The Government has announced that it will halt registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) in response to criticism that the current scheme is disproportionate, overly burdensome, and unduly infringes on civil liberties.

Voluntary registration with the VBS for new employees and job-movers working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults was due to start on 26 July 2010, with compulsory registration due to follow in November 2010. The Home Office, the Department of Health and the Department for Education are reviewing the Scheme in order to scale registration back to ‘proportionate, common sense levels’.

The proposed vetting database had been set up in response to the murders of two schoolgirls in Soham in 2002. However the database was heavily criticised. Children’s authors and school leaders, in particular, expressed concerns that the plans were an overreaction and that for example an informal child care arrangements between parents would require the parents to register under the scheme.

The Idependent Safeguarding Authority, which was set to run the databse, will continue to make decisions about barring inappropriatre people from jobs and the existing requirements for criminal record checks will still apply.