CQC Compliance Quality Assurance
Care & Client Management

The CRB was launched in March 2002 under Part V of the Police Act 1997, following public concern over the safety of vulnerable people, including children, and the realisation that existing local Police forces did not have the capacity to respond to the volume of disclosure required.

The CRB’s function is to enable organisations in the private, voluntary and public sectors to make safer recruitment decisions.

The Criminal Records Bureau covers England and Wales. The equivalent agency in Scotland is Disclosure Scotland and in Northern Ireland is Access NI.

Please note: the registration element of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) has been halted as part of the Coalition Government's VBS review. There is no longer a requirement for those working or volunteering with vulnerable groups to register with the ISA.

Key recommendations from the VBS Review include the merging of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). As such the CRB has been subsumed by the Home Office, so employers and individuals seeking CRB checks should now refer to www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/crb/.