3.1 Recruitment and Selection

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Job Description and Person Specifications
3. The Advert
4. Application Packs
5. Scrutinising and Short Listing
6. Interview Process
7. References
8. Qualification Verification
9. Rehabilitation of Offenders Disclosure
10. Commitment to Safeguarding Children
11. Pre-employment Checks
12. Criminal Record Bureau or Re-checks
13. Agency Staff (including Agency Supply Teachers)
14. Contractors
15. Central Record - for School
16. Appendices
17. Website Links

1. Introduction 

Who does this Policy apply to?

All staff who under take recruitment and selection have a responsibility to ensure that when recruiting to a post, that the Policy be adhered to when planning and carrying out the recruitment process.

How long will the recruitment process take?

Depending on the time it takes to receive all of the appropriate pre-employment checks and the candidate's notice period, it is important to assess the time the whole process will take from job description to a new employee starting work. Appreciating the need for a thorough safe recruitment process will mean that you will allow enough time for all the stages of the process and some contingency time, may also be necessary. A Recruitment and Selection Checklist is included in the appendices (Appendix A, Recruitment and Selection Checklist and Appendix  B, Recruitment and Selection Checklist - School), which will assist with planning the whole recruitment process. 

2. Job Description and Person Specifications

At the start of the recruitment process it is important to define what the postholder's responsibilities towards children will be, as well as the qualifications and experience needed to perform the job, with particular attention to their work with such vulnerable groups. To confirm Clifford House's commitment to safer recruitment, it is advisable to ensure that this statement of intent be included on all person specifications.

It is envisaged that due to the nature of work within Clifford House and contact with children that all posts will require an Enhanced CRB Disclosure.

All job descriptions must detail:

• Main duties and responsibilities of the post;
• The postholder's specific responsibility towards the promotion and the practice of safeguarding the welfare of children that they come in to contact with through their job.

Suggested content for person specifications:

• Qualifications required to do the job;
• Professional Registrations (if required);
• Enhanced CRB Disclosure required;
• Define the skills and competencies required;
• Explore issues relating to the safeguarding of children, such as:
  • Motivation to work with children;
  • Ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships and personal boundaries with children;
  • Emotional resilience in working with challenging behaviours;
  • Attitudes to use of authority and maintaining discipline.

Please find template job descriptions and person specifications in the appendices (Appendix C) which can be adapted to meet requirements.

3. The Advert

The advert for a vacancy should also demonstrate Clifford House's commitment to safer recruitment and vetting procedures, protecting every potential applicant from unfair practice and ultimately safeguarding children as much as possible. Promoting commitment to safeguarding and child protection can act as a deterrent to would-be abusers. 

When placing an advert, please make sure the following statements are on the advert:

The Company Name; Clifford House, Fairfield House or The Larches School Post Title Hours (this should indicate if full or part time) Salary Permanent or Fixed Term (if Fixed Term the duration of the contract should be stated) ADVERT TEXT (which should include some reference to the post holder's responsibilities towards safeguarding children) The successful applicant will be required to undergo an enhanced disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau. Further details can be found at the CRB website Closing date Clifford House as an aware employer is committed to safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults as its number one priority.

4. Application Packs

The importance of safeguarding and protecting children should be promoted as much as possible throughout the recruitment process in order to deter unsuitable candidates.

It is advised to include the following in an application pack:

• Application Form (highly recommended over CV's, as CV's will only show you what the candidate wants you to see and will not provide consistent data between candidates)
• Job Description / person Specification (Appendix  C, Template Job Description and Person Specification)
• CRB - A Guide for Applicants / Enhanced CRB Disclosure Agreement Form (Appendix  D, CRB - A Guide for Applicants)
• Disclosure of Criminal Convictions / Cautions form (Appendix E, Disclosure of Criminal Convictions / Cautions)
• Pre Employment Health Questionnaire (Appendix F, Pre Employment Health Questionnaire)
• Relevant information about the Company and the recruitment process
• A statement of the terms and conditions relating to the post.

5. Scrutinising and Short Listing

The same selection panel should both short list and interview the candidate.  At least one member of the panel should have undertaken safe recruitment and selection training.

• All application forms should be scrutinised to ensure:
  • They are fully and properly completed
  • The information is consistent and does not contain any discrepancies,
  • Gaps in employment/training or a history of repeated changes of employment are identified.
• Incomplete applications should not be accepted.
• Any anomalies, discrepancies or gaps in employment and the reasons for this should be noted, so that they can be taken up as part of the consideration of whether to short list the applicant, as well as a history of repeated changes of employment without any clear career or salary progression or a mid career move from a permanent to temporary post.
• All candidates should be assessed equally against the criteria contained in the person specification.

