Unintended consequences

The Criminal Records Bureau, brought by the previous government and tightened up after the Soham murders (as they were unlikely to have caught Huntley) is one of those weird areas which seemed like a good idea at the time, but however is now an area in which local councils have latched onto to check anyone who might come into contact with children. Not just unsupervised, but anyone, anywhere who just might come into contact.
Telegraph.

Burger sellers, tree surgeons and lift engineers are being forced to have “unnecessary” criminal record checks despite new laws to stop invasive vetting, according to a new report.
The Manifesto Club, campaign group against over-regulation, will today claim the Government’s promise to scale back vetting to “common sense levels” is not working.
It has found local councils continued to request vetting for thousands of people who rarely come into contact with children in a “frenzy" of checking by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) last year.
Local authorities are only meant to vet those who work unsupervised with children, but the report found beach cleaners, park rangers, data entry clerks and reception staff are still routinely being checked in some areas.
Some councils require any worker who enters a place of education, even during the holidays, to have checks.
This means lift repairmen, asbestos monitors, solar panel installers and sewage engineers have all been vetted before they can work on school sites.

The CRB also highlights any criminal offences, even those which have lapsed under the Rehabilitation of Offenders act in which people do not have to declare a criminal conviction if they are not asked, or have to declare it in most cases after 10 years anyway. So it's often been used to ferret out the criminal past of people who would be no danger whatsoever to children, but who have offended in the past and had them removed or prevented from doing their jobs, after all in most cases an act committed say for high jinks whilst drunk whilst embarrassing should not prevent you from eventually getting on with your life, yet if you know a prospective employer will ask for a CRB check, you might as well simply not bother applying.
You'd think that only a criminal record of violence or abuse of children would be highlighted, but you'd be wrong, even the standard disclosure which is primarily for positions involving regular contact with children or vulnerable adults, but can also be used for some other professions of high responsibility (for example, accountancy). Standard Disclosures reveal details of any convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings the applicant has received, regardless of length of time since the incidents; together with details of whether that person is banned from working with children or vulnerable adults (if these details have been requested). That's just the standard one, so you can see why the voluntary sectors are struggling a bit, one mistake on your part involving the law, and you might as well not bother trying.
Yes, we need a system to keep our kids safe from predators, but only from predators. Anything else is simply the business of the person applying for a job and doing their best to put the past behind them.