Latest News
15 March 2010
CURRENT POSITION WITH REGARD TO RETURN OF CERTIFICATES
The current position in AccessNI is as follows;
| Type of disclosure | Date applications currently being processed were received | Average delivery time for certificates from receipt of application* |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 11 March | 7 days |
| Standard | 12 March | 6 days |
| Enhanced | 3 March | 19 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
23 February 2010
NEW FORMS
In preparation for changes required for the Vetting & Barring Scheme, we have reviewed our Application Forms. From July 2010, there will be a new Registration Form, a new Form for Standard, Enhanced Disclosures and/or ISA Registration and a new Form for Basic Disclosures Only. You can view early samples of these new forms by accessing the Resource Library page in our website (or by clicking the link). You should note that we may still make some very minor changes to the forms over the coming weeks.
2 February 2010
INFORMATION ABOUT ACCESSNI PERFORMANCE IN DECEMBER 2009
For information on AccessNI's performance during December 2009, go to the AccessNI home page, click on AccessNI Performance (see About AccessNI) and at the next page click AccessNI Current Monthly Performance. This will bring you to a slideshow with information about the service delivered by AccessNI during September.
Information in regard to January's performance will be posted in early March.
27 January 2010
The article Working to keep your loved ones safe (2.42MB pdf) will appear in local press over the next couple of days.
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.
Royal Mail Industrial Action - 3 November
AccessNI understands that the next planned Royal Mail Industrial Action will result in no deliveries or collections on Friday 6 November and Monday 9 November. We continue to monitor the situation closely but we do not intend to introduce any contingency arrangements for this forthcoming phase of Industrial Action.
Royal Mail Industrial Action - 26 October 2009
AccessNI understands that potential Industrial Action by Royal Mail staff this week may result in there being no collection of mail on Thursday. As such, AccessNI does not intend to introduce any contingency arrangements this week.
Royal Mail Industrial Action - 20 October 2009
AccessNI is mindful that mail services may be severely disrupted on Thursday and Friday of this week should the planned industrial action by Royal Mail staff proceed. Customers should be aware that strike action could lead to delays in mail, including Disclosure Applications sent to us and the delivery of Disclosure Certificates.
Whilst we do not intend to activate any alternative arrangements for the industrial action planned for this week we are monitoring the situation and may introduce contingency arrangements in the event that the impact of industrial action becomes more severe.
We will publish further information should the position change.
12 October 2009
LAUNCH OF THE VETTING AND BARRING SCHEME (VBS)
The Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) launched today. You can find more information about this on the "Vetting and Barring Scheme" section of our web-site. This is located at the bottom right hand of the third column of the home page.
In particular, you can find the new 22 page HM Government guidance document by clicking the appropriate button in this section of the web-site. In addition, if you click the button entitled "AccessNI Communications to Registered Bodies" you will find a useful leaflet summarising the changes to the disclosure process as a result of the launch of VBS. This leaflet will be posted to all lead and countersignatories during this week.
If you have questions about the definition of regulated or controlled activity, or employers duties to refer to ISA please do not call the AccessNI helpline, but contact the VBS Helpline at 0300 123 1111.
25 September 2009
RE-PRINT POLICY
The period of consultation in respect of the AccessNI Disclosure Certificate Re-print policy is now closed. We have considered responses to the Consulation and have decided to introduce the following 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.
This policy will come into effect from 12 October 2009. Full Policy Statement
23 September 2009
ID VALIDATION FORM
In order to assist organisations who have third parties validating applicants ID, we have designed an ID Validation Form. This form should be completed when ID is validated by those other than approved signatories registered with AccessNI. It has been produced to aid organisations with robust checking to ensure authentic ID has been verified.
There is no change to ID checking for Lead and Countersignatories who should continue to complete E8 and E9 of our Disclosure Application Form.
Where the Lead or Countersignatory do not check the ID, then the individual they have passed this role on to should complete the ID Validation Form. This form should be retained within the organisation and presented to AccessNI on request, we will not ask to see any ID documents, completing this form will confirm the role has been carried out. The form should then be retained by the Signatories responsible for completing E8 and E9 of the application form.
This form can be used by all Registered Bodies including Umbrella Bodies.
You can find this form in the Resource Library on our Home Page under ID Validation Form, or by following this link ID Validation Form
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.
10 August 2009
IMPORTANT CHANGE TO ACCESSNI CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THOSE INSPECTED BY RQIA
Please note that AccessNI has recently made an adjustment to its code of practice. In April we made changes to our Code of Practice to enable those organisations inspected by RQIA to hold disclosure certificates for longer than 6 months.
This has been amended to allow a record to be maintained, to include our certificate reference, the dates certificates were applied for and received and the outcome of the employer deliberation.
The revised Code can be downloaded from this web-site. The changes are outlined at section 2.2 of the Code of Practice and new wording has been entered in Section 4.3.3.4 of the Explanatory Guide.
6 August 2009
ACCESSNI INFORMATION CHARTER
To view AccessNI's information charter, go to the AccessNI home page, click on AccessNI Commitments (see About AccessNI) and at the next page click AccessNI Information Charter
Vetting and Barring Scheme - Contact Details
If you have any questions or queries about the Vetting and Barring Scheme or the role of the ISA then a new dedicated contact centre is ready to take your calls.
You can get in touch with the Vetting and Barring Scheme’s enquiry handlers by calling 0300 123 1111.
This is a Lo-call number and you will only be charged the same rate as you would be for making a local telephone call.
The team of operators will be available between 8am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday to take your calls. If you call outside of these hours you will be able to leave a message and a member of the team will call you back.
Alternatively please feel free to contact the Vetting and Barring Scheme with any queries you may have using the following address: scheme.info@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
However, please keep in mind that this address receives a high volume of emails every day so it may take some time before we are able to respond in full.
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.
18 December 2008
ACCESSNI RETURNS TO FULL SERVICE STANDARDS.
We are pleased to inform all our customers that we are now meeting service standards for all disclosures, basic, standard and enhanced.
We would take this opportunity to again apologise to all our customers for the problems caused during the summer and autumn months due to the late delivery of certificates.
Now that we are meeting all service standards, we intend to maintain this into 2009 to ensure we are providing the best service possible. From January, we will continue to post to the "latest news" section of the web-site the date of applications being processed each Monday. In addition, we are ceasing the practice of issuing "initial advice letters" from 19 December as these are beginning to arrive at the same time as disclosure certificates.
Letters have issued today to all signatories in Registered Bodies to inform them accordingly.
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.
5 February 2008
DIRECT DEBITS
Please note that at present AccessNI is unable to process payment for Disclosures by Direct Debit. Accounts can still be opened but settlement of invoices will need to be made in the first instance by cheque, payable/postal order or BACS. We will let customers know as soon as the Direct Debit facility is available. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.
5 February 2008
COUNTERSIGNATORIES
A number of applications for initial registration have been accompanied by applications for countersignatories to be registered at the same time. AccessNI can not accept any applications for the registration of countersignatories until the initial registration process is complete and Registered Bodies have been advised accordingly. Only then can application for registration as a countersignatory be made and considered. If you require further advice please ring our Customer Service team on 02890 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/.