Editor of
the Magic Magazine
Walt Lees
Good news for children’s entertainers! If what
I hear on the radio recently is true, the government proposes relaxing the
law regarding the necessity for nonsensical CRB checks that have been such
a bugbear in the recent year.
There has been a lot of tosh written about them
especially in the magical media. I have even seen people saying that all
children’s entertainers need to get one. Certainly, my local Yellow
Pages carries loads of adverts by people claiming to have done so.
Although how and where they came by them is never specified.
It’s all rubbish, designed to give the false
impression that a CRB check is something like an MOT Certificate, which
you can carry around to wave in the face of clients and reassure them that
you are “safe”. The mythology is that you apply for one, are vetted by
the Criminal Records Bureau and then get a piece of paper or plastic to
say that you are okay to be turned loose among children.
The reality is nothing like that. First of all,
self-employed people are not allowed to apply for CRB checks. It quite
clearly states this on the website. So any who claim to have one are
either lying, deluded, or under a misapprehension .
CRB checks are only available to employers as
means of vetting job applicants or potential voluntary workers.
Furthermore, those employers must be recognised organisations whose staff
come into regular and prolonged contact with children, such as schools,
youth groups, nurseries, religious bodied etc.
Secondly, it’s widely believed by the heads of
many such organisations, that CRB checks have no validity outside the body
which obtains them. It must be a nice little earner at £75 a time. for
the government - a stealth tax on people who work with children.
When the checks first became mandatory, I
contacted the Criminal Records Bureau and had a long conversation with a
representative. I told her that I was a self-employed magician who often
worked in schools and playgroups and asked what my position was in law.
Her answer was that ,legally. I didn’t really need a CRB check at all. Please
check the link below for further information.
