The charity commission report is stating that congregations ought to require a Criminal Records check on all volunteers who work with children and young people.
This is now a matter of law in the UK and includes all volunteers. This is going to give them a massive admin task of getting checks completed on elders and M/S. I wonder how many will fail the checks? Lets hope the agency requires this of all appointees in every congregation, it remains to be seen.
As a football coach and club secretary I know keeping up with the legal requirements for volunteer staff is a big challenge. I can see lots of potential here for problems for congregations in UK
35. In charities where the trustees (and others, including volunteers) have direct contact with users who are vulnerable (for example, by reason of their age or mental health), more vigorous background checks to ensure their suitability may be necessary. All charity trustees have a duty of care and a duty to act solely in the interests of their charity. The Commission considers charity trustees risk being in breach of these duties if they fail without good reason to carry out appropriate CRB checks when they are entitled to do so. In some circumstances such failures may be viewed as evidence of misconduct and / or mismanagement in the administration of the charity. It is also a criminal offence in some circumstances for someone to offer certain positions working with children to someone who is disqualified from doing so. A CRB check is a reliable way of knowing whether a person has convictions which mean he/she is disqualified from acting in certain positions with children in charities and/or whether there are factors which the trustees ought to take into account in assessing their suitability to be involved in the charity.