Disclosure (Scotland) Act FAQs
This page answers the most frequently asked questions about the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, based on queries raised ahead of its implementation on 1 April 2025.
Q1. What are our legal requirements?
It is now a legal requirement for individuals to be a member of the PVG Scheme when carrying out a regulated role with children, protected adults, or both. Organisations must ensure that individuals who are to carry out a regulated role (paid or voluntary) have PVG scheme membership from 1st April 2025 onwards.
Regulated work has been replaced with regulated roles. Roles that were previously regulated work will continue under regulated roles. However, the introduction of ‘regulated roles’ will also bring new roles into the PVG scheme that were not eligible before the 1st April 2025. Examples include, trustees/committee members/directors/board members, football agents, talent scouts, hypnotherapists and certain hospital or hospice-based roles.
To help you assess the criteria for regulated roles, you can review the following documents to help you assess if PVG schemes are required, available here:
- Regulated Roles Children Checklist
- Regulated Roles Protected Adult Checklist
- Disclosure Scotland’s Regulated Roles Guidance
If you are in a regulated role, you must become a member of the PVG scheme.
Q2. When is the PVG scheme grace period?
There will be a short grace period of three months after the PVG scheme becomes a legal requirement on 1st April 2025. This will ensure individuals and organisations don’t immediately commit an offence if there are individuals who are not yet PVG scheme members but are currently working in regulated roles.
Individuals and organisations will not commit an offence if an individual who is carrying out a regulated role for them has, before the 1 July 2025, made an application to join the PVG Scheme, even if Disclosure Scotland has not issued the result.
From 1st July 2025 onwards, two new offences will come into force. It will become an offence for:
- anyone carrying out a regulated role whilst not a member of the PVG scheme
- organisations to offer any type of regulated role to an individual unless they have received a PVG scheme disclosure.
This adds to the existing offences under the PVG Act. For example, it will continue to be an offence for an individual to seek, agree to do or carry out a regulated role if the individual is barred from working with children, protected adults or both. Similarly, organisations must also not offer a regulated role to someone who is barred from that type of regulated role.
Disclosure Scotland will report individuals and organisations to the police if they believe that any of these offences may have taken place. The penalty for these offences is up to five years imprisonment, a fine up to the statutory maximum, or both.
Q3. When does the 5-year membership start?
Disclosure Scotland will provide information on this in due course. This will be implemented from April 2026 onwards.
Q4. What is the age for a child and protected adult?
- Child = Anyone under the age of 18
- Protected Adult = Someone aged 18 or over who meets the following criteria.
If you processed PVG Schemes for regulated work before the 1st April 2025 with protected adults and you provide a service to people aged 16 and over as part of their normal duties, they may require PVG schemes for regulated roles with children also.
You will find further guidance and examples of incidental contact from page 66. Please review this guidance for your organisation.
Q5. Under 16-year-olds in Regulated Roles
Children aged under 16 years of age generally cannot become a member of the PVG scheme.
Individuals carrying out activities equivalent to a regulated role are only legally required to be a PVG scheme member from their 16th birthday.
Where a child aged 15 years and 8 months or above (the minimum school leaving age in Scotland) is carrying out activities amounting to a regulated role and is anticipated to continue doing so beyond their 16th birthday can apply for PVG membership. For example, someone starting a college placement before they turn 16.
Organisations seeking PVG membership for under 16s should download and complete the offline application form, and return to us with a note in the body of the email confirming the applicant meets these criteria – 15 years and 8 months and will be in a regulated role when they turn 16 and beyond. The email subject heading should have ‘Under 16’s PVG Application x1’. Applications should be sent to Disclosures@volunteerscotland.org.uk
Disclosure Scotland have published full guidance on under 16-year-olds which can be found here (page 18).
Q6. Who do I need checked for my board? (directors, board members, committee members and charity trustees)
Review our guidance to determine who required a PVG scheme for these roles.
Q7. Are there examples of new regulated roles?
Yes, please read the regulated roles guidance published by Disclosure Scotland.
Examples of new regulated roles are:
- sports and talent agents or scouts who work with children (under 18s) and represent children in future recruitment, training or employment with sports clubs or other organisations
- non-clinical hospital or hospice staff or volunteers who have unsupervised contact with children and/or protected adults
- Organisations providing a service to people ages 18 or over who are homeless (within the meaning of section 24 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987) and who is in receipt of counselling, therapy, advice, guidance or advocacy support in relation to health or wellbeing. Further guidance available here.
- Organisations providing a service to people who are ages 18 or over who have experience, is experiencing or is at risk of experiencing domestic abuse and who is in receipt of counselling, therapy, advice, guidance or advocacy support in relation to health or wellbeing. Further guidance available here.
- Directors, Board members, Committee members and Charity Trustees where they meet the following criteria – guidance available here.
Q8. What are the new disclosure levels called?
The type of application you apply for has changed.
