Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme delay statistics: FOI release

Information requested

1. What is the % PVG applications which met the 14 days SLA in July 2025?

2. What is the longest wait time for PVG checks at today’s date?

3. Can you report on the volumes of processing errors and whether rates have changes since January 2025?

4. What is the average wait on a PVG check for those received since July 1st 2025?

5. What % change in volume of PVG checks has occurred between July 2024 and July 2025?

6. What increase in resources have been deployed to deal effectively with the volumes since legislation changes occurred in April 2025?

7. What is the estimated economic impact of delays to PVG scheme applications beyond the 2 week SLA and when was this assessment done?

Response

1. What is the % PVG applications which met the 14 days SLA in July 2025?

Since July, performance has improved overall and we have returned within our Service Level Agreement. As of last week, 94.9% of PVG applications were completed within 14 days. This reflects the steady improvement in performance , with average processing times for PVG applications at 7.5 days. The reason for July’s lower percentage is due to the volume of applications received and work carried out to clear older cases during this period.

Table 1: Percentage of Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) applications completed within the 14 day service level agreement (SLA) period in July 2025 [notes 1 to 3]

Month and Year application was completed within	Percentage of PVG applications completed within the 14 day SLA period
July 2025	59.4%

2. What is the longest wait time for PVG checks at today’s date?

The longest wait time for a case that has not been suspended for further enquiries with third parties is 23.8 days.

3. Can you report on the volumes of processing errors and whether rates have changed since January 2025?

We are currently unable to report on the volumes of processing errors or identify trends since January 2025, as we do not have a consolidated method for collating or comparing error volumes across all processes. Errors are recorded in varying formats depending on their nature, and while we hold no central record, we do provide targeted feedback to operators to help prevent re-occurrence.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Disclosure Scotland does not have the specific information you have requested.

Regarding the “equestrian club” example you provided in your request, as part of our ongoing delivery and continuous improvement efforts, we regularly review and refine our business processes to align with functional changes. Following major releases in February and April 2025, we identified that a legacy process related to address validation was introducing unnecessary complexity and potential for error without delivering meaningful value. Consequently, we have removed this process and no longer classify “address mismatches” in the same way. Instead, we now request additional information from applicants only when it is genuinely required, reducing unnecessary queries and improving overall efficiency.

4. What is the average wait on a PVG check for those received since July 1st 2025?

Table 4: Average processing time, in days, for completed PVG applications received between 01 July and 31 August 2025 [notes 1 to 4]

Time period PVG application was received within	Average processing time (days)
01 July to 31 August 2025	12.05

5. What % change in volume of PVG checks has occurred between July 2024 and July 2025?

Table 5: Percentage change between number of PVG applications completed in July 2024 and July 2025 [notes 1 to 3]

Application type	Number of applications completed in July 2024	Number of applications completed in July 2025	Percentage change between July 2024 and 2025
All PVG	25,361	49,765	96.23%

6. What increase in resources have been deployed to deal effectively with the volumes since legislation changes occurred in April 2025?

Between April and August 2025, we experienced a significant short-term rise in application volumes. To help manage this surge, we temporarily on-boarded agency staff who undertook the same roles as our core Scottish Government team members. Their primary purpose was to support efforts to reduce the backlog of work.

Table 6: Number of Full Time Equivalent employees processing disclosure applications, by employment type and per month, from April to August 2025 [notes 5 and 6]

Employment type	April 2025	May 2025	June 2025	July 2025	August 2025
Scottish Government	152.9	152.9	154.5	154.9	157.3
Agency	15.6	15.6	32.6	37.6	33.3
Total	168.4	168.4	187.1	192.5	190.5

7. What is the estimated economic impact of delays to PVG scheme applications beyond the 2 week SLA and when was this assessment done?

No such assessment has occurred regarding the estimated economic impact of delays to PVG scheme applications taking longer than 2 weeks.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Disclosure Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

Notes table

Note number	Note text	Links to additional information relevant to note, where applicable	Relevant table(s)
note 1	The number and percentage of Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) applications presented from 01 April 2025 onwards, with the implementation of the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, represents the total of: PVG scheme disclosure (Join), PVG scheme disclosure (Existing), Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Join) and Confirmation of PVG scheme membership (Existing). Prior to 01 April 2025 the number and percentage of PVG applications represents the total of: Scheme Record Disclosure, Short Scheme Record Disclosure, Existing Scheme Record Disclosure and Statements of Scheme Membership.	How disclosure levels changed - Disclosure Scotland (opens in a new window)	tables 1, 4 and 5
note 2	Please note that the percentage of PVG applications completed within the 14 day service level agreement (SLA) presented in table 1 reflects the number of Disclosure results issued in July 2025 and that not all applications will be issued in the same month in which they are received.	Not applicable	tables 1, 4 and 5
note 3	A completed application incorporates all time between an application being received by Disclosure Scotland through to completion with either a paper or digital Disclosure result issued, with the deduction of any suspension time such as customer contact. Please note, weekend days are included in the number of processing days for applications but national holidays and Scottish Government public and privilege holidays are excluded.	Not applicable	tables 1, 4 and 5
note 4	Please note table 4 presents the average processing time, in days, for all completed PVG applications that have been received from 01 July 2025 up until 31 August 2025 (the latest full reporting week). Applications sent via an online channel have a received date from the day they are received within.	Not applicable	table 4
note 5	Headcount data is captured at a single point in time at the start of the month from the internal management system, to reflect the immediate month passed.	Not applicable	table 6
note 6	Please note subgroups may not sum to total value presented due to rounding.	Not applicable	table 6

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