Nearly one in five people (16 per cent) (1) from Black Minority and Ethnic (BME) communities who don’t volunteer with youngsters say it is because they would have to have a Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check, reveal children’s charities NCH and Chance UK, today (Friday, 8th February). The charities are calling on people from BME communities to not let CRB checks prevent them from volunteering with young people.

The charities have joined forces to recruit mentors for challenging children aged five to 11 for their mentoring projects across the UK. They are keen to encourage people from BME communities to come forward and volunteer as they have so much to offer these youngsters.

Hugh Thornbery, Director of Children’s Services at NCH, says: “All volunteers that work with both Chance UK and NCH are subject to a CRB check to protect the children and young people they work with. The procedure is not intrusive. It is simply filling in a form and waiting a couple of weeks for completion. The last thing we want is for them to put anyone off volunteering with young people.”

Jo Hobbs, Development Manager at Chance UK, says: “We work with children from a range of BME communities and we desperately need to recruit BME volunteers to help make a huge difference to their lives. We urge anyone out there interested to get in touch to find out more.”

The NCH and Chance UK Volunteer Survey 2007 also found that of those surveyed from BME communities nearly two thirds (65 per cent) said they do not volunteer with children and young people. Two thirds said it was because they did not have enough time (67 per cent) and over half said they were prevented due to work commitments (57 per cent).

NCH and Chance UK are particularly looking for people from BME communities to come forward. Anyone interested should call NCH’s Supporter Helpline (Monday to Friday) on 08457 626579 or visit www.nch.org.uk.