Plans to End Fee Waiver for Volunteers’ PVG

One of the proposals contained within the consultation is to remove the current fee waiver for volunteers in qualifying voluntary organisations (QVOs). Through engagement with youth work leader networks, YouthLink Scotland believes that Disclosure Scotland’s proposed plan to remove the membership fee waiver for the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme will increase stress on already threadbare youth work services. Our renewed position statement to this effect can be found here.

Following a recent meeting with the National Voluntary Youth Work Organisations Scotland Network, here are things you may wish to consider in your reply:

• Removing the fee waiver will have a substantial negative financial impact on already stretched voluntary sector organisations – to the point that it might mean some organisations cannot operate or cannot be sustained under the current model.
• This sends a highly negative message about how the Scottish Government values both volunteering and the voluntary sector and the significant benefits both bring to the economy and society. We urge the Scottish Government to intervene.
• While there is support for waiving the suggested fees for target groups, placing the burden of off-setting on the voluntary sector and volunteers is unfair and counter-intuitive.  It is essentially the voluntary sector subsiding the private and public sectors
• There has been no financial modelling that supports the off-setting equation.  Introducing fees for volunteer registration will create income that far exceeds what would be needed to offset the proposed fee waivers for target groups.
• Introducing renewal at 5-year periods has significant implications for the voluntary sector in challenging circumstances.  This specific proposal is suggested as a solution to the problem of administering large numbers of members who remain in the system while no longer undertaking regulated work.  We recommend that rather than pass this burden on to the voluntary sector, a more effective system for de-registration should be developed and implemented.
• YouthLink Scotland supports the status quo – the fee waiver (questions 6 and 7 of the consultation) for qualifying voluntary organisations must remain.

YouthLink Scotland remains concerned about the potential impact of these proposed changes, particularly given the recent evidence of a decline in formal volunteer participation in Scotland.

YouthLink Scotland will respond to the consultation and plan to base our response on the views and experiences of local authority and voluntary youth work organisations and volunteers.

In the meantime, we encourage our members to share their views about the proposals through the official consultation process.

The consultation closes on 28^th of May.

Find out more about the consultation.

Make your reponse here.

For more information on the consultation contact YouthLink Scotland’s Policy and Research Manager, Kevin Kane.

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