Disclosure Scotland newsletter

PVG scheme legal requirements

It is a legal requirement for an organisation to confirm PVG scheme membership before an individual starts a regulated role for them. The organisation must apply for and receive a PVG scheme disclosure before that individual can start any regulated role tasks.

Organisations must not accept screenshots or paper disclosures from the applicant as evidence of current PVG scheme membership. The applicant must have shared their disclosure through the online account. If they applied offline, the applicant must contact us to share their paper disclosure with their recruiting organisation. 

Common application queries

We recently published articles with advice on the application process. You can read these on the news page on our website.

Creating accounts

As a countersignatory, you must only create your online account using the link that we give you. Do not create a ScotAccount directly. This will not be linked to your current or previous disclosure applications.

Personal PVG accounts and countersignatory accounts must use separate email addresses.

If you have created an applicant account in error, you can delete it by logging into your applicant account. You should then contact our Registration Team. We will provide you with a link to create your countersignatory account.

Expired application links

When a countersignatory starts an application, the applicant has 14 days to complete it. If they do not complete it in time, the countersignatory will need to start a new application. We cannot issue the applicant or countersignatory with a new link.

Result issued status

We have made improvements to our online account service based on your feedback. You can read more about these improvements in our recent news article.

Countersignatories can now see when a disclosure is with an applicant to either share or apply for a review. Cases at this stage display a status of ‘result issued’.

For cases showing as ‘result issued’, please ask the applicant to action the request to view and share their disclosure (or apply for a review) within 14 days. This will complement the reminders we send to the applicant to tell them that they need to take action.

Around 90% of applicants successfully share their disclosure within 14 days of receipt.

Contact details

You can change your email address and phone number by logging into your online account. If you are a countersignatory, you should also email our Registration Team to ensure that any new details are updated in our internal systems.

Self-employed and working for an organisation

If you're self-employed but are doing a regulated role under contract for an organisation, the organisation needs to start a PVG application for you.

We have also updated our guidance for personal assistants, self-employed or people working for an individual.

Annual subscription/invoice

Please make sure you pay your annual subscription in line with of terms and conditions.

When paying your Disclosure Scotland invoice, we can send you a remittance which includes your accredited body code and invoice number in the payment reference to our Finance mailbox.

Free webinars

Your organisation’s duty to refer is an important legal obligation. We provide free online training on this. Sign up through our events page, or click on the links below.

PVG Duty to Refer

Thursday 25 September – 10am to midday

Thursday 9 October – 10am to midday

Further dates will be added to our Eventbrite page when they are confirmed.

Applicant e-learning

We have published a short e-learning guide for applicants on the online account. This covers applying for and sharing disclosures via the account. We also have a webpage that explains the different steps in the application process.

Please include a link to this guidance in your own recruitment documentation.

Stay up to date

Please regularly check your emails for information on applications, changes and updates from Disclosure Scotland.

If you know someone who should be receiving our update emails but isn’t, please ask them to fill out our sign-up form so they don’t miss important information and updates.