NOTES ON CHANGES MADE TO THE CRB “PORTABILITY” SERVICE
 
Portability relates to the re-use of a CRB Disclosure, obtained for a position in one organisation (say an Education Authority) and later used for another position in another organisation (say the England and Wales Board Cricket Board).
This practice is no longer endorsed by the CRB, due to the risks involved, and is discontinued with effect from the 1 April 2006; in simple terms the CRB will not process any portability requests from that date

Those organisations that choose to accept a previously issued Disclosure do so at their own risk.  
The overriding consideration MUST BE the safety of those that you are there to protect- the children and the vulnerable.

The decision is yours as to whether you, as the Club Welfare Officer, ask for a new CRB check or accept the previously issued Disclosure duly recognising that the later course of action would be in direct contravention of the ECB “Safe Hands” Welfare of Young People in Cricket Policy.This would place you in an extremely difficult position if your action resulted in a “barred” person being allowed to work closely with young cricketers at your club and in consequence you are discouraged from deviating from the policy of the Governing Body of cricket (ECB).

LIMITATIONS ON ACCEPTING A DISCLOSURE FROM A PREVIOUS REGISTERED BODY

You must fully understand the limitations and risks involved.
1. Information revealed through a CRB check reflects the information that was available at the time of its issue.

2. A Disclosure carries no formal period of validity and it is the ECB policy, which requires renewal every three years.

3. The older a Disclosure the less reliant the information is, as the information it contains may not be up to date.

4. There are two different levels of CRB check; Standard and Enhanced. It is the latter, which applies in cricket and to accept   the Standard level would not be without risk.

5. An original Disclosure contains a number of security features to prevent tampering and fraud. This feature is not present in the case of a photocopy, which may be offered as authentic proof of a completed check.

6.You need to understand the meaning of the wording that appears in the information boxes on a Disclosure certificate.
“None recorded” means no information was found, “NOT requested” means that the check was not done
·    BOX 1- Police Records of Convictions, Cautions, Reprimands and Warnings
·    BOX 2- Protection of Children Act List information
·    BOX 3- Protection of Vulnerable Adults List information.
·    BOX 4- Other relevant information disclosed at the Chief Police Officer’s discretion 

7. If you are the recipient of a Disclosure issued to a previous Registered Body (e.g. in order to make a recruitment decision) you must not retain it, or any associated correspondence, for longer than is necessary for this particular purpose. In general, this should be for a maximum of 6 months. This means photocopying the Disclosure and maintaining other information received in support of your decision is not an acceptable practice.

8. Using a previously issued Disclosure does not constitute a fresh CRB check.

9.Registered Bodies (in our case the England and Wales Cricket Board) are responsible for the accuracy of the information provided to the CRB and on which it carries out its checks. By accepting a previously issued Disclosure you are accepting the risk that the previous Registered Body may not have accurately and fully validated the person’s identity.

10.The person’s criminal record or other relevant information may have changed since the issue of the Disclosure.

11.      Disclosures may contain “approved” non-conviction information provided by the police from their local records. In the majority of cases, the CRB will print this information on the Disclosure (applicant and Registered Body copy- in our case the ECB) in the box entitled “Other relevant disclosure at the Chief Police Officer(s) discretion”. However occasionally the Chief Police Officer may, if thought necessary in the interests of the prevention or detection of crime, withhold this information from the applicant’s Disclosure.The Registered Body’s copy will contain the following words “Please refer to the letter sent under separate cover”, printed under the date of issue on the Disclosure. If you choose to accept the applicant’s copy you will not know if any information was revealed in a separate letter to the previous Registered Body.

RISK OF NOT COMPLYING WITH ECB WELFARE OF YOUNG PERSONS POLICY BY ACCEPTING OTHER DISCLOSURES

v The England and Wales Cricket Board Welfare of Young Persons Policy clearly defines that CRB checks to be done through them, the ECB.
v Due to the risks involved, if you are considering accepting a previously issued Disclosure you are advised to carry out a full risk assessment and that you will be held directly responsible if you actions lead to a “barred” person being allowed to work closely with young persons. The Heavy Woollen District Junior Cricket League wish to make it clear that no liability shall be incurred by the League, the Management or any Officer of the league due the failure to meet the requirements.
v You should be extremely careful and diligent and take into account the following  
a)  Am I required by law to get a new check?  
b)  Is the level of Disclosure the same as the level I need?
c)  How old is the Disclosure?  
d)  Is the position for which the previously issued Disclosure was obtained similar to the position for which you need a CRB check?
e)  Have all checks that I need been carried out?
f)   Was the previous Disclosure applied for by an organisation that I trust to have correctly authenticated the identity of the person?  
g)  Have you validated and authenticated the person’s identity to ensure that the person presenting the Disclosure is the person on whom the CRB check was done? For instance, have you seen a range of identity documents that confirm their name, address, date and place of birth?  
h)  Is the applicant still living at the same address as the one printed on the Disclosure?  
i)   If it is an Enhanced Disclosure, how can I know if the police released any additional information that is not recorded on the Disclosure?
j)  Have you obtained the consent of the applicant to approach the other organisation?  

CODE OF PRACTICE
 
The CRB’s Code of Practice sets out the circumstances when the details of a CRB check can be passed to a third party. The Code states that information revealed through a CRB check can only be passed to individuals who need to see it as part of the recruitment decision, for which the CRB check was requested. This applies to any additional information provided by the police under cover of a separate letter.
If you are contacted by another organisation about a previously issued Disclosure you can only:
Ø       Confirm or not, whether the information provided reflects that which appears on your copy of the Disclosure
Ø       State if the police did or did not issue additional information issued under cover of a separate letter to the Disclosure