Basic Disclosure checks

There is a group of people within congregations who do not require PVG Scheme Membership because they do not undertake regulated work with vulnerable groups. Often such roles are leadership roles, or roles which involve significant perceived levels of trust and responsibility and interaction with children and other vulnerable people. This provides a context where harm can occur.

It is the long experience of the Safeguarding Committee that posts such as organists, church officers/caretakers and café workers are perceived as having positions of leadership or trust.

The Safeguarding Committee Report to the General Assembly 2019 included the following deliverance:

Instruct Kirk Sessions to conduct Basic Disclosure checks on all individuals (regardless of their employment status) in their congregation in leadership roles and/or positions of trust, including but not limited to organists, church officers/caretakers and café workers, where their duties may involve contact with vulnerable groups as referred to in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

This deliverance is also applicable to posts in the Presbytery of England.

The Basic Disclosure guidance, the SG23 Basic Disclosure Certificate Undertaking form and the SG25 Basic Disclosure Record Form can be found on the Safe Recruitment section of The Church of Scotland Safeguarding Service website.