21. Will it cost us anything to Police Check our volunteers?

There is no cost for disclosures for volunteers. When the CRB was announced there were fears that the fee for volunteers would be the same as for paid staff. At the time of writing this is now £28 for standard disclosures, and £33 for enhanced level checks. Organisations would have been faced with either bearing a substantial cost, or passing the fees on to their volunteers. This would have created a massive financial barrier to volunteering. The volunteering sector fought a robust campaign to ensure that checks for volunteers would be free.

However, although the disclosures are free, organisations still need to pay the £300 registration fee. Organisations who cannot or choose not to pay the registration fee must rely on finding an umbrella organisation. This is likely to involve an admin charge. Some ‘umbrella organisations’ are profit making exercises.

You can also contact the Criminal Records Bureau Information Line 0870 90 90 811 or their Disclosure website for more details www.disclosure.gov.uk.