Should care staff be exempt from additional ISA vetting fees?

Although many employers are expected to cover the cost of registering, they are not required to, and the ultimate responsibility for paying lies with the individual.

The fees will cover the cost of sifting through police and employment records for nine million adults, including thousands of social care workers and volunteers. The initiative was borne out of the public inquiry into the 2002 murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells by Ian Huntley, a school caretaker who was reported to police on numerous occasions over alleged sexual assaults but never charged.

But should social care workers be exempt from the £64 fee?

Consultants at de Poel, which manage the supply of temporary workers, think they should.

The company believes that the additional fees will act as a deterrent to people considering entering the sector in frontline support roles, which are among the lowest paid jobs in the economy.

Matthew Sanders, chief executive of de Poel, said the sector could become "wholly reliant" on temporary workers when the changes come into effect as a result. 

However, a Home Office spokesperson said registration with the ISA could even result in some financial savings as employees only need to register once and the scheme would reduce the need for routine Criminal Record Bureau checks.

This is because that while CRB checks will present a complete picture of a person's criminal history, the ISA scheme is much more proactive, and any information relating to a person's suitability to work with children or vulnerable adults will be passed to employers as soon as it arises.

The impact of charges on the workforce is the latest in a long line of controversies to emerge from the radical scheme. Will your employer be paying your ISA fee? And do you agree that care workers should be made exempt from the charges?