6. Interview Process 

Interview Panel

A panel of at least two people is recommended, allowing one member to observe and assess the candidate and make notes, while the candidate is talking to the other. One member of the panel should be trained in safe recruitment practice.

The members of the panel should:

• Have the necessary authority to make decisions about the appointment
• Meet before the interview to agree their assessment criteria in accordance with the person specification and to prepare a list of questions they will ask all candidates relating to the requirements of the post.
• Identity any issues they wish to explore with each candidate based on the information provided in their application form and in the references.
• Notes of the applicant's interview answers should be collated by chair of the panel and stored (by HR).

Scope of the Interview

In addition to assessing and evaluating the applicant's suitability for the post, the panel should explore:

• The candidate's attitude towards children/young people/vulnerable adults
• His/her ability to support the organisation's agenda for safeguarding and promoting welfare
• Any gaps in the candidate's employment history
• Concerns or discrepancies arising from the information provided by the candidate and/or referee
• Whether the candidate wishes to declare anything relating to the requirement for a CRB check.

The interview should also explore issues relating to safeguarding, including:

• Motivation to work with children/ young people/ vulnerable adults
• Ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships and personal boundaries
• Emotional resilience in working with challenging behaviour's
• Attitudes to use of authority

Participation of Children and Young People

Children and young people can make a valuable contribution to the recruitment process and their participation should be considered for key strategic and managerial posts as well as posts where staff will have a high level of responsibility for children's day to day care e.g. residential staff.

The following considerations should be taken into account in planning children's involvement:

• Clarification of the role children will take in the process, how their views will be taken into account in selection and what weighting these will be given.
• Preparation and/or training
• Process for debriefing/feedback

7. References

These should be requested prior to interview and ideally received back prior to interview. One of the referees must be the candidate's current or previous employer. Open references should not be accepted if they have 'To whom it may concern' on, no date evidenced or no obvious authorisation, these may have been forged, or may have valuable information missing if it is out of date. All referees will be asked to complete a reference pro-forma, which ensures that certain questions are asked of all candidates.

Please see an example Reference Pro-forma in the appendices (APPENDIX G) which can be adapted to meet requirements.

When references are received prior to interview it enables the interviewing panel to follow up any discrepancies or issues at interview and to make a decision with reference to all the facts available at the time. Obviously this relies entirely on the speed referees return them, this may not always allow for them to be seen prior to interview, but it should be aimed for as best practice as it complies with Bichard recommendations.

Employment Gaps

At interview, gaps in employment history must be discussed with the candidate. If there are gaps in their history, the candidate should fill in the Employment Gap Pro-forma (Appendix G, Employment Gap form) declaring the reasons for their break from work. This should then be signed by the candidate. Valid reasons for gaps in employment may be: the candidate did not need to work, travelling, bringing up a family, caring responsibilities, family bereavement or a period of sickness. As there could be more sinister reasons for an absence, it is important to ensure that the candidate is able to give as much detail as possible, in order for the panel to make an informed decision, and are in receipt of all relevant information.

It is strongly advisable to discuss patterns of repeated change in career or employers at interview, ensuring that the reasons for this are fully explored and satisfy the interview panel (see Safe Recruitment and Vetting Policy - to follow).

8. Qualification Verification

At interview essential qualifications required for the post including those set by statute must be verified as a minimum, other qualifications stated on the application form may also need to be verified.

A photocopy of all the original qualification certificates should be taken and if the candidate is successful these should be placed on their personal file. If the candidate is unsuccessful, these should be destroyed.

9. Rehabilitation of Offenders Disclosure

As posts within Clifford House are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. This means you should encourage your short listed candidates to disclose any unspent and spent convictions during the application stage.

When applying for the post, candidates should fill out the Rehabilitation of Offenders Disclosure Form (Appendix E, Disclosure of Criminal Convictions / Cautions) and return it with their application form. If they have not sent it in with their application, it would be advisable to ask the candidates attending the interview if they have any previous convictions either spent or unspent and ensure the form is completed. This gives the candidate a chance to discuss the circumstances surrounding any previous convictions they may have at interview.

Any convictions disclosed should not be given to the Short listing panel prior to short listing. Once the panel have made a short-list and invited them for interview, they should then be made aware of any candidate's criminal disclosure. Disclosing a criminal background should not be used as a reason to not short-list a candidate. Having a criminal conviction will not necessarily bar a person from working with children and should not be used to discount applications.

