News

The government is considering making funding available for voluntary organisations involved in setting up a "registered body disclosure service" with the Criminal Records Bureau, according to Home Office minister John Denham.

The Home Office has already announced that the CRB - due to be fully operational next April - will issue criminal records checks free of charge to volunteers. But organisations need to become registered bodies before they can access information, although smaller employers and voluntary groups can form an "umbrella" organisation to register on their behalf.

It costs £300 to register, but there will also be the additional costs of administering a disclosure service. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations, among others, has already called for financial support for the voluntary sector, but the government has so far ruled it out.

NCVO is concerned that additional administrative costs will either divert money from general budgets, to the detriment of charitable projects, or result in a fee for use of the service, thus undermining free checks for volunteers.

In evidence to a House of Commons home affairs select committee inquiry earlier this year, the National Association of Clubs for Young People estimated it would have to employ two additional clerks to process an estimated 8,000 applications per year, while the Scout Association said it would cost around £50,000 per year to cover its 70,000 annual checks.