The ‘culture of vetting’ is destroying trust

The UK Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill will make it an obligation for every adult who works with children to be ‘vetted’ by the authorities first.

Those who fail to submit to a Criminal Records Bureau check risk being branded a criminal and possibly hit with a £5,000 fine. One-third of the adult working population – a whopping 9.5million people, including teachers, lollipop ladies, youth club workers, even 18-year-olds who teach sport to kids at the weekend – will come under the watchful eye of the state.

Josie Appleton of the Manifesto Club has been leading a campaign against the expansion of suspicious vetting. She is speaking in a debate about vetting in central London on Thursday 26 July. Here, in a video comment hosted by Friction.tv, she explains how ‘insane’ the culture of vetting has become. (Click on the image to watch the commentary.)

Josie Appleton is convenor of the Manifesto Club. She will be speaking in the debate ‘Checkmate: Has Vetting Gone Too Far?’ at The Spitz on Commercial Street in central London from 7-9pm on Thursday 26 July. For more information, click here.

Friction.tv is an online platform for user-generated news and opinion. Visit its website here, or respond directly to Josie Appleton’s video commentary with your own views here.