The Council of European Jamaats (CoEJ) is registered as an umbrella body with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). This registration allows us to undertake disclosure services on behalf of all our members.  

The CRB is an Executive Agency of the Home Office which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service. It has now become law that anyone working with children (under the age of 18 years) or vulnerable adults should have undergone a disclosure check. This service enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work in this regard.

The CRB was established under Part V of the Police Act 1997 and was launched in March 2002.  Prior to 2002, access to police checks was mainly confined to organisations in the statutory sector for staff that had ‘substantial unsupervised access’ to children. There were many other organisations that could not access these checks and yet had staff with similar access to vulnerable groups. The CRB enables many more organisations to access these checks as part of good recruitment practice.

The CRB acts as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for organisations. They check police records and, in relevant cases, information held by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

There are two levels of CRB check currently available; Standard and Enhanced Disclosures.  Both CRB checks are available in cases where an organisation is entitled to ask exempted questions under the Exceptions Order to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. This includes any organisation whose staff or volunteers work with children or vulnerable adults i.e. nurseries, madaaris, camps etc.

Standard Disclosure
This is primarily available to anyone involved in working with children or vulnerable adults, as well as certain other occupations and entry into professions as specified in the Exceptions Order to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. Standard Disclosures show current and spent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National Computer. If the post involves working with children or vulnerable adults, the following may also
be searched:
• Protection of Children Act (POCA) List
• Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) List
• Information that is held under Section 142 of the Education Act 2002 (formerly known as List 99)

Enhanced Disclosure
This is the highest level of check available to anyone involved in regularly caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of children or vulnerable adults. It is also available in certain licensing purposes and judicial appointments. Enhanced Disclosures contain the same information as the Standard Disclosure but with the addition of any relevant and proportionate information held by the local police forces.

The service is free for volunteers; however, paid staff will be charged the cost of undertaking this service, as charged to us by the CRB office, which would be a minimum of £37.00.

Once an application has been received at the CRB offices, it can take between 6 to 8 weeks to receive the results.  Once an application has been made, volunteering can continue subject to receiving negative results from the CRB check. Until this application has been made, the organisation is vulnerable and therefore CoEJ recommends that this process is undertaken immediately.

CRB checks will ensure that both CoEJ and its members are in full compliance with the laws of the United Kingdom and that we are not in breach of the regulations when it comes to dealing with children and vulnerable adults.  Therefore, we request all members, to contact the Secretariat to discuss its Disclosure requirements to ensure that you are compliant with the current guidance from CRB. Please note that all your nurseries, madaaris and camps are affected and will require a Disclosure service.  CRB checks carry no formal period of validity and the information contained on a CRB check reflects the information available as of the date of its issue.  CoEJ recommends that all the volunteers and paid staff undergo this check every three years.

This has been done as part of our core services to our members, where registration is required to be undertaken centrally.  If you require any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact the Secretariat office on 0845 330 6012 or or by emailing them secretariat@coej.org .

For more information on the CRB please visit: http://www.crb.gov.uk/


CRB Website

Secretariat