Civil liberties group the Manifesto Club is tomorrow publishing the first in-depth study showing the damaging effect of child protection policies on the voluntary sector.
The report, Volunteering Made Difficult, has uncovered alarming examples and statistics showing how child protection regulations are obstructing voluntary activity.
The report unpacks statistics released to the Manifesto Club under the Freedom of Information Act, which show that:
over 4 million volunteers have been CRB checked since 2002;
volunteer CRB checks are currently running at over 700,000 a year;
under current plans, 2 million volunteers would be forced to register on the Independent Safeguarding Authority's vetting database
The report calculates the total cost of volunteers' CRB checks and ISA registration as £356.8 million, which it notes 'would have paid for a lot of sports equipment and other facilities that volunteering organisations in this country badly need'.
Josie Appleton, author of the report, says:
'The regulation pressed on volunteers is completely out of proportion with the everyday nature of their activities - after all, they are just listening to children read or doing the crosswords with elderly people. Mistrust has become a default position, and those who want to help out are effectively treated like criminals. Volunteers report that they are being accompanied to the toilet in schools, or asked to wear ID badges stamped with their CRB number.'
Based on dozens of testimonies from volunteers, and data collected and analysed over the past three years, the report includes a host of case studies of 'lost volunteers' - people who abandoned volunteering roles as a direct result of child protection procedures. Case studies include:
Five members of the flower guild at Gloucester Cathedral resigned when they were asked to undergo CRB checks. Around 20 members are threatening to resign if another round of CRB checks goes ahead - including the flower guild chairman.
Jeremy Hummerstone, a parish priest from Great Torrington, Devon, was sacked from his chaplaincy at a district hospital because he refused to undergo a CRB check.
Mike Hansford, Leigh on Sea, Essex, stepped down from running his local junior angling club in protest at child protection proceedures. He explained: 'After some 25 years of starting and running the junior club I am not prepared to have my integrity questioned by a bunch of bureaucrats who seem to think that a piece of paper will stop the Huntleys of this world. I have nothing to hide but I find the whole concept insulting.'
The report finds that volunteers have three main concerns about child protection regulations:
Disrespect/mistrust: volunteers said that they felt 'totally disrespected' or found procedures 'thoroughly insulting';
Privacy concerns: volunteers said they did not want to reveal personal information or have someone 'rummaging through personal details'
Bureaucracy: one volunteer described the problem with CRB checks as 'paperwork, paperwork, paperwork'; another said that bureaucracy turned volunteering into 'a burden and a bore'.
Appleton calls for the rolling back of child protection bureaucracy:
'None of these two million volunteers should have to register with the ISA. We also need to call a halt to the mass and repeated CRB checking of volunteers - which is a policy enforced by bodies such as Ofsted, local authorities and the Child Protection in Sport Unit. Volunteers give a huge amount to society and should be treated with respect and given space to do their work.'
Notes to editors:
1. Volunteering Made Difficult: How the child protection bureaucracy is obstructing volunteersis launched on Thursday 24 June. For a preview copy, contact Josie Appleton on 0779 103 2740 or josie.appleton@manifestoclub.com
The Manifesto Club has been campaigning against the vetting database since October 2006, when it launched a petition signed by individuals including Fay Weldon, Johnny Ball and Alan Silitoe, and hundreds of volunteers, parents and concerned adults. For full details of the Campaign Against Vetting, and previous reports, see: http://www.manifestoclub.com/hubs/vetting
The Manifesto Club campaigns against the Hyperregulation of Everyday Life. For further details on the Manifesto Club see www.manifestoclub.com
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