Latest News

31 August 2010

CURRENT POSITION WITH REGARD TO RETURN OF CERTIFICATES

The table below sets out the current position;

Type of disclosure	Date applications currently being processed were received	Average delivery time for certificates from receipt of application*
Basic	27 August	7 days
Standard	27 August	7 days
Enhanced	26 August	11 days

* please note this is the average time for delivery back to applicant/Registered or Responsible Body - some certificates are delivered more quickly than this, while others take longer.

2 August 2010

INFORMATION ABOUT ACCESSNI PERFORMANCE IN JUNE 2010

For information on AccessNI's performance during June 2010 and the first three months of this financial year, go to the AccessNI home page, click on AccessNI Performance (at the very bottom right of the home page) and at the next page click AccessNI Performance 2010/11. This will bring you to a slideshow with information about the service delivered by AccessNI during that time.

Information in regard to July's performance will be posted in early September.

14 July 2010

RECEIPT OF APPLICATION FORMS

This is a further reminder that from today (14th July) only applications submitted on the new style forms can be accepted by AcecssNI. Any applications received on the "old style" forms will be returned even where these were posted before 9 July or where they have been retuned by AccessNI for amendment before 9 July.

The "old style" application forms have now been withdrawn from the web-site.

5 July 2010

OLD APPLICATION FORMS FINISH ON 9TH JULY

Please note that from this Friday, 9th July, AccessNI will no longer accept the "old style" application forms for any type of disclosure. Applications received after Friday made on "old style" forms will be returned and a fresh application on a "new style" form must be submitted. AccessNI will not accept applications which have been submitted on "old style" forms but have been sent back for amendment. These too must be returned to us by Friday 9th July or a "new style" form must be completed and submitted after 9th July. AccessNI will not accept any responsibility for the lateness of forms delivered by Royal Mail.

To assist customers as far as possible, AccessNI will exceptionally take hand deliveries of application forms between 9am and 12 noon on Friday 9th July. Anyone using this facility must identify themselves to the guards at the gatehouse at PSNI HQ and clearly state they are making a delivery of forms to AccessNI. A member of AccessNI staff will take forms from you. Receipts for hand delivered packages will not be issued. Hand deliveries of forms cannot be accepted outside the times stated in this message.

If you require further information please contact the Helpline on 02890 259100.

2 July 2010

INFORMATION ABOUT ACCESSNI PERFORMANCE IN APRIL/MAY 2010

For information on AccessNI's performance during April and May 2010, go to the AccessNI home page, click on AccessNI Performance and at the next page click AccessNI Performance 2010/11. This will bring you to a slideshow with information about the service delivered by AccessNI during that time.

Information in regard to June's performance will be posted in early July.

16 June 2010

LETTER TO COUNTERSIGNATORIES RE INTRODUCTION TO NEW APPLICATION FORMS

15 June 2010

REVIEW OF VETTING AND BARRING SCHEME AND INTRODUCTION OF NEW ACCESSNI APPLICATION FORM

The Home Secretary, Theresa May MP has today announced that the Vetting and Barring Scheme will be halted to allow the government to re-model the scheme back to “common sense levels”. A separate press release has been made in Northern Ireland.

The immediate impact of this is that registration with ISA will not commence on 26 July as planned and will not be taken forward while the review is being carried out. The scope of the re-modelling process is currently being finalised and will be announced shortly.

This means it will be “business as usual” for AccessNI during the period of the review. Individuals working in regulated or controlled activity with children or vulnerable adults should continue to obtain an Enhanced disclosure.

AccessNI will, however as previously indicated, proceed to introduce a new application. While this form enables ISA registration, the new form should only be used for standard and enhanced disclosures. There is a separate new form for basic disclosures. The new form will be made available on the web-site from Wednesday 16 June. All AccessNI signatories will receive a letter outlining the timetable for the introduction of the new form and transition from the old to new form.

Please click here for;

11 June 2010

APPLICATIONS REQUIRING INPUT FROM METROPOLITAN POLICE

Applications which have a current or previous address in an area covered by the Metropolitan Police will be subject to delays and are unlikely to be returned until after a minimum of 6 weeks from receipt of the application in AccessNI. We apologise for this, but it is a problem affecting the entire UK and is due to circumstances beyond AccessNI's control. We are working with colleagues in the Criminal Records Bureau and the Met Police to resolve this as quickly as possible, but it is unlikely for the foreseeable future this position will change. We will update this message when there is more information.

8 June 2010

ACCESSNI CUSTOMER SURVEY

The results of our Customer Survey are now available. The full report can be viewed on http://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/AccessNI_Customer_Results.html. We would like to thank everyone who responded to the survey and we are very pleased that the level of overall customer satisfaction has risen from 60% in 2008 to 87% in this most recentsurvey. We aim tocontinue to improve on this and so will be considering the results and hope toprovide an update in our next Newsletter.

11 January 2010

RE-PRINT POLICY

Based on a consultation exercise carried out in Summer 2009 AccessNI has introduced the following re-print policy.

Disclosure Certificates will not be re-printed if, at the time the re-print is requested, more than 90 days have elapsed since the date of the original certificate.

Therefore any reprints of certificates requested from 11th January 2010 will fall within this policy. If re-prints are requested outside the stated 90 days they will be refused. A new application can be made for an up to date certificate but it must be accompanied by the appropriate payment.

This Re-print policy can also be found in our Winter Newsletter and on the reverse of the disclosure certificate.

2 September 2009

Our Disclosure Application Form is now available with additional functionality (Active pdf) which allows customers to type directly into the boxes to be completed on the Form. If you have Adobe Acrobat Professional software on your PC you will be able to save and print the completed Form. If you only have Adobe Reader (as is the case with most PCs), you will not be able to save the completed Form. In this instance completed Forms can only be printed.

This updated Disclosure Application Form replaces the previous version of the Form and is available in the Resource Library section of our web site, or by following this link Application Form

Application Forms completed in Type format will enable us to improve aspects of our service. We would encourage all our customers to make use of this Form.

Address Continuation Sheet

Up to now if an applicant had more than 2 addresses over a 5 year period, we asked you to note these on a separate sheet of paper. We know however there have been some difficulties with this system, so we’ve now introduced a continuation sheet on which these addresses can be recorded. This can be downloaded from this web-site at the Resource Library section. We would encourage you to use this sheet from this point forward.

31 March 2008

"SUBJECT ACCESS" CHECKS

Please note that from 1 April it will no longer be possible to receive criminal history information for the purposes of obtaining employment through a "subject access" check from PSNI. From 1 April anyone who needs a copy of their criminal history in order to provide this to their employer must make application through AccessNI on the appropriate application form. Please contact our customer information team for further details on 90-259100.

24 January 2008

ELIGIBILITY TO WORK IN THE UK

It is the responsibility of every employer to satisfy themselves that an employee is entitled to work in the United Kingdom. Employers should check all prospective employees' entitlement to work in the UK, or they risk breaking the law. The checks required depend on when the employee will be, or was recruited. The Border and Immigration Agency provide detailed guidance on what is required on their website http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/preventingillegalworking/.