 Charities have raised fears about the new proposals on safety checks |
Plans to introduce new checks for charity workers could cost the sector more than �2m a year, according to voluntary groups. Organisations said that proposals to check the background of more than 100,000 staff members could even force some to close.
The plans are in the Scottish Executive's Protecting Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill.
Ministers will begin to consider the legislation this week.
The proposals were triggered by the Bichard Inquiry into the deaths of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and include a recommendation for a vetting and barring scheme for those working with children and vulnerable adults.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) claimed that the sector potentially has 109,000 staff doing this work.
Checks for previous criminality or other information about their likely conduct would cost �20 each, it was claimed.
Gavin Yates, head of communications at SCVO, said: "Everything must be done to bring about the highest level of protection for vulnerable groups in Scotland.
"An effective vetting and barring scheme is one of many possible steps forward to protect vulnerable groups but, with a �2m price tag for the voluntary sector, we have deep concerns over both the short-term and long-term cost."
Without charge
The SCVO also feared that future increases in the cost of checks to �30 or �40 could mean a cost to the sector of �4m or more.
The voluntary sector is calling on the executive to ensure retrospective checking of every worker in the sector should be provided without charge to organisations.
They also want future checks for new staff to be capped for at least five years at the current �20 rate.
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We have deep concerns over both the short-term and long-term cost
