Do health and care volunteers need to provide a full employment history?

In England, following consultation, the Government has announced that the Health and Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 will be amended and will no longer require a full employment history to be provided to the Care Quality Commission as part of the pre-employment check on volunteers.

There is an exception to this change for a small number of specific roles and circumstances, as set out in the regulations, and employers/recruiters may still collect a full employment history from volunteers if they wish to. 

The change aims to encourage more people to apply and to increase diversity of volunteers.

The requirement for a full employment history will remain in place for all other staff who are not volunteers and fall within the definition of ‘employment’ in the regulations. Furthermore, other checks, including criminal record checks, will still be required for volunteers. 

At the time of writing (16 January 2024), it is not clear when the amendments will be effective, and so organisations should continue to undertake all required checks for the time being.

For further details, please contact Stone King’s Employment Team.