Job hopes dashed... due to playground bust-up 5 years ago

A TRAINEE nurse was devastated when a playground fight with a fellow pupil came back to haunt her five years later.

The 20-year-old, who had never been convicted of a criminal offence, was applying for a nursing work placement when police disclosed the incident to her college and future employers in the ‘other relevant information’ section of her PVG disclosure certificate.

The college struck her off the course, leaving her childhood dream of becoming a nurse in tatters.

When the fight occurred, school policy obliged the head teacher to call the police – but a charge of assault was eventually dropped.

Having failed at school to get the necessary qualifications for nursing, the young woman enrolled on a Scottish Wider Access Programme which helps adult learners into higher education.

She worked hard, achieving Highers in English, psychology and biology, and was later accepted on a nursing course. It involved a work placement for which she required a PVG certificate.

The document made clear that she did not have any convictions – but noted there had been an assault allegation. Although the charge was dropped, when the college and her work placement employers saw the information, she was removed from her course.

She contacted a helpline run by Apex Scotland, which helps former offenders to find work, and was given advice and support enabling her to appeal.

On being informed of the full circumstances, the college agreed to let her resume her studies – but by then it was too late to catch up on what she had missed, so she was told to apply again for the following year.

However, she says she was so scared of going through the whole thing time and again, being crossexamined and treated like a criminal suspect, that she decided to give up working towards her dream job.

Gerard McEneany, director of operations at Apex Scotland, said: ‘The other relevant information section on the PVG certificate is a contentious issue. While the reason for it is understandable in terms of public protection, it should also have to comply with the spirit of the Rehabilitation of Offenders act (1974), which is aimed at allowing people with convictions to move on.’