Navigating the PVG Scheme in Scotland – What you need to know

Material changes to strengthen Scottish safeguarding rules are now in force affecting many organisations that interact with children and protected adults. We continue to see a number of organisations grappling with the new regime.  

In this blog, we have highlighted some of the key changes and what actions affected bodies should take to update their own policies and processes.

The Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 (“the 2020 Act”), which came into force on 1 April 2025, implemented a number of significant changes to the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. 

What is the PVG scheme? 

The PVG scheme, managed by Disclosure Scotland, applies to anyone seeking paid or voluntary work with children or protected adults. Its purpose is to ensure that individuals are suitable to undertake regulated roles involving vulnerable groups and to prevent those who are unsuitable from doing so. The PVG scheme involves an assessment of suitability, which includes background checks into an individual’s criminal history, including unspent and certain spent convictions and cautions. Once an individual becomes a member of the scheme, their criminal record is continuously monitored by Disclosure Scotland for any new vetting information. 

Changes to the PVG scheme - What you need to know

1. Legal requirement & implementation date

With effect from 1 April 2025, it is a legal requirement for those carrying out a “regulated role” with children and protected adults to become a member of the PVG scheme. This means that organisations must not offer any type of regulated role to an individual unless they have received a PVG scheme disclosure and individuals must not undertake a regulated role unless they are a member of the PVG scheme.

While the requirements came into force on 1 April 2025, there was a ‘period of grace’ from 1 April to 30 June 2025 while organisations got to grips with the new regime, after which, from 1 July 2025, non-compliance became a criminal offence. 

From 1st July 2025 onwards, it is an offence for:

• any individual carrying out a regulated role whilst not a member of the PVG scheme; and
• organisations to offer any type of regulated role to an individual unless they have received a PVG scheme disclosure.

The penalty for these offences is up to five years imprisonment, a fine, or both with Disclosure Scotland being responsible for reporting non-compliance to the police.

2. “Regulated role”

The new rules refer to “regulated roles” – a change from the previous system, where only positions which included “regulated work” required PVG scheme membership. In short, this means that more roles will now require PVG scheme membership.

What is a “regulated role”?

The term “regulated role” refers to any paid or voluntary position that involves carrying out activities involving contact with children or protected adults. 

This updated definition now applies to roles previously not captured such as non-clinical health or hospice staff, volunteers who have unsupervised contact with patients, sports coaches, and talent agents working with children under 18. It also now includes those in a position of trust within organisations, such as trustees, board members or management committee members. A regulated role must include contact (in most cases it will not matter whether contact is supervised or unsupervised) and this may include physical, visual, written, or verbal communication. 

This is an area where we have seen significant uncertainty, and it is important that organisations are considering each role that employees or volunteers are undertaking and assessing that role against the relevant criteria. This is something that we are well placed to assist with.

3. Membership duration

From 1 April 2026, the five-year PVG scheme membership will come into force which marks a change from the current system of lifetime PVG Scheme membership. For individuals joining the PVG Scheme from 1 April 2026, they will automatically enter the five-year membership cycle. For those who joined before 1 April 2026, Disclosure Scotland will contact existing PVG members and manage the transition in phases. 

4. Cross-border organisations 

The PVG Scheme is unique to Scotland and so organisations which are cross-border must be aware that if an employee or volunteer is carrying out a regulated role in Scotland, even if they are already subject to a check by the Disclosure and Barring Service in England and Wales, that individual will also require PVG scheme membership. 

How we can help

Our Public Law and Regulatory Team are able to assist with any queries regarding the 2020 Act and the practical steps needed to comply with the changes, including broader aspects of your organisation’s safeguarding policies and processes. If you have any questions about how the changes may affect you or your organisation, please feel free to get in touch. 

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