Child Protection Legislation

As the national agency for youth work, we take child protection issues seriously. If you have any questions relating to child protection issues or the PVG scheme, feel free to contact us and we’ll answer your query as soon as we can.

Legislation for child protection in Scotland is laid out in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007, which supersedes the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003. The Act created the legislative framework for a vetting and barring scheme for those working with children and protected adults in Scotland. This is known as the PVG Scheme.

Disclosure Scotland is the government agency responsible for managing the PVG Scheme in Scotland.

Statutory organisations can register directly with Disclosure Scotland in order to check records for potential employees who fall within the scope of the PVG Act 2007. Voluntary organisations may be able to access records for free by registering as a Qualifying Voluntary Organisation.