Working with children?

As of 1 April 2025, the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 is in force, introducing significant changes to the legal requirements for working or volunteering with children and protected adults. This document outlines the implications for SWI members, Federations, and Institutes.

Summary of the changes

• Individuals must not carry out a ‘regulated role’ with children or protected adults without a valid PVG.
• Organisations must not deploy (paid or unpaid) anyone in a ‘regulated role’ without confirming they hold a valid PVG for the relevant protected group.

What constitutes a ‘regulated role’?

Under the new legislation, an individual is in a regulated role if they are both:

• carrying out a specified activity, and
• having contact with children and/or protected adults.

 The definitions of specified activity and contact have been expanded under the new law.

Contact with protected groups now includes

• physical contact
• visual, written, or verbal communication
• exercising power or influence.

(Note: Incidental contact does not meet the threshold for PVG membership, for example, when a service or activity is not specifically intended for children or protected adults, even if they may attend.)

Activities (relevant to the SWI) include

• taking responsibility for the safety and welfare of children or protected adults
• teaching, instructing, or delivering training
• caring for or supervising children (e.g. when a parent or guardian is not present)
• providing cultural, leisure, social, or recreational activities
• holding power or influence over a child or protected adult in the context of an activity they are involved in or wish to join

What does this mean for SWI members, Federations and Institutes?

 This legislation does not affect general SWI members and has minimal impact on the National body, as working directly with children or protected adults is not one of its core purposes. Any such contact is considered incidental.

However, Federations and Institutes running SWI Junior Dippers groups or similar activities specifically designed for children or protected adults must comply with the updated legal requirements.

Federations and Institutes must ensure that any person involved in demonstrating, teaching, supervising, or delivering activities to children holds a valid PVG.

Individuals must not begin such roles until the PVG application process has been completed and the outcome received by the Federation or Institute.

Committee members and Office Bearers do not need a PVG unless they are directly involved in delivering such activities. This is because the organisation’s primary purpose is not the provision of services to children (as defined in the SWI constitution).

Next steps

Effective immediately, Federations and Institutes running (or planning to run) a Junior Dippers or similar group must ensure that all individuals undertaking a regulated role hold a valid PVG.

This includes individuals who already hold a PVG through another organisation. They must complete the PVG process via the relevant SWI Federation to ensure their membership is correctly linked.

Federations and Institutes are advised to

• Review and maintain clear, labelled, and date-stamped records of all PVG outcomes.
• Create role descriptions that detail regulated activities, ensuring transparency for both the organisation and the individual.

For further guidance, please visit Volunteer Scotland Disclosure Services (VSDS) who are funded by Disclosure Scotland to support the volunteers with their disclosure checks.