Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 

Below is a summary of the above act. It gives an indication of how the act affects you as a worker and your organisation.

POSCA (2003)

The Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 allows Scottish Ministers to maintain a list of persons deemed unsuitable to work with children. The Act covers both employed persons and volunteers.

All organisations that work with children, including volunteer organisations, will commit an offence and be liable for prosecution if they do not comply with this legislation.

The list will be known as the Disqualified from Working with Children List. It will help strengthen safeguards already in place to protect children. The definition of a child in this legislation is a person under the age of 18

Access to this list will only be available through the Disclosure process, thereby making registration for police checks on new staff and volunteers mandatory.

The Information Note on the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 - Disqualified from Working with Children List (Scottish Executive 2003) states that:

“An organisation will have a duty to make a referral to Scottish Ministers if an individual working in a child care position harms a child or puts a child at risk of harm AND is dismissed or moved away from access to children as a consequence or would have been dismissed if they had not resigned, retired, been made redundant or left at the end of a temporary contract.

The Explanatory Notes to the Act state that:

“It is important to understand that no referral can be made unless the organisation has (or would, but for a resignation, retiral, redundancy or contract expiry, have) taken steps to remove the individual from his or her present position.” (Para. 9 of the Explanatory Notes).

This information is from Central Registration Body in Scotland (CRBS) website:

www.crbs.org.uk

Please visit this site for more in-depth information and ways in which you can register for free disclosure checks.