Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme to be Extended Nationally

ACPO have announced that the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme, which was launched in September 2008, is to be extended to a further 18 English police forces. This scheme provides concerned individuals with a formal mechanism to make enquiries about those people who are in contact with children.

The original pilot began in certain areas within Hampshire, Cambridgeshire, Cleveland and all of Warwickshire police areas and following a successful implementation was extended to cover the whole of those forces in March 2009.

During the pilot a total of 585 enquiries and 315 applications were made to the four police forces taking part during this time, primarily from parents, carers and guardians. In total 21 disclosures were made specifically about registered sex offenders with a further 11 disclosures made, for example relating to violent offending, but not necessarily relating to child sex offenders or children. A further 43 child safeguarding actions were also taken in response to a range of other safeguarding issues such as referrals to Children's Social Care.

The disclosure pilot formally ended on 15th September 2009 after running for 12 months. The scheme was independently evaluated and the findings from the evaluation were encouraging. The Government is now seeking to roll out the scheme nationally and an additional 18 police forces have agreed to implement the scheme which will commence on 1st August 2010.

They are : Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley, West Mercia, West Midlands and Wiltshire. There are now 22 police forces who are participating in this scheme.

From April 2010 those forces who have agreed to take part will be undertaking intensive training and embedding the process into their existing ways of working, ahead of the commencement of the scheme in August. It is intended that the remaining police forces will be invited to join the scheme later in the year with the aim of enabling every police force in England and Wales to implement the scheme from 1st April 2011. Take up of the scheme by police forces is voluntary.

The development of Child Sexual Offender Review Disclosure Pilot, in consultation with Sara Payne (the Victim's Champion), the police and children's charities has been a major step forward in our ability to protect children from sex offenders but also to empower parents and guardians to understand how to best protect their children.

The ACPO lead on managing sexual and violent offenders Chief Constable Paul West said :

"These new arrangements are a major development in safeguarding children. They empower members of the public to initiate action aimed at protecting children and will help to increase public confidence in the police and other responsible authorities as part of their role in monitoring sex offenders." "In addition to enabling parents, carers or guardians to take active steps to protect their children, some of the cases that have arisen during the pilots have included extended family members and neighbours who have raised concerns. Their interventions have undoubtedly resulted in children being protected from potential abuse."

The government has also further strengthened powers to protect children with tough new closure orders targeting premises including those associated with child prostitution or child pornography and these come into effect on 1st April 2010. At the same time forces will start to provide the Home Office with data on the age of victims of crime to provide a clearer picture of crimes against children in order to ensure better outcomes for victims. Further information regarding the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme for England & Wales can be found by visiting the Sex Offenders page.

Sex Offenders page
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Ministry of Justice website
CEOP Website
Probation Service website
NPIA Website