Safer Recruitment Policy: 04.08.22
Purpose and scope
IVE is committed to ensuring any work done with children, young adults and vulnerable adults is done in a professional way. In order to achieve this we are committed as an organisation to ensure that only the most suitable individuals are appointed for these positions.
Here at IVE we are passionate about ensuring that equality is of the upmost importance when employing new staff. All candidates will be considered equally and fairly and will not be discriminated against based on their race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, disability, age or criminal record in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. Safe recruitment implements this policy further. This is expressed in our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.
Compliance with legislation
Safer recruitment is designed to protect children’s, young people’s and vulnerable adults’ welfare at every point where they come into contact with professionals in a safeguarding role. The overall purpose of Safer Recruitment is to help identify and deter or reject individuals who are deemed to be at risk of mistreating children, young people or vulnerable adults they come into contact with.
This recruitment legislation enforces pre-employment checks for all prospective staff to seek out anyone who may not be suitable to work with children, young people and vulnerable adults.
Implementation for Safer Recruitment
Anyone who is involved in recruiting for roles involving working with children needs training on how to ensure safer practice, this will involve applicants taking part in a child protection course which the appropriate Line Manager or Operations Director will inform them of once an application has been accepted.
We also have a responsibility to measure prospective staff experience and merit against the job description to ensure they are of best fit for the role to maximise the impact they will have on our organisation.
As well as this, it is underpinned by law, that each application is required to submit a full Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check when applying for a role involving children and vulnerable people. It is a criminal offence to knowingly submit an application that is ineligible.
If any criminal offences are raised from a DBS check we work off a specific categorisation of crime policy:
This type of criminal offence can be dealt with in a magistrates’ court and includes driving offences and common assault. If a summary offence appears on a DBS check the name of the crime will be assessed. If the time period from the crime is greater than two years, and a repeated offence has not occurred we will deem the applicant acceptable for consideration for the job.
This type of criminal offence is dealt with in either magistrates’ court or crown court. This includes crimes that have a wide range of seriousness including; theft, burglary, possession of drugs, possession with intent to supply, affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. If these crimes appear on a DBS check, investigation will occur with consideration of the time passed since the crime – in this case if the crime is ‘spent’ then the individual will be considered capable fo the role. If the crime is ‘unspent’ and the individual has reoffended, then the candidate will not progress through the application process as we deem them unsuitable for the role of working with children and young adults.
These criminal offences are most serious, and can only be dealt with in the crown court. Offences include murder, robbery, manslaughter and rape. If this sort of offence appears on a DBS, the application will automatically be rejected. Due to the seriousness of these crimes, the individuals are not suitable for employment in the context of IVE’s work.
Implementation, monitoring and review of this policy
This revised policy took effect from 1st September 2019. The Chief Operations Officer has overall responsibility for implementing and monitoring this policy, which will be reviewed on a regular basis following its implementation (at least annually) and additionally whenever there are relevant changes in legislation or to our working practices.
Any queries or comments about this policy should be addressed to the Chief Operations Officer.