- Level 2 – previously referred to as a Standard and Enhanced
- Level 2 with barred list check – previously referred to as an Enhanced Disclosure check with barred list
- PVG Scheme to Join – previously referred to as a Scheme Record to Join and an Existing Member Scheme Record. This will be required for new applicants joining the PVG scheme for the first time AND for those existing PVG scheme members adding a workforce they are not already a member for.
- PVG Scheme for Existing Members – previously referred to as a Scheme Record Update. This will be required for those existing PVG scheme members who are updating their membership for a workforce they are already a member for.
The PVG scheme will be a legal requirement for individuals in a regulated role with children or protecting adults.
Q9. How long do applicants have to share their disclosure result?
Once the applicant’s disclosure result is ready, they have 14 days to share it with the organisation.
Applicants will receive a reminder to share their disclosure result 5 and 12 days after the result is ready.
If an applicant misses their 14 day window to share their disclosure, before starting a new application, please ask the applicant to contact Disclosure Scotland via the telephone helpline 03000200040 or by emailing response@disclosurescotland.gov.scot for further guidance or support.
Q10. Will my applicant still be able to request a paper copy of the disclosure result for my organisation?
The paper share option on the applicant’s online account is no longer available.
Q11. Our organisation is open to the public for anyone to attend. Does this mean we need to request PVG schemes for both children and protected adults?
If your organisation is open to the public and not specifically targeted at children and/or protected adults, then you cannot access PVG schemes. Any children or protected adults that attend would be considered incidental contact.
You will find further guidance and examples of incidental contact from page 66 here Please review this guidance for your organisation.
Q12. If individuals are delivering online support from England to people in Scotland, will they require a PVG scheme disclosure?
No – as the individual carrying out the role is not in Scotland therefore this is not a regulated role. Organisations should contact the Disclosure and Barring Service for advice on appropriate checks to be carried out instead.
If the individual lives elsewhere in the U.K. but carries out part of their role in Scotland, the individual requires PVG scheme membership.
Q13. Our organisation is based in Scotland. We recruit volunteers to deliver services to children in America. Do they need PVG’s?
Yes – the volunteers are recruited in Scotland and the role would be a regulated role in Scotland.
If the work was taking place elsewhere in the U.K, they would need to contact Disclosure and Barring Service (England and Wales) or Access NI (Northern Ireland).
Q14. Our organisation offers taster sessions to volunteers before they apply to volunteer with us as a befriender with protected adults. When do we need to apply for the PVG?
The requirement for an organisation to confirm PVG scheme membership before an individual carries out a regulated role extends to situations where individuals are seeking to carry out a regulated role and intend to undertake a ’trial session’. In this circumstance, PVG scheme membership is still required before the individual carries out a regulated role, even when they are doing the role on a trial basis.
Organisations can make a conditional offer for the role subject to a suitable PVG scheme being received by the organisation.
Q15. I volunteer as a facilitator at a parent and toddler session every week. My role is to facilitate the session but have no responsibility for the children. I set up the session, provide the activities and provide snacks etc.
If your role has contact and carries out a regulated activity as part of your normal duties then a PVG is required. Please review the children’s checklist.
Contact – physical contact, or verbal or visual communication, verbal and visual with children as part of the normal duties of the role.
Activity – providing cultural, leisure, social or recreational activities to children as part of the normal duties of the role.
The definition of providing these services (providing cultural, leisure, social or recreational activities) should be taken to mean those who, as a necessary part of their role, are undertaking tasks that are involved in the actual provision to the delivery of the service to children.
Q16. We provide support to people who are homeless at our centre. Do our staff require PVG schemes?
Please review the regulated roles protected adults checklist. The regulated roles definition of a service to people who are homeless:
Any person aged 18 or over who is homeless (within the meaning of section 24 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987) and who is receiving counselling, therapy, advice, guidance or advocacy support in relation to health or wellbeing.
Section 24 of the Housing (Scotland) Act says a person is homeless if they have no accommodation in the UK or elsewhere. A person is also homeless if they have accommodation but cannot reasonably occupy it, for example because of a threat of violence. A person is potentially homeless (threatened with homelessness) if it is likely that they will become homeless within two months.
Q17. Is a week a short duration? We are bringing volunteers over from outside Scotland to run our children’s camps for a week, do they need PVG schemes?
There is no definition of regular (duration time), this may be daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.
Please review our regulated roles with children checklist to determine if PVG schemes are required. Section 4 (Regular, Normal Duties, Incidental) will help you in your assessment.
Q18. We have volunteers in hospitals, do we need to submit PVG’s?
Hospitals are detailed in the regulated roles activities as a specified location. The volunteers must also have the opportunity for unsupervised contact with children and/or protected adults as part of their normal duties. If your volunteers are based in a hospital AND have the opportunity for unsupervised contact with children and/or protected adults, PVG schemes are required.