9.1 Arrangements Regarding Recruitment and Selection of Staff

This chapter identifies good practice in safer recruitment and selection. It is not intended to replace the recruitment policies and procedures of individual agencies. It is simply intended to enhance policies and act as a good practice guide for safer recruiting.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 includes information on organisational responsibilities including safe recruitment practices and ongoing safe working practices for individuals whom the organisation or agency permit to work regularly with children see - Working together to safeguard children 2023: Organisational Responsibilities

So as to minimise the risk of employing or engaging an individual who poses a predictable risk to them, all agencies should consider, with respect to candidates (including agency staff, students and volunteers) who will be working with children:

• Analysing rigorously all the information which is available about the candidate and consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on the shortlisted candidates
• Supervised / supported experience of recruitment.

It is a criminal offence for a barred individual to take part in Regulated Activity, or for an employer/voluntary organisation knowingly to employ a barred person in a Regulated Activity role.

Before an organisation considers asking a person to apply for a criminal record check through the Disclosure and Barring Service, they are legally responsible for ensuring that they are entitled to submit an application for the job role. See DBS Guide to Eligibility.

Agencies should develop detailed internal procedures for jobs that involve working with children and young people which clarify allocation of 'human resource' tasks outlined below:

• Job descriptions (J.D.s) and person specifications should reflect professional practice requirements;
• A previous employer who is asked for a reference is reasonable for ensuring that their reference statement:
  • Is based upon an accurate assessment of an individual's qualities;
  • Includes any disciplinary action, known convictions, Substantiated LADO allegation or other safeguarding grounds for concern.

All job descriptions and person specifications should clearly describe the role, responsibilities, accountabilities, knowledge, skills and experience required for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

It is good practice to ensure that each employee's specific duty of care and personal responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people are built into job descriptions, Codes of Practice, contracts of employment and disciplinary procedures.

All stated requirements must be expressed in terms sufficiently explicit to allow a candidate's experience, achievements or capabilities to be evidenced.

The person specification should explain how the requirements will be tested and assessed during the selection process. For example: 'In addition to a candidate's ability to perform the duties of the post, the interview will also explore issues to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, e.g. motivation to work with children and emotional resilience to working with challenging behaviour'.

References are an important part of the safer recruitment process, their purpose being to obtain objective and factual information to support appointment decisions.

All agencies committed to these procedures should have explicit arrangements for provision within reasonable time-scales, of properly structured references from previous employers, which should ordinarily be issued in the name of the head of service (though they may be drafted by a more junior member of staff who has the necessary knowledge and experience). Reference requests should be sent to a formal email account for the setting, rather than personal email addresses. To enhance the reliability of the information received, it is also advisable to follow up written references with a phone call.

If a candidate is not currently working with children, but has worked in the past with children - a reference must be sought from that former employer. Refusal or reluctance by an applicant for a former employer to be contacted should be explored further.  

For those who have not worked before, consider obtaining a reference from any voluntary organisation they have worked with or from someone in authority such as a lecturer.

Any reference being sought should wherever possible:

• Be reliable and comprehensive - e.g. include accurate dates of employment, DBS checks, any periods of sick leave;
• Focus on the key criteria for effective performance in the specified post.

An employer reference should also be obtained in respect of internal candidates for posts involving direct contact with children.

So that information of comparable weight is obtained for all candidates, references on all short-listed candidates should wherever possible be obtained prior to final selection.

References should offer a full and frank disclosure of all matters considered relevant by the author - e.g. candidate's reason for planning to or actually leaving her/his post. If all questions have not been answered or the reference is vague or unspecific, the referee should be contacted and asked to provide written answers or further information as requested.

References should be obtained directly from the referee, from a formal email account. Prospective employers should not rely on references and testimonials provided by the candidate, or open references and testimonials, i.e. 'To Whom it May Concern'. If a reference is not available because an organisation no longer exists a LADO check of the area where the organisation was would provide prospective employers with confirmation of any flagged issues. 

Given the proportion of staff currently engaged via specialist employment agencies, it is important that there are systems in place to ensure that only those which can offer safe selection processes are used by those organisations committed to these procedures.

References from any previous substantive employers should be sought as described above and requests to agencies should seek confirmation:

• That the individual was registered with the agency in the period(s) claimed;
• Of all assignments including dates, roles and name and address of all work places;
• Of the quantity and pattern of any absences from their assignments;
• Of any cause for concern within the agency including any request by a client for the person to be withdrawn from an assignment which upon investigation was found to be justified.

