Care Shield Compliance Press Desk

Scotland pays your PVG fees — if you type FSC correctly

From 1 August 2026 the Scottish Government covers PVG costs for eligible new social care posts, saving £18 or £59 per check if you use the right prefix.

By the Care Shield Compliance Press Desk··3 min read·Scotland

The Scottish Government is covering PVG costs for eligible social care workers in the private, voluntary and independent sectors. That is £18 saved for an existing PVG member and £59 for a new applicant, per person. It only works if the application is completed correctly, and the correct completion is a four-character prefix most people will get wrong the first time.

The mechanics

The guidance was published on 28 July 2026 and the waiver went live on 1 August 2026. It is published by the Scottish Government.

To claim it, employers must enter the prefix FSC in the Position Applied For field, alongside the job title. For organisational applications, you must also select invoice as the payment method.

That is the whole trick. FSC in the right field, invoice selected. Get either wrong and you pay.

Who is eligible

Eligible roles are manager, supervisor, practitioner, support worker, nurse and shared lives carer, plus personal assistants funded through Self-Directed Support Option 1.

Two constraints matter. The application must be for a new job or a new position — this is a recruitment measure, not a route to fund routine re-checks of your existing team. And early learning and childcare is excluded.

Applications must reach Disclosure Scotland by 31 July 2027.

Why this is worth the administrative effort

A £59 saving per new applicant sounds small until you multiply it by turnover. A 60-bed home recruiting 25 people a year, most of them new to PVG, is looking at real money for the sake of typing three letters correctly. For a homecare agency running high volume recruitment, the figure is larger again.

The cost of getting it wrong is not just the fee. A rejected or incorrectly submitted application means delay, and delay in PVG is delay in starting, which is delay in filling a shift you are currently covering with agency.

What this means for you

  • Update your recruitment checklist today so that FSC in the Position Applied For field is a step, not a memory test. Put it next to the job title field in your own template.
  • Set the payment method default to invoice for organisational applications, and check the first few submissions manually.
  • Brief whoever actually submits your PVG applications. In most organisations that is an administrator, not the manager reading this.
  • Check your eligible roles against the list. Manager, supervisor, practitioner, support worker, nurse, shared lives carer, and SDS Option 1 personal assistants.
  • Do not try to use it for existing staff re-checks. It applies to a new job or new position.
  • Diary 31 July 2027 as the date applications must reach Disclosure Scotland, and work backwards from your own recruitment cycle rather than assuming you will remember.
  • Track the saving. If you are going to do the administration, count what it returns, because that is what justifies keeping the step in place.

Where this came from

Social care PVG checks: fee waiver, published by the Scottish Government on 28 July 2026.

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Sources

  1. Social care PVG checks: fee waiver — Scottish Government

Questions people ask about this

Which roles qualify for the PVG fee waiver?

Manager, supervisor, practitioner, support worker, nurse and shared lives carer roles in the private, voluntary and independent social care sectors, plus personal assistants funded through Self-Directed Support Option 1. The post must be a new job or a new position. Early learning and childcare is excluded from the waiver.

What exactly do we have to type on the application?

Enter the prefix FSC in the Position Applied For field alongside the job title. For organisational applications you must also select invoice as the payment method. Getting either wrong means the fee is charged as normal, so build both steps into your recruitment checklist rather than relying on memory.

Can we use it to renew checks for existing staff?

No. The waiver applies where the application relates to a new job or a new position. It is a recruitment measure rather than a way of funding routine re-checks across your existing team. Budget for your ordinary re-check costs separately and use the waiver only where it genuinely applies.

How this was written. Care Shield’s press desk drafts from primary sources — the statute book, regulator publications and government announcements — and publishes automatically once every factual claim traces to a named source. The sources are listed above so you can check them. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the regulation that applies to your service. If you find something wrong, tell us at hello@careshieldcompliance.co.uk and we will correct it in public, on this page.

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