R19 Response Accepted Self-assessed

Registration scheme for working with children

Recommendation

New arrangements should be introduced requiring those who wish to work with children, or vulnerable adults, to be registered. This register – perhaps supported by a card or licence – would confirm that there is no known reason why an individual should not work with these client groups. The new register would be administered by a central body, which would take the decision, subject to published criteria, to approve or refuse registration on the basis of all the information made available to them by the police and other agencies. The responsibility for judging the relevance of police intelligence in deciding a person's suitability would lie with the central body. The police, as now, would be able to identify intelligence which on no account should be disclosed to the applicant. Employers should still decide, based on good selection procedures, whether or not the job required the postholder to be registered and should retain the ultimate decision as to whether or not to employ. The central body would have the discretion to ignore any conviction information judged not to be relevant to the position in question. Individuals should have a right to appeal against any refusal to place them on the register and that right should be exercised before any information is made available to a third party. The register should be continuously updated and available to prospective employers for checking online or by telephone. The register should be introduced in a phased way, over a period of years, to avoid the problems associated with the introduction of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). The DfES, in consultation with other government departments, should decide whether the registration scheme should be evidenced by a licence or card.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 established a framework for vetting, leading to the operational Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) system (Gov.uk progress, 2006, 2026). However, the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 explicitly scaled back the universal registration scheme with a card or licence, which the recommendation had called for, deeming it disproportionate (Gov.uk progress, 2012).
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 18 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted Home Office
22 Jun 2004

The Home Secretary made a statement to Parliament on 22 June 2004, the day the Bichard Inquiry Report was published, accepting all 31 recommendations in full. The government stated it was "in principle, accepting Sir Michael's main recommendations and will act on them immediately." Implementation led to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (now the Disclosure and Barring Service). By February 2007, 21 of the 31 recommendations had been fully or substantially completed. See Hansard, 22 June 2004.

Read Full Response
Note: Government responded with a single statement accepting all 31 recommendations. Individual per-recommendation responses were not published separately.
Progress Timeline
Home Office states: Official Report
01 May 2012

Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 received Royal Assent. Explicitly scaled back the universal registration scheme with a card or licence that the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 had established, deeming it disproportionate. DBS retained enhanced checks but not the card/licence model Bichard envisioned.

Home Office states: Official Report
08 Nov 2006

Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 received Royal Assent. Established the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to administer a new vetting and barring scheme, including a registration system for those working with children and vulnerable adults.

Source
Report The Bichard Inquiry Report 22 Jun 2004
Responsible Bodies
DfES Primary
Recommendation age 21.8 yrs
Last formal update 5075 days ago