If they are successful they will be required to complete a CRB Disclosure application form. Once the Enhanced CRB Disclosure Certificate is returned, any conviction information will need to match up with the candidate's original disclosure to the interview panel. This information will not be kept if the candidate is not successful and should be destroyed.

10. Commitment to Safeguarding Children

Person specifications allow the Company to explore a potential candidate's views and expectations in relation to working with children). The recruiting panel should seek to identify the candidate's experience or views on the following points:

• Motivation to work with children;
• Ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships and personal  boundaries with children;
• Emotional resilience in working with challenging behaviours;
• Attitudes to use of authority and maintaining discipline.

Providing questions that ask candidates to draw on their experience of situations with children will give a good impression of the candidate's understanding of the points above. It will enable the panel to probe issues that the candidate may not discuss, allowing the panel to be aware of issues or lack of knowledge that a candidate may have or refuses to discuss their motivation to work within a school environment or with children.

11. Pre-employment Checks 

In summary any offer of employment to any post in a school should be subject to the following:

References

This should be a minimum of two references for every employee; one of these references must be from their current or most recent employer. As the post requires working in an environment with children, it is important to have a reference, if available, from an employer or voluntary agency demonstrating the candidate's previous work experience, paid or unpaid, of working with children. This may mean another reference will need to be requested. Please see the template Reference Pro-forma (Appendix H, Reference form (Employer / Character)).

Verification of Candidate's Identity

It is vital that Clifford House evidences the identity of all staff.  Identity Confirmation Sheet (Appendix I, Identity Confirmation form) filled in during the CRB process will suffice and this must be carried out in a face-to-face interview i.e. not via the post. The ID check can then go on to their personal file.

Enhanced CRB Disclosure

This shows previous convictions held on file for a potential employee. Having a conviction will not necessarily bar someone from working in a job with children or vulnerable adults. The severity, nature, circumstances and timing of the conviction will need to be taken into consideration. Candidates will need to be given the opportunity at the application stage to declare any unspent or spent convictions they may have, any declaration they make will be compared with the returned criminal record disclosure. The procedure for assessing CRB Disclosure positive trace returns is detailed in the policy (see Safe Recruitment and Vetting Policy - to follow).

Health Questionnaire

A potential employee must complete a pre employment Health Questionnaire, any issues or concerns can be discussed with the Companies nominated Occupational Health Advisor's.

Verification of Qualifications

Any essential qualifications legally required to perform a particular job, such as QTS, as stated in the person specification, need to be evidenced by the potential employee. A copy of original certificates should be taken and placed on their personal file and logged on the Central Record. This should ideally be confirmed at the interview stage.

Verification of Professional Registration

Some posts require a professional registration with a regulatory body, such as the General Social Care Council, General Teaching Council etc. This again needs to be evidenced and placed on file, if the person specification states it as an essential prerequisite.

Right to Work in the UK

It is a legal obligation that every employer in the UK verifies whether a potential employee has the right to work in the UK. This can be easily confirmed by filling in the Asylum & Immigration Pro-forma (Appendix J, Asylum and Immigration Form) and photocopying evidence to support their right to work in the UK, which can then go on their personal file.

Employment History

When checking an application form it is important to note any gaps in employment or noticeable patterns when the candidate changed their employment. At interview any gaps will need to be discussed and satisfactory explanations given and recorded on an Employment Gap Pro-forma (Appendix G, Employment Gap form). This should ideally be confirmed at the interview stage.

Overseas Criminal Record Disclosure

If the potential employee has lived abroad for a period of time or who comes from another country prior to working in the UK, then a UK CRB Disclosure will not give a full picture in respect of any criminal record they may have. In these cases an overseas Criminal Record Disclosure will need to be applied for as well as a UK CRB Disclosure and details for each countries' equivalent Bureau are available on the CRB website/Overseas.

These checks should be made clear to candidates at interview. Any offer of employment should be a conditional offer subject to satisfactory clearances being received and checked by Clifford House. When a decision has been made and a successful candidate notified they should be encouraged to contact the staffing team as soon as possible to start their pre-employment checks.

Only when all of these checks are completed and returned should an offer of employment be confirmed.  Do not offer a candidate an unconditional offer at any point.

Evidence of these checks should be kept and a Pre-employment Checklist completed (Appendix A, Recruitment and Selection Checklist) detailing the level of checks that have been undertaken.

