Northumberland FA - developing football for everyone
Governance - safeguarding the game

CRB - Criminal Records Bureau

The law requires that The FA does not allow people banned from working with children to be involved in junior/youth football. The CRB check is how The FA identifies people who are banned. The proper name for the check used by The FA is 'Enhanced Disclosure'. Those who are working or volunteering with children and young people in football need to have an Enhanced CRB check. This includes those who are teaching, training, instructing, supervising, giving advice or guidance, treating or caring for children or driving for the club.

You only need one FA CRB check to cover everything in affiliated youth football, no matter the number of roles you may have. To get your check completed:

If you are involved with a youth club, then speak to your Club Welfare Officer to get a check completed.

If you are involved in a youth league, then speak with your Youth League Welfare Officer to get a check completed.

If you are a referee, then contact County FA Referee Development Officer Clive Oliver (Clive.Oliver@northumberlandfa.com or 0191 2700700)

If you are not attached to a particular club or organisation, then contact County Welfare Officer Gill Shields(gill.shields@northumberlandfa.com  or 0191 2701166).

The cost for the administration of the CRB checks is £15.30. This price includes VAT at the current rate and therefore could be subject to change. Volunteer checks will therefore cost £15 and those who are taking an income from the game will cost £51. This covers the administration, advice, guidance and any actions needed as a result of the Disclosure. The FA does not make any profit through the CRB process.

FA CRB Online for clubs

Attention Club Welfare Officers: The FA have launched an online FA CRB service from 1st July 2011 that your club members will be able to use in the future.

The online system will be quicker, easier, cheaper, more efficient and will make the verifying stage more straightforward.

The online FA CRB will cost £10 which is saving of £5.30 from the current paper form which costs £15.30. Payment for the online system is through PayPal or credit card.

If you are interested in using this service for your club - the Club Welfare Officer must register the club to utilize the service by emailing The Media Group on FAChecks@TheFA.com with your club name (it would help to provide your affiliation number or club ID).

The club welfare officer will then receive confirmation emails to activate the club account and your Club and personal pin details. These details will be unique to your club and should be kept in a safe place.

If you have any further questions:

Please see the related documents on the right hand side of this page.

You can contact The FA CRB Unit enquiry line on 0845 210 8080 or e-mail FAChecks@TheFA.com with your query.

Contact your County Welfare Officer Gill Shields on gill.shields@northumberlandfa.com or 0191 2701166


Please note - The proposed introduction of the Vetting & Barring Scheme which was due to be implented this year was placed on hold by the new Coalition Government, and as yet it is unknown as to if/when this scheme will now be introduced. For more information please see the position statement in the related documents on the right hand side of this page.