Scottish Government will cover the cost of PVG checks for Social Care Workers (and comparable roles in Justice and Children’s Services) from 1 October 2022 – 31 March 2023
Anyone starting a new job in certain roles within the social care sector, and comparable roles in justice and children’s services are again now eligible to have their Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) costs paid if you apply for PVG by 31 March 2023.
The Scottish Government has reintroduced these measures in recognition of the severity of the issues currently affecting this sector. You can find out more about this trial at www.gov.scot/publications/health-social-care-winter-resilience-overview-2022-23/pages/1. These measures are intended to help encourage more staff into the profession. we will cover the cost of Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) checks for people in eligible roles.
PVG checks cost between £18 and £59. You can find out more about fees for PVG checks on the Disclosure Scotland website.
All applications must be made by 31 March 2023.
This trial has been backdated to 1 October 2022 to maximise the benefit to the sector.
If you applied for PVG for a role eligible for this fee waiver on or after 1 October 2022, you should apply to Disclosure Scotland for a refund. You can do this by contacting Disclosure Scotland’s Finance team directly via email (DSFinanceOps@disclosurescotland.gov.scot). More information on refunds is available on the Disclosure Scotland website.
Eligibility
To qualify for PVG fees to be waived, the person applying for the role must:
- have started a new job or taken up a new position with your existing employer in an eligible role (see below), AND
- have applied for a PVG check between 1 October 2022 and no later than 31 March 2023 – any applications outside these dates will not be eligible
In all other cases, for example if you have a policy of periodically re-checking your existing staff, the PVG costs must be paid as normal.
Eligible roles
To be eligible for this trial, you must be working in a new role of:
- manager
- supervisor
- practitioner, or
- support worker
AND be working in one of the following areas:
- Adult services
- care homes
- care at home services
- housing support
- day care services
- Children’s services
- residential childcare
- residential school care accommodation
- Justice services
- offender accommodation
Please note: Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) roles are not covered.
Eligible roles for personal assistants
- any personal assistants directly paid by their employer who receives their funding via self-directed support option 1 and/or Independent Living Fund Scotland
How to apply
If your role is eligible, you should apply for PVG through the Disclosure Scotland website.
Within the ‘position applied for’ field, you must type in “FSC” followed by the name of the actual position. Disclosure Scotland will use this to ensure you are not charged for your application and that your application is prioritised
When asked to enter a payment method, you should select ‘registered body invoice’ even if you usually ask your employees to pay for their own PVG checks by card payment. This is for administrative purposes only. You will not be charged for the application,
Personal assistants who work for an organisation
Some organisations refer to their care workers as Personal assistants. If you are a personal assistant working for an organisation should follow the above process when applying for PVG.
Personal assistants paid directly by an individual
If you are a personal assistant paid directly by an individual, you should apply via the Disclosure Scotland website and send this by email. You can also request a paper form from Disclosure Scotland if you need to.
In the ‘payment’ section of the email form and the ‘card number’ field if using the paper form, rather than making a card payment, you should enter the text ‘FSC’ in the field ‘9 digit payment reference number’.
Disclosure Scotland will use this text to identify PVG applications that you will not be charged for and to prioritise your application.
Contact
If you have any questions about this trial, email: ascworkforce@gov.scot
You can also contact Disclosure Scotland’s operations management team via dsoperations@disclosurescotland.gov.scot or by calling their helpline on 0300 020 0040 Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm or Friday 9am to 3:30pm