Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 changes - are you ready?

It’s less than nine months to go until most of the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 (the Disclosure Act) will be implemented. Are you and your organisation prepared?

The Disclosure Act will improve the disclosure system in Scotland by removing unnecessary barriers for people with convictions as they seek employment or other opportunities and enhance the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.

Some of the Disclosure Act provisions are in force already, laying the groundwork for implementation of the remainder of the Disclosure Act, which will be delivered in phases:

• 30 September 2024 - new powers for local authorities and Integration Joint Boards to make referrals to Disclosure Scotland. These powers will be available in certain circumstances, for example, during formal child and adult protection investigations where local authorities find evidence of harm of vulnerable people. This provision will enhance safeguarding, particularly in a self-directed support environment, where there is often no employer to make a referral

• 1 April 2025:
  • the introduction of simplified disclosure products and people having more control over their information
  • an individualised approach to the disclosure of childhood offending and rights of review for convictions disclosed, to enhance fairness and proportionality
  • the PVG scheme becoming mandatory for those carrying out regulated roles with children and protected adults

• Late 2025 - Disclosure Scotland will have the ability to impose conditions on PVG scheme members who are under consideration for listing. We have postponed implementation of this power to: 
  • further engage with stakeholders, such as professional regulatory bodies (who have similar powers within their sectors), to ensure that our ability to impose conditions is robust, proportionate and integrates within the wider safeguarding landscape 
  • provide you, our stakeholders and customers, with time to prepare for the changes required to adhere to conditions applied on scheme members under consideration for listing   

Conditions will not be applied in every case. These will only be applied where it is necessary to safeguard vulnerable groups. We will advise on the exact date for this coming into force as soon as possible.

• 1 April 2026 - lifetime membership of the PVG scheme will be replaced by time-limited scheme membership, with renewal required every five years. We will engage with stakeholders further to understand what is required for the transition of existing scheme members to time limited membership. Further details on transitional arrangements will be provided as soon as possible.   

We will continue our work on implementation in a collaborative manner and with our stakeholders’ participation informing our product design. 

What you can do now

By law, PVG scheme members need to tell Disclosure Scotland if their personal details have changed. By informing us, you will ensure that Disclosure Scotland holds accurate address and contact information for PVG scheme members. For information on how to update your PVG details, timescales and legal requirements please visit our website.

To ensure compliance with data protection legislation, organisations should notify Disclosure Scotland when a PVG scheme member stops doing regulated work with them. To do this, please email dsupdate@disclosurescotland.gov.scot with:

• the individual’s name
• date of birth
• PVG number

Disclosure Scotland will then remove your organisation’s interest in the individual. This will help Disclosure Scotland identify those who no longer need to be in the PVG scheme, eliminate unnecessary monitoring and prevent us providing information to you which you are no longer legally entitled to.

Your organisation should have records of PVG scheme members you are linked with. If you don’t, Disclosure Scotland can provide your organisation with a list of PVG scheme members that your organisation is linked to. Please request this by contacting our dedicated team at dsupdate@disclosurescotland.gov.scot and provide your countersignatory and registered body codes in your request.

Recent consultation

As part of our work to implement most of the Disclosure Act by 1 April 2025, we’re reviewing our fee waivers, discounting and registration fees. Our public consultation ran from 5 March until 28 May 2024.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our consultation. We received over 1,200 responses. During the consultation period, we spoke to 175 organisations about their thoughts on the options discussed within the consultation. 

We are now analysing the responses. A consultation report setting out the analysis themes will be available through the news section of our corporate website in due course. This work will inform fee regulations to be laid in early 2025.

Our new corporate website

To keep up to date with what is going on in Disclosure Scotland, including the changes to our services, please visit our corporate website.

We have included a ‘news’ section to provide you with up to date information. To ensure this is meeting your needs, please email the Communications team and let them know what Disclosure Scotland ‘news’ you would like to read about

You can also keep up to date by following us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and signing up to our quarterly e-bulletin.

For more information on:

• Disclosure Scotland, please visit our website: www.disclosure.gov.scot
• the Disclosure Act, please contact DisclosureAct@disclosurescotland.gov.scot