Volunteers in England and Wales will not be charged for new portable criminal record checks. It is the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) intention that this will follow in NI.

It is the DOJ’s ‘intention’ that the same system will be implemented in Northern Ireland, at a later stage.  The new ‘update service’ means that once a volunteer has a CRB / AccessNI check (now called DBS check) they should not need to undergo a new check every time they start a new volunteering opportunity.

One of the issues has been whether volunteers will have to pay for the subscription service to enable their Enhanced Disclosure Certificate to be portable. The UK Government Department, the Home Office, which is responsible for making decision on criminal recording checking in England and Wales, has just confirmed that they will not charge volunteers if they need to update their online records to take account of changes in circumstances i.e. taking on a new volunteer role. The DOJ website has also released a statement on the Home Office Statement saying that “When the Update Service is introduced in Northern Ireland it is intended that these will be free of charge for volunteers here also.” Although this does not explicitly state that the same no charge policy will be taken in Northern Ireland, it is very encouraging.

Volunteer Now will continue to monitor and share updates on the situation.

http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/accessni/accessni-latest-news/21-december-2012---portable-criminal-record-checks.htm