-newed. However, I have searched the CRB website and it does not mention anything about expiry and re-newing.
Also, the school secretary said there is now a charge for re-newing or applying for CRB clearance. Again, the CRB website states (and I quote) " The CRB will issue a Disclosure free of charge if the person for whom a Disclosure is required satisfies the following criteria: - a volunteer is person who is engaged in any activity which involves spending time unpaid doing something which aims to benefit someone other than or in addition to close relatives.

So, is the school trying it on wrt payment? And has anyone had to have their CRB Disclosure re-newed?

[head spinning emoticon]

dramaqueen said:
"Everyone on a PTA now needs to be crb checked. Our PTA found this out on the PTA website."

What PTA website?

Repeat checks for same organisation may not be free, they aren't for charity preschools, anyway. Fees are ~£36 to CRB, ~£8 to umbrella body if needed, +VAT on the subtotal.

It's true CRB don't suggest a fixed expiry date, but Charity Commission recommends rechecks every 3 years, and PTAs are charities...

On another thread someone said that she was told by Ofsted that they now treat CRB enhanced disclosures as portable if under 3yrs old. I just sent off a DC2+8month old CRB-ED to Ofsted, will see if they really think it's ok. Ofsted did recently accept mine from elsewhere, which was almost 2 years old. On that basis, a school PTA might be able to accept a CRB from elsewhere < 3 yrs old...

it is not true that everyone on a PTA needs to be CRB checked .. not true at all

see question 43

Right, I have since found out that to get crb clearance for our school, the forms get checked via a middle man. The middle man charges for this service. This charge the school then passes on to us volunteers. Is there any way round this?

Lljjk, that was me with the portable CRBs.
It makes me cross because |I have spent half of the summer holidays starting new staff, 2 of which had enhanced disclosures from this county and also in a prechool.
Ofsted originally said that they had to be re checked - free. Then when I called ot query another member of staff, I wa stold they could be ported.
Then I called them again, about soething else, I was toild again tha they could be ported.

I htink it is tandard to check after 3 years, and yes, it owuld incur a charge, but quite ludicrous to expect a volunteer to pay.

Here is the NCPTA website www.ncpta.org.uk/

Yes, I was working as a registered nurse and had a CRB check at the enhanced level. I then had to have another one done to become a CM as it was a different regulatory body who needed the disclosure. I also had to pay for the childminder one, whereas the NHS paid for the previous one.

I've waded my way through the treacle that is the NCPTA information.

I think...

To register as a charity (any PTA that raises over £1000 a year should be registered iirc) the Charity Commission insists that trustees are CRB checked.

Not sure how I'm fixed with this because I am a trustee, but our PTFA is already registered (although like others, I do have a CRB check from elsewhere).

Further to that it is up to the school/PTA to decide who needs to be CRB cleared.

Need to have a discussion with the Head methinks.

Thanks for link to PTA website.

Uh Fr*ck, I think unknownrebel is exactly right (read this). But rules only changed late last year so many of us caught out (I love how rules change and nobody tells you). This suggests a major headache for any unprepared PTA about to file end of yr report to Charity Commission.

No way around it, hippipotami, the umbrella body (the middle man as you call it) earns their keep by doing quality control on the disclosure applications (fiddley to get exactly right, so arguably worth paying for). Also ensures that applicants are informed about duty to follow CRB code of practice (all about access to, interpretation, safe storage, and destroying CRB info). Umbrella group charge only about £8, which isn't much compared to CRB charge of £36, and HM gov. unhelpfully slapping VAT on the lot after that (whole lot sometimes subsidised by someone else, so effectively free to applicant).

Who subsidises the checks for PTAs? Surely not the Charity Commission, so who? I guess I'll phone CC to double check CRB necessary, who subsidises them, and if we as PTA are defend a position of treating CRBs as portable from other settings if

I got mine renewed. CRB told me on phone it was bascially down to the descretion of the new employers

It really doesn't seem fair to pass the expense on to you, hippipotami- and is highly disscriminatory to do so as it restricts PTA membership to those who can afford the fee for the procedure.
It is the organisations's responsibility to get the checks done - to check on people they work with - no the individual's, which is why peope who work with many difernt places are checked repeatedly. Myorganisation employs peoploe who need enhanced CRB disclosure, and so we budget fro the cost of checks..

Different requirements between different schools will depend on the Child protection policy agreed by the governors of that school - you should alert the governors ot the implications of passing the cost on to volunteers.

Hello. Right, have been chatting to both the chair of the PTA and the school secretary. The school secretary feels justified in passing the charge on to the volunteers as she believes the money saved should be spent on the children (books etc) The thing is, we live in a very affluent area so the school feels most volunteers can afford the CRB fee. (we are ourselves not a very well-off family but I did not point that out to the secretary). As it is, she then said that they are doing away with the re-newal, so the fact that I was cleared 2 and a half years ago, and have been regularly helping at the school, and have children at the school is good enough for them.
Then later the PTA chair said that they will pay out of PTA funds the CRB fee for any PTA members.
So, I have re-joined the PTA (have had a break for a few years) and as and when my CRB does need to be re-newed, the PTA will fund the bill. In the meantime I have to volunteer my socks off to make it worth their while

Good for you, Hippi - the fact that 'most' people could, in the school's opinion, afford it is exactly what makes a minority of parents feel excluded, and discriminates against them taking a role in the PTA - you have established an important principle!