The agency should also be asked to confirm:

• That it carries out appraisals of its workers and be invited to describe the most recent relevant to the role which is to be filled;
• The date of the last Disclosure and Barring Service check obtained on the individual in question, who obtained it, the level of disclosure and its unique reference number;
• From which previous employers references were obtained and whether or not these expressed any reservations about the individual in question;
• If its overall selection procedure complies with the recommendations made in the Warner report 'Choosing with Care'.

All interview panels involved with the appointment of staff to work with children should have a least one panel member who is knowledgeable and experienced in safeguarding and child protection issues. They should also be balanced wherever possible by gender and race and may benefit from the inclusion of independent person(s) as well as immediate line managers and more senior staff.

Interviews may usefully be underpinned by practical exercises, which simulate the working environment e.g. anonymised real-life situation (with precautions taken to ensure no unfair advantage to internal candidates).

Such practical exercises may include:

• 'A situation exercise' which tests declared responses to events relevant to the post in question;
• 'Submission of a prepared written exercise' to allow a panel to prepare and deliver questions at an interview;
• A 'presentation exercise' to test an individual's ability to research, prepare and present a topic relevant to the post in question;
• 'Psychometric tests' - e.g. personality and/or skills based;
• A group exercise which simulates a relevant forum and allows observation of interaction.

The DBS now provides two sorts of certificates, which are of relevance to employers (standard and enhanced disclosures), and one or other must be sought with respect to all candidates who seek to work with children. (Note that the DBS will send the certificate listing the results to the applicant.)

A standard disclosure is available for posts involving regular contact with children (and vulnerable adults), certain professions in health, pharmacy and the law.

Standard disclosures indicate if there is nothing on record or show details drawn from the police national computer of:

• Spent and unspent convictions;
• Cautions;
• Formal reprimands; and
• Final warnings.

Standard disclosures are issued to the individual and copied to the body registered to seek them.

The Enhanced Disclosure in addition to the information provided by a standard disclosure may contain non-conviction information from local police records, which a chief police officer thinks, may be relevant to the position sought.

The requirement to seek an enhanced DBS disclosure currently applies to all those who employ or use volunteers in types of activity called 'Regulated Activity and other Work with Children'.

The definition of 'Regulated Activity and other Work with Children' Enhanced checks will be undertaken where the activities will fall within the definition of Work with Children  or Regulated Activity,  as used by the Disclosure and Barring Service. The concept of Work with Children includes, but is wider than, Regulated Activity. The term has been adopted by the DBS from 2014 to give a single definition of roles which will be subject to an Enhanced check, which were previously dealt with under various provisions. The term does not alter the relevant activities, it merely clarifies the situation.

The term covers anyone working closely with children or vulnerable adults, either paid or unpaid, on a frequent, intensive or overnight basis. Frequent means once a week or more (except in health or personal care services where frequent means once a month or more); intensive means on four days or more in a single month. Regulated activity can include, but is not limited to:

• Teaching, training or instruction, care or supervision of children;
• Providing advice or guidance wholly or mainly for children, which relates to their physical, emotional or educational wellbeing;
• Any form of treatment or therapy provided to children;
• Driving a vehicle that is being used only for the purposes of conveying children and their carers;
• Working in a specified place - this may include catering, cleaning, administration and maintenance staff - in schools, pupil referral units, children's homes, children's hospitals, detention centres for children, children's centres;
• Fostering and Private Fostering;
• Specified Roles i.e. an activity that involves people in certain defined positions of responsibility Positions of trust: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (e.g. school governor, trustees of certain charities);
• Unsupervised activities: teaching, training, instructing, caring for or supervising children, or providing advice/guidance on well-being, or driving a vehicle only for children;
• Work for a limited range of establishments ('specified places'), with opportunity for contact: for example, schools, children's homes, childcare premises. Not work by supervised volunteers.

  Work under (i) or (ii) is Regulated Activity only if done regularly;

• Relevant personal care, for example washing or dressing; or health care by or supervised by a professional;

• Registered child-minding; and foster-carers.

Both standard and enhanced disclosures will show whether the person is included on the Disclosure and Barring Service's Barred Lists and therefore prohibited from working or seeking work with individuals under the age of eighteen.

It is a criminal offence for individuals barred by the Disclosure and Barring Service to work or apply to work with children or vulnerable adults.

An employer who knowingly employ someone who is barred to work with those groups is also committing a criminal offence.

For organisations registered with the DBS, applications by potential employers who can provide a reference number may be made by phone on 0870 90 90 844.

