The following professions fall under The Exceptions Order in The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions order) 1975. Schedule 1, Articles 2(3), 3 and 4.
Excepted professions, offices, employments, work and occupations:
(a) is concerned with the provision of accommodation, social services or healthcare services to children or the supervision of children: and
(b) is such as to enable the holder to have regualr contact with children in the course of his duties.
The Protection of Children Act 1999: POCA and List 99
The Act makes four principal changes to the Law:
• It places the existing Department of Health Consultancy Service Index (a list of persons considered to be unsuitable to work with children) onto a statutory basis. It then provides for names to be referred to this newly created Protection of Children Act List (POCA) and also a right of appeal to a new Tribunal against inclusion on the Protection of Children Act List (and also inclusion on List 99). It also extends the scheme to health care services provided to children.
• It amends s218 of the Education Reform Act 1988 to enable the Department for Education and Employment to identify people who are put on List 99 because they are not fit and proper persons to work with children.
• It amends Part V of the Police Act 1997 to enable the Criminal Records Bureau, when established, to disclose information about people who are included on the Protection of Children Act List or List 99 along with their criminal records. In this way the Act provides for a “one stop shop” system of checking persons seeking to work with children.
• It requires child care organisations (as defined in the Act) proposing to employ someone in a child care position (as defined) to ensure that individuals are checked through the “one stop shop” against the Protection of Children Act List and the relevant part of List 99 and not to employ anyone who is included on either list.
The Act also contains other provisions, the most important of which are:
• to enable organisations (other than child care organisations as defined within the Act) to refer names to the Protection of Children Act List;
• to permit the Secretary of State to consider the transfer of names currently held on the DH Consultancy Service Index to be transferred to the Protection of Children Act List; and
• to allow organisations to access the new Protection of Children Act List and List 99 without first going through the Criminal Records Bureau until such time as the “one stop shop” comes
into operation within the Bureau.
This guidance reflects a number of changes that have been made to the Protection of Children Act 1999 by the Care Standards Act 2000.
