Disclosure Scotland’s statement supporting Self I.D.
- Administrator
- 12 hours ago
- 4 min read
Disclosure Scotland is a Scottish Government agency that provides criminal record checks to help employers make safe recruitment decisions. It also aims to protect vulnerable groups, including children and adults via criminal checks. Its core functions include processing disclosure applications, managing the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme for regulated roles, maintaining lists of individuals barred from working with vulnerable people, and advising on the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020.
Disclosure Scotland’s website states,
“If you're transgender you can apply for a disclosure using your present gender and without telling your employer what your previous name was. You only have to tell Disclosure Scotland.”
ScotPAG regards this as a worrying safeguarding risk. Services for vulnerable individuals such as care, health services, schools, police, prisons and some personal services, would all be open to being accessed by an individual with criminal intent who would be able to change their name with impunity and keep any criminal history entirely private.
Disclosure Scotland’s website makes no mention of the duty to undertake a risk assessment. We think this further
exacerbates the safeguarding issue. The Supreme Court ruled in April that the meaning of sex in the Equality Act (2010) is biological sex. It was clear from its ruling that “gender” “non-binary” “transgender” are not protected characteristics in the Act.
While gender reassignment is a protected characteristic in the Act, the Supreme Court made clear that possession of a GRC did not permit anyone to claim to be the opposite sex for the purposes of using or providing a single sex service which of course is highly relevant to all the public services we have mentioned.
We have written to Disclosure Scotland outlining our concerns. Once again, our public services seem to be intent on deliberately avoiding acting in accordance with the law. Read our letter here:
Gerard Hart
CEO and Chair
Disclosure Scotland
Dear Gerard Hart
We are writing about our concerns regarding your policy of guaranteeing confidentiality about sex and previous names for anyone claiming to be transgender. You also offer an assurance that anyone claiming to be non binary can chose to declare any name or sex that they chose.
Given the role and function of Disclosure Scotland, we regard this as a safeguarding risk. The Supreme Court ruled in April that the meaning of sex in the Equality Act (2010) is biological sex. You will know that “gender” “non-binary” “transgender” are not protected characteristics in the Act. While gender reassignment is a protected characteristic in the Act, the Supreme Court made clear that possession of a GRC did not permit anyone to claim to be the opposite sex for the purposes of using or providing a single sex service.
Such services would include care and health services, schools, police, prison, public toilets, some personal services, indeed any provision which must legally be or which claims to be single sex. You will be aware of the duty to undertake a risk assessment of your declared policy.
As well as a risk assessments, as we have already indicated, the terms ‘transgender’ and ‘non-binary’ are neither protected characteristics in terms of law and they should not be confused with the needs of those individuals with protected characteristics who require specific safeguarding arrangements such as single sex spaces and services.
As it stands on your website, (updated 1 Apr 2025) you state that,
“If you're transgender you can apply for a disclosure using your present gender and without telling your employer what your previous name was. You only have to tell Disclosure Scotland.
You only need to use this process if your employer is countersigning your application. If you’re applying for a Level 1 disclosure without a countersignatory, you can include your previous names when asked because these are not included on your Level 1 disclosure.
You can use this process if you’re non-binary, but you’ll need to enter male or female when asked for gender. This does not need to be your legal sex. This information is not used for matching people to criminal records.
Warning
Disclosure Scotland will not share any information about your gender history with your employer or regulatory body. The information is not used for equalities monitoring or other purposes.”
As it stands, this statement implies that Disclosure Scotland guarantees any man confidentiality about their former name and actual sex for disclosure including to SSSC. We understand that you have not informed the Scottish Social Services Council regarding this arrangement. This not only presents a major safeguarding concern, particularly for women and children and the range of public services already mentioned in this letter, but it contravenes the Supreme Court ruling.
Next steps
We would ask you to provide us with any risk assessment carried out both before and after the Supreme Court ruling. We also request that you amend your statement to be compliant with the law and the Supreme Court ruling.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes
Carolyn Brown (Retired Dep. Principal Psychologist)
ScotPAG Convenor @scotpag scotpag.com
Additional signatories
June Campbell, ScotPAG Administrator, Retired Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist
Prof Brigid Daniel, Retired Professor of Social Work
Pauline Fox, Retired Clinical Nurse Specialist/Team Lead
Victoria Hart, Midwife
Maggie Mellon, Social Worker, MSc, CQSW, Dip Child Protection
Elaine Miller, Fellow of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
Carole McKenzie, Former HMI & Director of Education, B.Ed. Hons
Dr Anne Woodhouse, Clinical Psychologist
Plus anonymous signatories:
Headteacher, B.Ed. Hons, and General Practitioner, MBChB, RCGP