Reforms to the vetting and barring scheme will halve the number of people required to undergo CRB checks, according to Audrey Williams, partner at international law firm Eversheds.

In its review of the vetting and barring scheme, the government has committed to scale back the system to “common sense levels”, while reforms include merging the criminal records body and independent safeguarding body into a single checking service.

Williams says: “Many of the scheme’s critics are likely to be much happier to work with the new proposed scheme. We envisage that less than half of those who would have been affected by the ‘old’ vetting and barring scheme will be affected. This results largely from restrictions to the scope of activities to which the scheme applies, so that, by way of example, work carried out in a school by maintenance or building contractors will no longer be a regulated activity relating to children, though any teaching, even by supply/locum teachers, will.

“The proposals for CRB checks, will be welcomed by employers, workers and volunteers alike. It is intended that the checks will no longer be a ‘snapshot in time’ but that, for a fee, there will be an update arrangement.

“It is currently a source of frustration for many that an active individual needs a separate CRB check for each and every relevant working and volunteering activity. The proposals, when enacted, may also boost the government’s Big Society campaign, given reports that volunteers are stepping down because they do not want to have to undergo a CRB check for arranging flowers in a church, for example.”