The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is a new independent body, established under section 1 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, to prevent unsuitable people from working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults. The ISA will assess any person who wants to work or volunteer with children or vulnerable people where there is information that may indicate they pose a risk to these groups. From July 2010, individuals who want to work with children or vulnerable adults will be able to apply to become ISA -Registered. Using data gathered by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), including relevant criminal convictions, cautions, police intelligence and information provided by a range of other sources, such as current and past employers and even individuals, the ISA will decide on a case-by-case basis whether each person poses a risk to children or vulnerable adults.
The ISA is committed to ensuring that the scheme, whilst protecting the safety of children and vulnerable people, does not have any unintended consequences or unnecessarily disrupt service delivery or other priorities. The NTA is working with the relevant Government departments and the ISA to advise on the specific issues for the substance misuse workforce and service users. The NTA will work to ensure that the treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration into the workplace of service users are all appropriately considered by the ISA.
The ISA has produced some useful factsheets that outline new scheme and the responsibilities of employers and staff. These can be accessed here
