UKC

The powers that be in the FA have just tightened up the rules on who needs CRB (there is now a new name). One thing that could affect my junior club is that the FA states that host families should be CRBed - all those over 18 years old. We run an exchange visit with our German twin town, so this could potentially affect us. However, this could mean up to 100 CRBs need doing to "solve" a problem which does not exist.

Any suggestions on how to avoid a costly exercise in time and money would be much appreciated. The exchange has been running for nearly 30 years without incident.

In reply to Bingers: what's fa?

In reply to Submit to Gravity:

The Football Association.

In reply to Bingers: Surely they can't dictate the running of your club, only the competitions, leagues etc.?

In reply to Submit to Gravity:

They try to tell us what first aid certificate to have (no my 16 hour Outdoor isn't good enough, I have to do their shitty 3 hour version), who can be a coach, how long a game can go on for, how big a ball we can use, what size of pitch. They don't always think the rules through. Our league wanted to stop games for young ones when there is a 10 goal difference, but it can't be enforced because it doesn't fit in with FA rules, so some poor kid could lose 20 - 0 and never want to play again.

Break the rules and the club gets fined. Money transferring from Grassroots to the rich elite.

In reply to Submit to Gravity:

The Club will be affiliated, or playing in affiliated competitions (my kid has been subject to FA rules since about under 8 in the club he plays for). The new CRB is DBS, but probably still costs the same.

In reply to Bingers: Christ, sounds like Soviet Russia!

In reply to Submit to Gravity:

The big difference is that Russia has the World Cup and the FA doesn't.

Oh, there may also be some differences in attitudes to gay rights, but other than that.....

In reply to Bingers: Q 68 on the DBS application form "Is this application for a free of charge volunteer?" There is a DBS definition of volunteer. However I've had a quick trawl of the DBS site and not been able to find it.
Good Luck.

You have too many FA's in your life

In reply to Submit to Gravity: Of course they can. Have you any experience of this?

This comes down from the Victoria Climbie case. Welfare starts with sports clubs, every running club for example MUST have a welfare officer by law if they have a junior section. UKA organiser courses. I imagine the FA do similar.

Its perfectly understandable and expected this would happen. Kid gets homed in a paedophiles house all hell breaks lose and the press would ask why he wasn't CRb checked. Sounds alarmist but unfortunately paedophiles work in rings, like with the swimming clubs. So there has to be outside overview.

I was the welfare officer for our running club and attended the courses.

In reply to annieman:

Thanks Robin. The FA charges £10 a hit for CRBs. As a volunteer, I don't have to personal time to administer potentially 100 CRBs when it is, in my mind not necessary.

In reply to Bingers:

That'll be their admin fee, which is a bit off in my mind (the Scout Association charges nothing to administer them). A paid-for DBS check costs £30-odd if I recall.

A volunteer is someone who does not receive payment other than out of pocket expenses to carry out the regulated activity. Seems that this clearly applies here.

You might find that this actually comes under regulated activity and it would be an offence *not* to CRB them, by the way. Wouldn't like to say either way, but one of the definitions does involve activity overnight.

Neil

In reply to Bingers:


Are there any language teachers out there who have an effective way around the issue?

Are there any language teachers out there who gave up their exchange because of "the regulations"?

Are there any German nationals who can confirm categorically that there is no equivalent of a CRB check in Germany?

Thanks

In reply to Bingers:

I assumed it was the UK based parents they were CRBing.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:

Yes it is, but reciprocal trust is important. If both parties could CRB (or equivalent) then that is an additional argument to suggest it should be done. But, if our children can't be afforded that level of "protection" what obligation is there to provide it for others, particularly if they don't need or expect it?

In reply to Bingers:


There's a thing called a Fuerungszeugnis which is similar to a CRB check http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrungszeugnis

The level of paranoia is a lot lower in Germany so I'd be amazed if German host families on a school exchange needed one.

In reply to Bingers:

Morally, that's a good point. However, it might be that the law requires it. I know it does for some organised [1]voluntary youth work, so this is one for the OP to research if they want an answer as to the reason for the change of policy.

[1] I don't know if this is a legal requirement in itself, but in Scouting if we arrange for parents to give other parents' children a lift to an event, we must check them, but if they arrange it themselves it's none of our business to do so.

Neil

In reply to tom_in_edinburgh:

That's helpful Tom. I didn't understand the German in the wiki link, but now I know it is there, I could probably find somebody who does.

In reply to Bingers: I was head of Educational Visits in a state secondary till three years ago (so what I say could be out of date, but I don't think it is). Certainly when I left, there was no requirement to obtain a CRB disclosure for UK host families for exchanges, and no way to CRB the foreign hosts.

In one way, it did always seem a bit odd - if someone regularly came into the school to teach or coach pupils, under supervision, they needed a disclosure, but we sent our pupils to stay in the home of another family, abroad, with no investigation into whether they might be axe murderers.

Of course, the right way to think about it is to compare the risk and benefits on both sides. To my knowledge there's never been a major incident that a CRB disclosure would have prevented on a foreign exchange, so it would seem the odds of it happening are probably low, and the benefits to the millions of kids who do it obviously significant.

MFL teachers around the country dread Gove or some other moron spotting this anomaly and insisting on them - because that will be the end of exchange visits as we know them. So I'm saddened and slightly worried that the FA is now asking for them. And to charge for them is just bloody cynical.

In reply to Bingers: Can't you just separate the trip from the club?