If you run a voluntary, faith or community group you need to make sure that the people that work for you (either paid or voluntary) have been recruited using correct recruitment and vetting procedures. By following the correct procedures you will be preventing unsuitable people from working with children and young people in your organisation.
This means that you need to do thorough checks on all applicants as part of the recruitment process and references are always taken up prior to employment and registration – this includes the appointment of senior managers, committee members and volunteers.
There may be individuals that you already know in your community that would like to volunteer their time to your organisation. You may feel that because you know them that they would not wish to hurt a child, but sadly this may not be the case. It is important that you follow the same rigorous recruitment process for people that you know as you would when employing the services of any other member of staff.
Organisations must ensure they have in place safe recruitment policies and procedures, including Disclosure and Barring Service checks for all relevant staff, including agency staff, students and volunteers working with children.
This means that the people in your organisation who are involved in the recruitment and selection of workers or volunteers should have attended the LSCP’s safer recruitment training or attended an equivalent course.
A safer recruitment process for both paid and volunteer roles should include:
- Specific time set aside for planning the process and structure of the recruitment process
- People within the organisation who are involved in the recruitment and selection of staff should have attended safer recruitment training provided by the LSCP or attended an equivalent course
- Clear job role and person specifications, setting down the boundaries and expectations of the role including a statement of responsibility and requirements for safeguarding
- Your commitment to safeguarding should be included in any job advert
- It is essential to ensure that no individual takes up employment or voluntary work with children or young people until identity, references and relevant DBS checks have been completed
- Face to face interviews are always conducted
- The use of application forms, not CV’s
- Clear messages about your organisations commitment to safeguarding should be sent to candidates from the outset.
Using Young People within the Interview Process
Using young people as part of the interview process gives a clear message that their views are valued within your organisation. It also gives them the opportunity to gain valuable experience and life skills which can be included in their Record of Achievement or CV.
Click on the following link for information on Safer Recruitment training.