Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 - accredited body fees and discounting proposals: partial equality impact assessment

3. Stage 1: Framing

3.1 Results of framing exercise

Anyone applying for a disclosure must pay the fee for that service. Disclosure Scotland does not stipulate where that payment comes from so we have anecdotal evidence of a widespread practice amongst employers of either covering the fee or covering the up front cost and recovering it through payroll.

Disclosure Scotland does not gather equality data, however, information on age of disclosure applicants is available as date of birth is required in making a disclosure application. Other evidence has either been gathered through stakeholder engagement, past consultation or Scottish Government and third party research.

It was noted in the framing exercise that Disclosure Scotland has very limited evidence on the potential impact, negative or positive, on different groups of introducing a discount for people in receipt of certain benefits and formal consultation and further stakeholder engagement would be of particular benefit in developing that proposal.

3.2 Extent/Level of EQIA required

Further work is required, particularly in relation to proposals to introduce a discounted fee for volunteers in QVOs and a discounted fee for people in receipt of certain benefits, to establish the extent of the impact around protected characteristics and what mitigations could be put in place.

A consultation is to be run from February to May 2024 to help gather further evidence to inform policy development. Disclosure Scotland is also running a number of in person and virtual engagement sessions to encourage engagement and gather further views from targeted stakeholder groups.