Safer Recruitment
Every agency that is part of a Safeguaring Partnership has made a commitment to safer recruitment. For partner agencies, safer recruitment rules affect those staff members whose duties include several specific tasks known as ‘regulated activities’. These include:
Teaching, training, or instructing children, or supervising someone doing so.
Caring for or supervising children, or managing someone doing so.
Providing personal care – such as assistance with eating, washing, or toileting – to a child.
Providing medical care, whether physical or mental, including surgical and palliative care.
Providing guidance to children about their physical, emotional, or educational wellbeing.
Driving a vehicle for the use of children and their carers.
Acting as a childminder or foster carer.
In order to be certain that a candidate is an appropriate person to carry out the responsibilities of their position, staff responsible for hiring must follow certain procedures:
Professional references are verified. Personal or character references are not considered suitable.
Application forms are used to take a full employment history, account for any gaps in employment, and provide evidence of qualifications.
Copies must be taken of documents used to establish identity and Right to Work in the UK, and must be held on file for reference.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly Criminal Record Bureau and Independent Safeguarding Authority) is asked to search the national police database for any convictions, cautions, warnings, reprimands, or any other relevant local police information, and to disclose if the applicant has been barred from working with vulnerable groups.
You can find out more information about safer recruitment in the Southend, Essex and Thurrock Child Protection Procedures here. Further information regarding safer recruitment in schools and other educational establishments can be found here. The regulations regarding disqualification arrangements have been consulted on and are likely to change in the near future; to see the outcomes of the consultation click here.
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