SCIE Practice guide 7: Making referrals to the POVA list

Understanding the POVA list - Introduction

In this section:

• Understanding POVA definitions
• How decisions to list individuals under POVA are made
• What it means when someone is POVA listed

The Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) scheme consists of a list of people who are banned from working with vulnerable adults in registered care services in England and Wales. These people have been dismissed from care work because they have been found guilty of harming or risking harm to a vulnerable adult and are judged to be unsuitable to work with any other social care users.

It is an offence for people confirmed on the list knowingly to apply for, offer to do, accept or do any work in a paid or unpaid caring position. Anyone employing them will be in breach of regulations relating to fitness of staff.

The list covers care workers, including volunteers and adult placement carers, who are working with vulnerable adults aged 18 years or over in:

• registered care homes
• registered domiciliary care agencies
• registered adult placement schemes.

It does not cover NHS or other independent services or direct payments users unless they employ carers through an agency.

The list is run by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for the Secretary of State for Health; the DfES also operates the POCA list for the protection of children. Officials in the POVA Team in Darlington review POVA referrals and make recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health, who takes the final decision about listing any individual. Referral does not automatically lead to listing.

Employers and managers must make a referral to the POVA list whenever they reasonably consider that a worker is guilty of misconduct that has harmed vulnerable adults or placed them at risk of harm.

A referral is usually made only when the employer's own disciplinary procedures have been concluded. Where the offence is very serious, a referral can be made after a worker or carer has been suspended, in which case they may be provisionally listed until the outcome is clear. POVA referrals are quite separate from the employer's own disciplinary procedures; they flow from the process but do not influence it.

There are some differences for adult placement services because scheme managers are not the employers of the carers. In cases of misconduct when vulnerable adults have been harmed, the managers are - after appropriate investigations - responsible for withdrawing approval of the adult placement carers and making POVA referrals.

See POVA referral for adult placement for good practice for these sorts of referrals.

The POVA team are available to support anyone wishing to make or to discuss making a referral. They can be contacted via the POVA email helpline (email: POVA.mail@dfes.gsi.gov.uk) and by telephone on the advice line: 01325 391 328.