The Disclosure Act will improve the disclosure system in Scotland by removing unnecessary barriers for people with convictions as they seek employment or other opportunities and enhance the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. Some of the Disclosure Act provisions are in force already, laying the groundwork for implementation of the remainder of the Disclosure Act, which will be delivered in phases.

What You Can Do Now

To ensure compliance with data protection legislation, organisations should download the ‘Removal of Interest Form’ and return the completed form to disclosures@volunteerscotland.org.uk when a PVG scheme member stops doing regulated work with them.

Disclosure Scotland will then remove your organisations interest in the individual. This will help Disclosure Scotland identify those who no longer need to be in the PVG scheme, eliminate unnecessary monitoring and prevent them providing information to you which you are no longer legally entitled to.

Recent Consultation

As part of Disclosure Scotland’s work to implement most of the Disclosure Act by 1 April 2025, they are reviewing their fee waivers, discounting, and registration fees. The public consultation ran from 5 March until 28 May 2024. They received over 1200 responses and 175 organisations shared their thoughts on the options discussed within the consultation.

They are now analysing the responses. A consultation report setting out the analysis themes will be available through the news section of their corporate website in due course. This work will inform fee regulations to be laid in early 2025.

Information Sessions

VSDS is hosting Disclosure Act Info Sessions to give you the opportunity to learn about the new legislation and how you can prepare for working with the new Act. They will also provide a chance to ask any questions you may have about the implementation of the Act in 2025, as well as how to work with the current disclosure legislation. All sessions are free and will be hosted on Microsoft Teams. Booking is required via Eventbrite.

To find out more about Disclosure Services and the Disclosure Act, please visit the VSDS website.