• Registration
• About registration
• Apply for registration
• Assessment process
• Cancelling your registration
• Eligibility
• Professional Registration
• PVG scheme and criminal record checks
• Register of Teachers
• Registration fee
• Returning to teaching
• Temporary service provision
• Update your details

PVG scheme and criminal record checks

There is a requirement for anyone applying for registration or for re-registration, to join and be members of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. This means that checks are carried out for all unspent and spent convictions and cautions held against an applicant. The checks also include any non-conviction data held by police that may be relevant to the type of employment being sought, in our case, teaching.

Applications for the PVG Scheme membership are processed and assessed by Disclosure Scotland who provide this service as a means of enhancing security, public safety and protecting the vulnerable in society.

Please note that if PVG Scheme membership is refused by Disclosure Scotland, registration will not be possible.

The application for PVG Scheme membership must be completed and returned to us along with three photocopies of identity. Guidance Notes will be provided.

• photo identification such as passport or driving licence
• your birth certificate
• confirmation of your current address - utility bill/bank statement

Please do not send originals, photocopies only.

We will forward the completed PVG application to Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

PVG Scheme Membership Costs - Set by The Scottish Government

To join the PVG Scheme membership there is a £59 cost and this cost is required to be paid by you.

If you are already a PVG Scheme member, please note your membership must be with regulated work with children, if so, you will be required to complete an existing PVG Scheme member application. This is to cover the period when you joined the scheme up to the present date. There is an £18 cost and this cost is required to be paid by you.

You should note that if, on receipt of your PVG Scheme record check, there is new information recorded, you will be required to complete a further full scheme record check and this will cost you an additional £41.

If your PVG Scheme membership is not with regulated work with children, you will be required to join the PVG Scheme at the cost of £59.

Overseas Criminal Records checks

We require an overseas police check from the following applicants:

• those who have spent three months or more (in a single period) in a non UK country in the last ten years
• those who were born and have lived overseas until adulthood

Any applicant meeting the criteria above should obtain an official statement confirming they do not have any criminal record proceedings pending. The check should cover the entire country and not just one state or province for example, FBI clearance for the USA and RCMP clearance for Canada.

The statement can be obtained from:

• police or judicial authorities
• government departments
• the Home Embassy of their country

Statements are only valid for application purposes for a period of six months from the date of issue, the exception to this being where an applicant has relocated to the UK before the six month period has expired and has not been a resident in the country concerned since.