Recommendation 25: Amendment of Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
From Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published 25 April 2018.
Recommendation
The Chair and Panel recommend that the Home Office ensures that the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is amended so that, where a fitness to practise hearing has been conducted by the keeper of a relevant register and has resulted in removal of a practitioner from that register for reasons relating to harm or risk of harm to children: the keeper of the register has a duty to refer that information to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), and the DBS, on receiving the referral, has a duty to automatically bar the practitioner from working with children, allowing them the opportunity to make representations to the DBS if they consider the bar to be disproportionate or unfair.
In brief (written by this site)
The recommendation called for amending legislation to require automatic barring referrals for deregistered practitioners. In July 2019, HM Government stated that the Home Office had asked the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to continue close engagement with professional bodies, having rejected the recommendation in December 2018 on the grounds that automatic barring would be disproportionate (HM Government response, Dec 2018; HM Government, Jul 2019). In October 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found that supervisory authorities have powers to refer individuals but no legal duty to share information, noting that not all regulators routinely share details regarding dismissals or resignations involving child protection (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 19 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
60. The Home Office therefore considers that automatic barring would be disproportionate. Further, as the behaviour or incident prompting the fitness to practise hearing will have been referred to the DBS by the employer under their statutory duty to report the matter, the proposed new duty is unnecessary. The DBS will have been made aware of the concerns at an early stage by the employer. The DBS will also liaise with the relevant professional body in the course of its barring considerations so will take into account the outcome of a fitness to practise hearing, during the barring process.
61. In rejecting the recommendations of the Inquiry, however, the Home Office will ask the DBS to continue its close engagement with all professional bodies to ensure that effective information sharing takes place at all stages of their respective decision-making processes, and to inform the department of any emerging issues.
Delivery
UK Government states no delivery position (22 July 2019)
The Home Office asked the DBS to continue its close engagement with professional bodies to ensure that effective information sharing takes place at all stages of their respective decision-making processes. The DBS engages closely with professional bodies such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Teaching Regulation Agency and the CQC as part of its day-to-day operations, in particular in relation to sharing information in the consideration and determination of barring referral cases.
Site note: The UK Government's progress update on the Interim Report, 22 July 2019. For each recommendation it restates the "Government commitment - December 2018" and gives an "Update"; it states no new position on the recommendation. The position is in the response of 20 December 2018.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (20 October 2022)
Similarly, supervisory authorities (workforce and workplace regulators and inspectorates) have the power to refer individuals to the DBS to consider for inclusion on the barred list, but do not have a legal duty to refer or to share information with the DBS unless in response to a specific request. The DBS has developed information- sharing protocols with some workforce regulators, but not all inspectorates or regulators routinely share information with the DBS about resignations and dismissals in circumstances where child protection or safeguarding concerns have been raised.
From: The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Part K and annexes (accessible)
Earlier findings (2)
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (20 October 2022)
49. In its Interim Report, the Inquiry recommended that the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 be amended to place keepers of relevant registers under a duty to refer information about practitioners who had been removed from the register to the DBS. It also recommended that, upon receiving the referral, the DBS should be under a duty to automatically bar the practitioner from working with children. In July 2019, the government responded, stating that the Home Office had asked the DBS to continue its “close engagement” with professional bodies and regulators to ensure effective information-sharing takes place.
From: The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Part K and annexes (accessible)
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (6 October 2022)
On 22 July 2019, the UK Government stated that the Home Office asked the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to continue its close engagement with professional bodies and regulators to ensure effective information sharing takes place. The Government response also stated that the DBS has not identified any emerging issues at present.
From: Recommendations - Interim Report
Site note: These are the Inquiry's own words, from its recommendations page for the Interim Report, captured by the Internet Archive on 6 October 2022. They are the Inquiry's account of what the body told it, not the body's own words.
Site note: The government's own words are recorded on this recommendation: its response of 20 December 2018 and its progress update of 22 July 2019.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- UK Government
Response, delivery statement - Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Finding