The announcement by schools secretary Ed Balls that the number of people needing to be checked on the new Vetting and Barring Scheme has been reduced has been welcomed by the industry body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

The Scheme aims to protect children and vulnerable adults by requiring any worker in ‘frequent’ or ‘intensive’ contact with either of these vulnerable groups, some nine million people, to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), with those not on the register barred from these activities.

The number of rules requiring people working with children to register with a new agency and have criminal records checks are now to be watered down following a review.

The checks will now involve only those working with the same children once a week, not once a month, for example.

Anne Fairweather, head of public policy at the REC, says: “We are pleased to see that less people will be checked on the scheme as a result of these changes. Our recruitment agency members were concerned that people engaged on very short contracts in schools and hospitals would not want to spend the £64 fee to be registered with the new scheme. This could have led to difficulties around supplying staff for maintenance services such as building contractors.

“Now that these changes have been made it is vital that there is clear guidance for all concerned before the scheme goes live in July. No vetting scheme will work unless the duties under the scheme are fully understood by employers, recruitment agencies and workers alike.

“These duties need to be communicated clearly and we remain concerned that recent developments may have confused rather than clarified the situation.”

And in an article in The Daily Telegraph, Sir Roger Singleton, chairman of the ISA, blamed MPs for any flaws in the scheme: “The decisions were made by Parliament, so if there is stupidity, that is where it lies.”