Delays in carrying out background checks on new employees who want to work with children and protected adults is causing chaos in the industry.
Thousands of applications for Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) assessments are taking longer than the target 14 days to process. The delays are said to make it harder for organisations such as nurseries to plan properly for the future.
The stats were revealed in a Freedom of Information request by the Sunday Mail. It showed for 333,680 applications made between April 1 to October 31 last year, 13501 were processed outside the 14-day target.
Scottish Labour spokesperson for Children and Young People Martin Whitfield hit out: “A well-functioning disclosure system is a matter of public safety – the SNP must urgently get a grip of this system in crisis.”
Last month, Scottish Labour claimed Disclosure Scotland is in “chaos”, after it spent over £100million on temporary staff in 12 years. The body paid about £1.9m to temporary workers in 2012 but by 2018 it reached £39.8m with about £16.6m spent on casual staff that year alone.
Latest sums show another £9.2m paid to agency and contractor staff in 2023, with at least £7.5m handed over last year, taking the 12-year total to £103m.
Labour uncovered data showing the wait for criminal record checks rose in the last eight years. Employers must wait longer for basic background checks – up to 5.9 days in 2023 from four in 2016. Waits for PVG scheme record updates saw the biggest rise.
The Scottish Government said: “We will continue to ensure Disclosure Scotland is fully funded. Between 1 April and 31 October 2024, 95.9 per cent of applications were processed within target.
“In some cases, additional steps are required to reach the certainty required for the PVG scheme, which is why a small percentage take longer.”
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