What is Regulated Activity with Children?

This is a key question to ask when deciding what level of Disclosure to request and whether a check of the Barred Lists should be requested, as part of the Enhanced Disclosure. The main aspects of this decision should be centred around the following questions, and each organisation should assess this for themselves. The eligibility for carrying out Regulated Activity with children is broadly broken down into 2 categories.

Please follow the link to view the full guidance provided by the Department for Education. 

1. What work will the role involve?

Included in this assessment should be factors such as:

• Will the work involve teaching, training or supervising children?
• Will the work be supervised? (click here for DfE guidance about supervision)
• Will the employee be carrying out the work frequently? (defined as once a week or more often, or on 4 or more days in a 30-day period, or overnight in the same establishment)
• Will the work involve the provision of Health Care or Personal Care to a child? (this does not have to be done frequently as defined above)

2. Where will the work be carried out?

• Will the work with children be carried out in a ‘Specified Place’? (including schools, pupil referral units, nursery schools, institutions for the detention of children, children’s homes or children centres in England, childcare premises) AND
• Be done frequently (same definition as above)
• Done by the same person engaged in work for or in connection with the purposes of the establishment
• Give the employee an opportunity to have contact with children
• Exceptions to this group are the following:
  • Activity by a person contracted (or volunteering) to provide occasional or temporary services (not teaching, training or supervision of children)
  • Volunteering, under day to day supervision of another person engaging in regulated activity
  • Activity undertaken regularly in a number of different establishments, but only infrequently in each: each establishment is only arranging the activity infrequently, so each establishment is not a regulated activity provider in relation to that activity

Excluded from Regulated Activity with children

The following activities are not classed as Regulated Activity by the DBS:

• family arrangements and personal, non-commerical arrangements e.g. looking after a friend’s child unpaid.
• a person within a group assisting another member of the group (termed ‘peer exemption’)
• incidental contact – the presence of children is unforseen and the activity is not being provided to children

What is the difference between a Child Workforce check and the Barred Lists for Children?

Child Workforce – this indicates to the Local Police Force(s) that the applicant will be working with children to ensure that they release any ‘Approved Additional Information’ relating to this group. This information will be checked at Stage 4 of the application process and the Local Police Force are given further guidance about the information they should include when responding to a ‘child workforce’ check.

U18s Vetting and Barring List – this includes the above information plus a check of the relevant Vetting and Barring Lists controlled and maintained by the DBS, together with a check of Section 142 of the Education Act 2002 (previously called List 99).  These lists contain the names of all those people who are barred from working with people U18. This will be included (if requested) at Stage 3 of the application process with the DBS and will appear on the Disclosure if they are.