An optional online Update Service is operated by the Disclosure and Barring Service  (DBS), designed to reduce the number of DBS checks requested.

Instead of a new criminal records/Barred Lists check being necessary whenever an individual applies for a new paid or voluntary role working with children/Vulnerable Adults, individuals can opt to subscribe to the online Update Service. This will allow them to keep their criminal record certificate up to date, so that they can take it with them from role to role, within the same workforce.

Employers do not need to register, but can carry out free, instant, online status checks of a registered individual’s status. A new DBS check will only be necessary if the status check indicates a change in the individual’s status (because new information has been added).

Registered organisations with 'payment on account status' can order paper disclosure application forms through the registration line on 0870 90 90 822 (also available for general enquiries). Requests must include the name, address and date of birth of the applicant.

If a disclosure reveals that an applicant is prohibited from seeking or working with under eighteens, it is an offence to employ her/him and the Safeguarding Investigations Unit must be informed without delay of the individual's attempt to seek employment.

Checking via the DBS

The DBS cannot access criminal records held overseas, but it is possible to submit an application while the applicant is overseas.In a small number of cases, overseas criminal records are held on the Police National Computer and these would be revealed as part of a criminal record check. You must still verify the identity of an overseas applicant.

As the DBS cannot access criminal records held overseas, a criminal record check may not provide a complete picture of an individual’s criminal record. For more information please see the Home Office Guidance Criminal Records Checks for Overseas Applicants.

Safeguarding checks for teachers from overseas

Candidates from overseas must undergo the same checks as all other staff in schools, including obtaining an enhanced DBS certificate with barred list information. This still applies even if the candidate has never been to the UK.

When recruiting, you must:

• Follow Part 3 of Keeping children safe in education - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  statutory guidance, which sets out the safer recruitment checks schools must conduct.
• Make any further checks they think appropriate so that relevant events that occurred outside of the UK can be considered - the Home Office provides guidance on criminal records checks for overseas applicants.
• Carry out additional checks for teaching roles, which may include information about their past conduct, for example, by checking documents issued by overseas teaching authorities - you should also consider this evidence together with other information which you have obtained through other safer employment checks.

Checking via Embassies

If you are recruiting people from overseas and wish to check their overseas criminal record, you should contact the embassy or High Commission of the country in question.

All Tier 2 (General) visa applicants who want to work in specified health, education or social care sectors must provide a criminal record certificate.

The UK introduced a points-based immigration system on 1 January 2021. This affects how to employ teachers who are not UK or Irish nationals. All overseas nationals arriving in the UK from 1 January 2021, including those from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, come under the points-based immigration system.

Overseas teachers can apply for a Skilled Worker visa up to 3 months before they start work in the UK under certain conditions. Business and Schools need a sponsor licence to hire a teacher from overseas on a Skilled Worker visa.You can be the employing local authority, multi-academy trust or school to hold the sponsor licence.

A Youth Mobility Scheme visa lasts for up to 2 years and is for young people aged 18 to 30 who have certain types of British nationality or are from certain countries. Teachers can work on this visa without a sponsoring employer.

See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/recruit-teachers-from-overseas

You can find contact details for embassies and High Commissions in the UK on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) website.

You can also contact the FCO Response Centre Helpline on 020 7008 1500.

If the foreign check needs translating, the embassy of the country concerned may be able to help.

The DBS is not involved in the processing of applications made by individuals to overseas authorities and will not be responsible for the contents or the length of time taken for information to be returned.

Certificates of Good Conduct

You should try to obtain a certificate of good conduct and any other references from potential overseas employees. The standard of foreign police checks varies. To find out the standard, you should contact either the authorities in a particular country, or their embassy.

Either you or the employee should obtain a certified translation of the certificate of good conduct. The DBS does not offer a translation service.

National Protective Security Authority 

The National Protective Security Authority provides protective security advice. This is for companies and organisations that deliver the UK’s essential services. You can find information about overseas criminal records checks on the National Protective Security Authority | NPSA

These checks should be made clear to candidates at interview. Any offer of employment should be a conditional offer subject to satisfactory clearances being received and checked. When a decision has been made and a successful candidate notified they should be encouraged to contact the staffing team as soon as possible to start their pre-employment checks.

Only when all of these checks are completed and returned should an offer of employment be confirmed. Do not offer a candidate an unconditional offer at any point.

Each agency must have a nominated 'human resource' or service manager whose responsibilities include reporting to the Disclosure and Barring Service and the relevant professional body, any member of staff who (following an enquiry) it concludes to be unsuitable to work with children.