Search results

The safeguarding vulnerable groups bill aims to improve the system of checks on staff and volunteers who want to work in social care, health or education. However, it creates different levels of protection for children and for vulnerable adults. This article sets out the concerns expressed by a small coalition of disability charities that argued for improvements to the bill during its passage through Parliament. In particular, they wished to rectify the bill's failure to provide for mandatory checks on staff working privately for vulnerable adults who lack the capacity to manage their own affairs. These arguments were opposed by carers' organisations that wanted to avoid increasing the regulatory burden on carers. We critically examine these arguments, and ask whether there is a conflict of interests between carers and vulnerable adults.

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill introduces a central vetting process for staff and volunteers working with vulnerable adults and children in England and Wales. This new scheme will bring together the current Protection of Vulnerable Adults banning scheme (POVA), List 99 (banning teachers) and the Protection of Children Act list (applicable to those working in childcare). This article draws on research analysing the first 100 referrals to the POVA list and identifies a series of prototypical cases and common themes. The discussion reveals the complexity of decision‐making in this type of regulation and its enforcement.

This article presents an analysis of modernisation as it affects adult protection in England. One of the key policy goals of modernisation has been to improve protection of service users. The article outlines some areas of good practice that are emerging and draws attention to some of the latent conflicts that are apparent.