Safer Recruitment

Policy Aims

Learning Hive’s greatest priority is to ensure that our organisation meets its commitment to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people and we acknowledge the importance that safer recruitment plays in this. We are committed to:

• Recruiting staff of the highest calibre, who share our commitment to safeguarding.
• Ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation and statutory guidance, including ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education, Sept 2023’.
• Providing a service which goes ‘beyond compliance’ and advocates best practice.
• Working in partnership with schools to provide a safer workforce.
• Through our robust recruitment procedures, we aim to deter unsuitable individuals in the first instance. If, during the course of application, an individual does not meet the requirements, their application will not be accepted. These requirements are outlined in this document. 

Recruitment Personnel & Selection Process

Advertising

Our website and recruitment marketing literature contains the following statement: 

“At Learning Hive safeguarding is of utmost importance as we align our values with the keeping children safe in education policy and require all our tutors to go through extensive safeguarding training and will be recruited using safer recruitment processes. “

The pre-employment checks which applicants will be subject to are clearly and transparently displayed throughout the online application process. Our partner schools will also be provided with this information.

The following screening questions are asked on the initial application process:

• What area do you live in?
• What is the highest qualification you have?
• Do you have a valid DBS?
• How many year(s) of teaching experience do you have?

Face to Face Interviews

Once analysis, scrutiny and validation of the individual’s initial application form and supporting information is complete, an interview is held with the applicant. 

Interviewers have received Safer Recruitment training and how to perform safeguarding interviews. The interviews should be face-to-face unless there are extenuating circumstances in which case, they can be done remotely but with a follow-up meeting arranged, preferably before they are placed in a school. Interview follows a set format and includes safeguarding questions to explore the following:

• The applicant’s values and attitudes towards children
• The applicant’s passion for education
• His or her ability to support schools’ agenda for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
• Gaps in the candidate’s employment history, reasons for leaving teaching posts or moving into supply teaching from permanent teaching mid-career
• Concerns or discrepancies arising from the information provided by the candidate and/or a reference
• Opportunity to declare any additional information which may not have been included in the application process

Other questions may include:

• Describe a positive teaching experience
• How would you deal with a student who is distracted or misbehaving?
• What does education mean to you?
• How would you handle a child disclosing something sensitive to you?
• Tutor declaring if they have any previous offences

To verify the candidate's mental and physical fitness to carry out the work responsibilities, a job applicant may be asked relevant questions about their disability and health. This will be to establish whether they have the physical and mental capacity for the specific role.

As part of the shortlisting process an online search is carried out as part of due diligence on the shortlisted candidates. This may help identify any incidents or issues that have happened and are publicly available online. Shortlisted candidates are informed that online searches may be done as part of due diligence checks.

Successful Candidates Pre-Appointment Checks

Declarations

All candidates are required to complete all mandatory legal declarations, in addition
to 10-year employment history which requires details of start and end dates of employment.

The registration will include the following as a minimum: 

● Rehabilitation of offenders declaration 

● Health and safety declaration 

● Working time regulations declaration 

● Data release declaration 

● 10-year work history including: where the individual has been employed/studied; dates of employment, study or training; position held / course undertaken; explanation for any gaps in employment

● Consent to obtain references 

The application must include a section relating to referencing in which the candidate
is requested to consent to the referees they have provided being contacted. It is also made clear that any offer of employment is subject to the receipt of satisfactory references.

Document Checks

In addition to completing an application form, the applicant is required to submit the following documents to Learning Hive: 

• Teaching certificates (If applicable)
• QTS certificate (If applicable)
• Evidence of qualifications (GCSE/A-Level/BSc/BA)
• Valid Enhanced DBS certificate with Barred List check
• Proof of right to work in the UK (If foreign national)
• Proof of ID
• Proof of address
• Details of any spent and unspent convictions

During the application process, tutors are warned that providing false information may be an offence and could result in the application being rejected, subsequent reversal of a successful application and that they may be referred to the police. All details and records are stored on file for every tutor who goes through the pre appointment and vetting process.

Criminal Record and Relevant Checks

Enhanced Criminal Record checks including Child barred lists checks; must be undertaken and the DBS Code of Practice for the registered body must be adhered to prior to the candidate starting in any assignment. Checks must be renewed every 12 months, or after any 3-month break in service.

Our designated safeguarding team thoroughly analyses and evaluates each application. This includes:

Validating the applicant’s DBS status, If the applicant has subscribed to the DBS update service, this will be checked via the online portal, ensuring that they have Enhanced DBS with children’s barred lists check. If they have not, they are required to submit their existing DBS to Learning Hive, and then apply for another with Learning Hive.

An original proof of ID and proof of address is also requested, to verify against the scanned copy the applicant submitted online.

If a person has lived or worked outside the UK, further checks may be necessary. 

References

We request written professional and character references directly from two independent referees provided by the applicant and endeavour to follow up one of these with a telephone call. 

This provides an opportunity to check that information is not contradictory or incomplete. Open references or references ‘to whom it may concern’ are not accepted. As the head teacher/principal is in receipt of any allegations and confidential information about staff, it is good practice to check that references are provided by the head teacher or principal.

Where applicants have worked with children, either in a paid role or volunteer basis, the current or most recent employer will be asked about all substantiated safeguarding allegations and disciplinary procedures that employers are legally permitted to release. In line with OFSTED best practice, we endeavour to gain all school references from headteachers/principals or those that have line management of the candidate. Regardless of the content of the written references provided, or who provided it, these are all followed up with a telephone call to the head teacher/principal, again as per OFSTED best practice. If head teachers/directors insist on delegating this, confirmation is sought that the head teacher/director has been directly consulted. 