12. Criminal Record Bureau or Re-checks

CRB Disclosures are only a record or a snapshot of the day they were issued. Since a Disclosure was issued staff may have new convictions or warnings that they may or may not have made the Company aware of. It is Clifford House's policy that every member of staff should have their CRB Disclosure renewed every three years (see Safe Recruitment and Vetting Policy - to follow).

The process of renewal or re-checking a person's CRB Disclosure is exactly the same as when applying for an original. There is no fast track. A new Identity Confirmation Sheet (Appendix I, Identity Confirmation form) should be completed, and then a new CRB application form should be issued.

The Company can track the status of a CRB Application with the CRB on-line. To do this, you will need the Form Reference number which starts in F and the applicant's date of birth. To log on to this service use the following CRB website/Tracking

The requirement for a renewal for a CRB Disclosure also applies to all volunteers / self employed staff working within Clifford House. The process is the same for all staff.

For instances when a candidate's CRB Disclosure is returned with a Positive Disclosure, the Policy details the process for assessing information recorded on the Disclosure, producing a risk assessment based on the candidate's post and then making an informed recruitment decision (see Safer Recruitment and Vetting policy).

13. Agency Staff (including Agency Supply Teachers)

As with outside contracted staff, providing services such as tuition, coaching, supply teaching or specific courses that requires staff to work on Clifford House premises whilst children are in school, it is important that schools have evidence of the necessary checks in relation to these staff.

It is essential to carry out or have evidence of the same standard of checks for all staff working within Clifford House even if they are not employed directly by the Company. With this in mind, all outside providers should be requested to provide evidence of the same pre-employment checks that Clifford House would complete if they were directly employing the staff themselves. This should be given in writing and in advance of the provider starting work and should be agreed as part of any contract between Clifford House and a Provider of Services.

14. Contractors 

If there is any likelihood that Contractors may have unsupervised contact with children a Criminal Records Check should be undertaken prior to the Contractor starting work in an establishment with children. Ideally contractors should try and work outside of times when children are present i.e. School time in Residential Children's services, if this is not practicable then the following guidelines should be followed:

Building and Maintenance Contractors

Children should not be allowed in areas where builders are working for Health and Safety reasons, so there should be little opportunity for workers to be unsupervised with children. It is difficult to say that there will not be times when contact with a child occurs. To accommodate for this all projects with contractors who may come into contact with children on site during opening hours in any establishment should undergo a CRB Enhanced Disclosure. This clearance should be stated in any contract struck and/or tendered between Clifford House and a Contractor and paid for by the agreed contracted company.

Emergency Call-Out Contractors (not previously checked)

Contractors that are called out in an emergency may not be a contractor that is checked and known to Clifford House prior to the 'call-out'. It is not necessary to obtain a CRB Disclosure for such staff, as they will only have contact with children on an ad hoc or irregular basis and will not be allowed to be left unsupervised with children.

Any contractor, maintenance worker or agency staff coming on to a Clifford House premises should verify their identity, providing documents such as a passport or driver's license along with company ID.

15. Central Record - for School

The DCSF require all schools and Local Education Authorities to keep a Central Record of all staff that provides confirmation that relevant checks have been taken such as:

• Verification of Identity (Name / D.O.B / Address)
• Qualifications (Qualifications required to do the job and any professional registrations required)
• CRB Disclosure
• Right to work in the UK (Asylum & Immigration Check)
• Overseas Criminal Record Checks (applicable for any employee who has spent a period of time abroad)

16. Appendices 

These Appendices will be included later, if you require copies, please contact the HR Department.

1. Recruitment and Selection Checklist
2. Recruitment and Selection Checklist - School
3. Template Job Description and Person Specification
4. CRB - A Guide for Applicants
5. Disclosure of Criminal Convictions / Cautions
6. Pre Employment Health Questionnaire
7. Employment Gap form
8. Reference form (Employer / Character)
9. Identity Confirmation form
10. Asylum and Immigration Form

Related Policies and Procedures 

Links to these chapters will be provided in a later version of the Manual.

• Safer Recruitment and Vetting Policy and Procedure
• Induction

17. Website Links     

Please find below useful websites on safer recruitment or child protection:

• National College for School Leadership (home of Bichard On-line Training)
• Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education 2006 (DCSF Guidance which came into force January 2007, guidance from this publication has been used in this pack)
• Department for Education website
• DCSF Child Protection
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• General Teaching Council
• The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)
• Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)
• CRB Tracking Service
• Bichard Inquiry

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