UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph
The Church of England has carried out tens of thousands of criminal record checks on volunteers in a move that critics claim risks driving away bell ringers and florists
By Graeme Paton 26 Dec 2013
Volunteer bell ringers, florists and organists risk being pushed out the Church of England because of a regime of “overzealous” criminal record checks, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been warned.
Figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that at least 58,000 people have been vetted by the Church in the last 12 months alone before being allowed to work in parishes or take back office roles.
More than 80 per cent of the checks carried out by individual dioceses were on volunteers, it emerged.
In many cases, vetting procedures are used in relation to adults working with children in Sunday schools and church crèches – a target of the government’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
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