Any anomalies, ambiguities or conflicting information between the reference and the application must be clarified in writing.  All references are authenticated for genuine source and must be obtained from the referee’s professional email address.

Overseas Checks

For overseas applicants and staff who have lived or worked outside the UK, additional checks will be made, such as obtaining certificates of good conduct from relevant embassies or police forces. We will follow the guidance as laid out in ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ Paragraphs 156-157.

Where an individual has previously lived or worked overseas, tuition partners must obtain
a letter (via the applicant) from the professional regulating authority for teachers
in the relevant country (or countries) confirming that:

• the authority has not imposed any sanctions or restrictions; and/or
• the authority is not aware of any reason why the individual may be unsuitable to teach and/or work with children.

Where a letter from the relevant authority is not available, and it can be demonstrated that all avenues to obtaining one have been exhausted, alternative methods of checking suitability and/or undertaking a risk assessment that supports informed decision making on whether to proceed with the appointment should take place.

Where a candidate has lived or worked outside of the UK for a period longer than
6 months in the previous 5 years, a reference / letter of good conduct will be taken up for the candidate 

International Tutors

If Learning Hive uses overseas tutors for online tuition, the appropriate checks should be applied and have appropriate policies in place to ensure both tutors and pupils are afforded comparable protections as with tuition taking place wholly within the UK.  This must include as a minimum:

• All pre-employment checks as outlined in this document, and in accordance with the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance document, including a UK enhanced DBS check
• Such checks as may be necessary to establish any cautions and convictions received in the country where the tutor currently resides, and any other country or countries where the tutor has previously lived or worked. Refer to S.1.6 of this guidance on overseas checks, and Home office guidance on criminal records checks for overseas applicants. 
• Demonstrate that fair pay and conditions have been considered and are in place for all overseas tutors and staff
• Suitable qualifications for the role, including comparable qualifications to UK based tutors
• Obtain a letter (via the applicant) from the professional regulating authority for teachers in the country where the individual resides and any other country (or countries) where the individual has lived or worked confirming that:
• the authority has not imposed any sanctions or restrictions; and/or
• the authority is not aware of any reason why the individual may be unsuitable to teach and/or work with children.

Where a letter from the professional regulating authority for teachers is not available, and it can be demonstrated that all avenues have been exhausted in trying to obtain this, alternative methods of checking suitability and / or undertaking a risk assessment that supports informed decision making on whether to proceed with the appointment should take place. This may, for example, include additional or more detailed reference checks.

Approval or Rejection

Where the analysis, scrutiny and risk evaluation were completed satisfactorily, with no causes for concern or unexplained anomalies, the application will be approved. This will be recorded in the database, and only at this point will tutors be placed with our young learners. Where there are any unexplained anomalies, causes for concern (no matter how minor) or validation checks that cannot be completed, the application will be investigated by the recruitment team. Where concerns cannot be resolved, the application will be rejected. Applicants will be informed by email whether their application has been accepted or rejected.

Start of Employment and Induction

All pre-employment checks will be completed before an individual is approved by Learning Hive. All successful candidates will then be required to attend a half-day Learning Hive Tutor Training Workshop and complete a Level 2 safeguarding course. 

Once completed training, tutors are required to confirm that they have read the following documents before they are available to be placed with young learners:

• Learning Hive Safeguarding Policy
• Learning Hive Staff Handbook

Tutors with be actively and strongly encouraged to register with the DBS update service. Checks will initially be made manually, but the system will very shortly be configured to check the Update Service automatically. Checks can therefore occur daily, not just periodically. Should a disclosure be added, this will be flagged immediately and will be reviewed before they are placed with a young learner. This mitigates the risk of the tutor having further and inappropriate contact with children. 

If an individual starts before a DBS certificate is available, they will be appropriately supervised and not left alone with children. All other pre-appointment checks will be completed including a separate Barred List check.

Responding to Allegations against Tutors

If an allegation is made against a tutor, it is the responsibility of the centre in which the allegation was made to follow the allegations procedures in line with statutory guidance (Keeping Children Safe in Education). In the first instance the centre Director/safeguarding lead should consider whether the information contained in the allegation indicates that the threshold for LADO intervention has been met (see paragraph 146 of Keeping Children Safe in Education).

If the threshold has been met it is the centre's responsibility to contact the LADO. The centre manager/safeguarding lead will be involved in any allegations meetings that take place and will ensure that agreed actions are met. Learning Hive understand that if an individual is removed from working in regulated activity (or would have been removed had they not left) a referral must be made, by law, to the Disclosure and Barring Service. In this case, the centres will complete the referral.

If, having considered the allegation information, the centre considers that the threshold for LADO intervention has not been met, arrangements should be made with the centre manager to meet and resolve the case without delay. HR support will be used for this meeting.

For more information, please refer to our Whistleblowing Policy.  

Monitoring

These policy and procedures will be reviewed annually, or in the following circumstances: 

• Changes in legislation and/or government guidance
• As required by the Department for Education or Local Safeguarding Children Boards
• As a result of any other significant change or event

*This policy links with the following other policies: Safeguarding policy, Whistleblowing policy, Health and Safety, Diversity and Inclusion and Staff Handbook. 

Reviewed by Atif Hussain (Director/Designated Safeguarding Lead)

Written by Nayeer Afzal (Director/ Designated Safeguarding Lead)

Date: 20/05/2024

Date of next review: 20/11/2024