1. The Governing Body is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, volunteers and other workers to share this commitment. It is recognised that this can only be achieved through sound procedures, good inter-agency cooperation and the recruitment and retention of competent, motivated employees who are suited to, and fulfilled in the roles they undertake.

2. The Governing Body recognises the value of, and seeks to achieve a diverse workforce which includes people from different backgrounds, with different skills and abilities. We are committed to ensuring that the recruitment and selection of all is conducted in a manner that is systematic, efficient, effective and promotes equality of opportunity. Selection will be on the basis of merit and ability, assessed against the qualifications, skills and competencies required to do the job. We will uphold obligations under law and national collective agreements to not discriminate against applicants for employment on the grounds of age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief.

3. We will implement robust recruitment procedures and checks for appointing staff and volunteers to ensure that reasonable steps are taken not to appoint a person who is unsuitable to work with children, or who is disqualified from working with children, or does not have the suitable skills and experience for the role.

4. We will ensure that the terms of any contract with a contractor or agency requires them to adopt and implement measures described in this procedure. We will monitor the compliance with these measures and require evidence that relevant checks have been undertaken for all workers deployed.

5. The following pre-employment checks will be required:

•  receipt of satisfactory references*
• verification of the candidate’s identity
• a satisfactory DBS disclosure if undertaking Regulated Activity
• verification that you are not on the DBS Children’s barred list and therefore not barred from working with Children (where applicable)
• verification that you are not prohibited from teaching (where applicable) 
•  verification of the candidate’s medical fitness
• verification of qualifications
• verification of professional status where required e.g. QTS status
• the production of evidence of the right to work in the UK
• verification of successful completion of statutory induction period (applies to those who obtained QTS after 7 May 1999)
•  (for applicable school settings and for roles covered by the Regulations only) a declaration that you are not disqualified from working with children by virtue of the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2018 or that you have provided a disqualification waiver from Ofsted.

NB It is illegal for anyone who is barred from working with children to apply for, or undertake Regulated Activity.

*In exceptional circumstances, where you have good reason not to want your referees to be contacted prior to interview, you should set out your reasons with your application form. Where it is agreed to defer, referees will be contacted immediately after interview before an offer of employment is made.

6. We will keep and maintain a single central record of recruitment and vetting checks, in line with the DfE requirements. 

7. All posts/voluntary roles that give substantial unsupervised access to children and young people are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore all applicants will be required to declare spent and unspent convictions, cautions and bindovers (save for those offences that are subject to filtering by the Police). Applicants will be required to sign a DBS consent form giving consent for the DBS certificate to be copied and shared (within strict guidelines) for the purposes of considering suitability for employment and consent for an online status check to be carried out in the event that the applicant subscribes to the DBS update service.

The Governing Body is committed to ensuring that people who have convictions/cautions/reprimands on their record are treated fairly and given every opportunity to establish their suitability for positions. Having a criminal record will not necessarily be a bar to obtaining a position, except in the case of school settings covered by the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2018 where certain convictions, cautions or warnings will mean an individual is disqualified from working in that setting and will prohibit employment at the school (unless a waiver can be obtained from Ofsted).

Positive disclosures will be managed on a case by case basis taking into account the nature, seriousness and relevance to the role. The following factors will be considered in each case:

•  The seriousness/level of the disclosed information eg was it a caution or a conviction.
•  How long ago did the incident(s) occur?
• Whether it was a one-off incident or part of a repeat history/pattern.
• The circumstances of the offence(s) being committed and any changes in the applicant’s personal circumstances since then.
• The country where the offence/caution occurred.
• Whether the individual shows or has shown genuine remorse.
•  If the offences were self-disclosed on the SD2 form or not (non-disclosure could, in itself, result in non-confirmation of employment on the grounds of trust, honesty and openness).

When making a recruitment decision The Governing Body will disregard any filtered convictions/cautions/reprimands which were disclosed in error.

A previously issued Disclosure and Barring Service Certificate will only be accepted in certain restricted circumstances or where you subscribe to the DBS update service and the appropriate checks have been satisfactory.

The Disclosure and Barring Service has published a Code of Practice and accompanying explanatory guide. This Governing Body is committed to ensuring that it meets the requirements of the Disclosure and Barring Service in relation to the processing, handling and security of Disclosure information.

The school processes personal data collected during the recruitment process in accordance with its data protection policy.  Data collected as part of recruitment process is held securely and accessed by, and disclosed to, individuals only for the purposes of completing the recruitment procedure. On the conclusion of the procedure, data collected will be held in accordance with the school’s retention schedule.