Legal & business

Raisa Pankalainen ISM, Office & Member Administrator, provides a reminder of the procedures involved in obtaining criminal record checks for safe-guarding purposes in the four UK nations

Above: Raisa Pankalainen Photo: Emile Holba Obtaining a criminal record check for private teaching

Now that life is getting slowly back to normal in all four nations, many music teachers have started or are planning to start face-to-face lessons again. If you are teaching privately, the ISM recommends that you obtain a criminal record check for safeguarding purposes. As your professional body, we can request a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check if you are based in England and Wales, request Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme registration if you are based in Scotland, or request an AccessNI check if you are based in Northern Ireland.

ISM Registered Private Teacher Status

If you wish to apply for ISM Registered Private Teacher (RPT) status, a criminal record check is mandatory. Having ISM RPT status can help you to promote your private music lessons, as it demonstrates that you have been reference and criminal record checked by your professional body, and that you have signed up to our Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy, Code of Practice and procedures. You will receive a certificate of your status and a highlighted listing on the ISM Music Directory.

DBS checks

A DBS check is a criminal record check which employers in England and Wales may request, especially if you are working with children and vulnerable adults. There are four different types of checks: basic, standard, enhanced and enhanced with a check of the barred lists. A barred list check shows whether the applicant is on the adults’ and/or children’s barred list. The barred lists allow the DBS to keep a record of people who are not permitted to work in a regulated activity with children and/or vulnerable adults. It’s a criminal offence for a person to work with a group from which they have been barred from working. We can organise an enhanced DBS check with barred list for you if you teach or your intention is to teach under 18s and/or vulnerable adults in the next 4-8 weeks, on one occasion or more per week, or for intensive periods of four days or more over a 30-day period. Applications are handled by our DBS partner, Due Diligence Checking (DDC). The current fee for enhanced DBS check is £61.60 and the whole process takes approximately 4-8 weeks, so it is good to start the process as soon as possible. Once you have received your DBS check, we recommend that you join the DBS Update Service. This is an automatic annual renewal service that allows you to keep your DBS certificate up to date. If you join this service, you will be DBS checked once a year. The cost for the Update Service is £13/year.

PVG scheme

If you live in Scotland, you will need to join the PVG scheme. Protected adults are defined as those aged 16 years and over who are unable to safeguard their own wellbeing, property, rights or other interests and are at risk of harm. The scheme is managed and delivered by Disclosure Scotland, which carries out criminal record checks for our members and shares the result with the DDC. The cost for PVG scheme registration as a new member is £80.60. There is no separate update service for the PVG scheme, as Disclosure Scotland regularly checks applicants’ suitability to continue working with children or protected adults on an ongoing basis. If they find new information which means someone is no longer suitable to work with children or protected adults delete, they will contact the DDC who then will inform the ISM about the changes. If you are already a member of the PVG scheme, DDC can process the application as a PVG update, providing they have seen the original PVG certificate from when you first joined the PVG scheme. The cost of a PVG update is £39.60. The PVG update is required for ISM members who have registered with the PVG scheme through another organisation (not the ISM) and wish to apply for the ISM RPT status.

AccessNI

Northern Ireland has its own criminal record checking service, AccessNI, for those whose work involves close or regular contact with children or vulnerable adults. AccessNI don’t have an update service, so the check is valid only on the point of issue, and employers can decide how often they would like their employees to obtain a check. To maintain your ISM RPT status, we ask members in Northern Ireland to obtain an AccessNI check every three years. If you are self-employed, the ISM can start the application process for you by entering the basic applicant information onto the portal of our partner Due Diligence Checking (DDC). DDC will contact you to provide guidance on setting up an online account with AccessNI, and entering form information required to process the application. You will need to provide original ID documents which need to be verified (either by the ISM or DDC). Documents will then be cross-referenced with the form information to ensure they match. Any discrepancies or differences will be identified and queried with you directly. DDC will submit the form online to AccessNI and track the application to ensure it is processed as quickly as possible. Any queries from AccessNI will be dealt with by a DDC counter-signatory as quickly as possible. The certificate will be issued, printed and posted to DDC, with a copy sent directly to the applicant’s home address. The fee for an enhanced AccessNI check is £54.60.

Contact the ISM

If you require any of these checks, get in touch with us on membership@ism.org or by phone on 020 7221 3499

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