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Cambridgeshire County Council. Joyce Fenton, Head of HR, Children’s Services. Disclosure and Barring Service. From 1st December, 2012 the CRB merged with ISA, the Independent Safeguarding Authority to become the DBS.
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Cambridgeshire County Council Joyce Fenton, Head of HR, Children’s Services
Disclosure and Barring Service From 1st December, 2012 the CRB merged with ISA, the Independent Safeguarding Authority to become the DBS. The merger brings together the skills, knowledge and experience of the CRB and ISA to help employers make safer recruitment decisions and to prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups including children.
Why change? • Coalition government’s public commitment to scale the level of vetting ‘back to common sense levels’ • Concerns that too many checks were being carried out • Concerns over portability of checks • Concerns over updating of details held by employers • Concerns that organisations couldn’t attract volunteers because of the disclosure process
What is ‘regulated activity’ Any of the following………….. • Activity of a specialised nature relating to children, which is unsupervised. • Activity for or on behalf of a specified place that gives the opportunity for contact with children. • Vehicle driving or moderating an on-line forum with access to content or users • Relevant personal care for children. • Health care for children. • The management on a daily basis of anyone carrying out any of the above • Foster carers and childminders. …………..will apply to most activity in schools.
What does it mean for schools? Most people who work in schools will still require a DBS check. This applies to nursery schools, nurseries, children’s centres, PRUs and all schools, where employees are in regular contact with children i.e. frequently (once a week or more) or on 4 or more days in a 30 day period. HOWEVER, the following groups will not normally be eligible for a DBS check: • Volunteers who work under supervision • People who are on site before and/or after hours when children are present • Visitors who have business or contact with a child which is not classed as regulated activity • Visitors who are on site only to carry out ad hoc repairs or service equipment • Building contractors who only have contact for short periods of time or are in part of the school that is segregated from the main establishment • Secondary school pupils on work experience. Governors will not normally require a DBS check.
What does this mean for schools (2)? • Consider the role of volunteers in the school – do any of them work on an unsupervised basis regularly? • Review the school’s safer recruitment policy to ensure compliance • Ensure all school recruiters are aware of the change in practice in recruiting staff • Continue to undertake risk assessments if appointing someone before the DBS certificate arrives or undertake an assessment of any positive traces on DBS certificates • Be aware that employers will stop receiving DBS certificates later this year • Encourage staff to sign up for continuous updating (small annual fee) • Remain vigilant and don’t over-rely on DBS checks
Volunteers ‘Anyone who performs an activity which involves spending time, unpaid, doing something which aims to benefit someone other than, or in addition to, close relatives’. There must be: • Supervision by a person who is in regulated activity and has been subject to DBS clearance • Supervision must be regular and day to day i.e. on-going (not just in the first couple of weeks) • Supervision must be ‘reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure the protection of children’. The level of supervision may differ depending on the ages and number of children involved and whether or not other workers are helping too. Other issues may involve the nature of the work and the degree of vulnerability of the children plus how many workers would be supervised by each supervising work
Some examples……. • AJ is a new volunteer, helping with reading in the school. He comes in for 2 mornings a week and is generally in the classroom in sight of the teacher. Sometimes AJ is asked to read with some of the children in a side room with one of the TAs who is there most of the time. Do we need a DBS check for AJ? • SW is a new volunteer assisting with the coaching of children after school on behalf of the school. The children work in small groups with a volunteer and one of the PE teachers is in overall charge of the coaching session, although she works with different groups at different times of the evening. Do we need a DBS check for SW? • MS starts work as a paid assistant in the youth club run at the school. She helps instruct a group of young people and is supervised by the youth group leader who is in regulated activity. Do we need a DBS check for MS?
Future developments DBS Update Service: Early in 2013, a new, online service to be launched. Will offers applicants applying for new criminal record checks the opportunity to register with the DBS Update Service. This will remove the need for repeat applications for DBS checks by allowing employers to use a simple online service to confirm whether or not an individual’s check is up-to-date or not. It will establish if further relevant information has been identified since the initial criminal record certificate was issued. Single Certificate. Also in 2013, the DBS will start issuing the certificate to the applicant only. This will allow the applicant to dispute and make appropriate representations about any information released on the certificate, without this information having already been seen by the employer. Your DBS Registered Body will, however, be able to track the progress of applications online so that you will know whether a certificate has been issued or not, and, if so, when.
