Criticism of proposal asking schools to pay for staff and volunteer DBS checks

A proposal that schools will be expected to pay for criminal background (DBS) checks for new staff and volunteers is “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” according to a senior councillor.

A saving of £65,000 proposed by Powys County Council’s employment service which would see schools request and pay for individual DBS checks.

This is because a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between schools and the employment service to do the checks on their behalf, would come to an end.

The proposal was discussed at a meeting of the Learning and Skills scrutiny committee on Tuesday, February 1.

Committee chairman, Cllr Peter Roberts said: “It’s just a transfer, it will cost the authority money as you’ll have to raise an invoice to the school which is a cost.

“I appreciate it’s a saving for your team, but the money is moving around council budgets. It’s recycling money.

“It really does seem to be robbing Peter to pay Paul, it means schools will have to make cuts elsewhere.”

He also wondered whether what would happen if schools chose another organisation outside the council to do the DBS checks for them.

Head of workforce and organisational development, Paul Bradshaw said: “I’m not an accountant what I have been asked to do is make sure we received cost recovery, which is why this was put forward.

“We undertake about 27,000 DBS checks a year for around 4,000 organisations including the council and schools.

“That turns over about £1.1 million and from that we make a surplus, and from that we’ve been paying for the schools DBS checks,

“If schools go elsewhere we still make the same surplus and provide a saving to the council.”

Director of education, Lynette Lovell explained that the proposal removed the “blanket” approach taken on DBS checks and that some schools may not need to do them for “some years.”

School governor, Angela Davies said: “This makes no sense to me.”

Education portfolio holder Cllr Phyl Davies said: “The point is, the SLA was good for the schools but it’s no longer viable.”

“That cost should lie with the schools.”

All Powys scrutiny committees are looking in detail at proposals that will make up £7.7 million that need to be made in cuts, savings, and income generation to balance the budget by the end of March 2023.

The committee’s views on the savings proposal will form part of an overall report by scrutiny committees that will go to the Independent/Conservative cabinet to look before they finalise their draft budget later this month.