Safer Recruitment Policy & Guidance April 2024 ( Updated September 2024)

Pre-employment vetting checks

All offers of appointment will be conditional until satisfactory completion of the necessary pre-employment checks.

The Recruiting Manager will: 

• Verify the candidate’s identity 
• Verify their professional qualifications, as appropriate to the role 

The Recruitment Team will: 

• Check the candidate’s identity documents are appropriate 
• Verify their right to work in the UK. (See GOV.UK website for information on how to check a candidate is allowed to work in the UK) 
• Obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service Disclosure at the appropriate level (unless the Disclosure and Barring Service Update Service applies). Inform the (See Disclosure and Barring Service DBS Checks and Self-disclosures Guidance for Managers – April 2024 )
• Verify their mental and physical fitness to carry out their work responsibilities has been assessed by Occupational Health, if appropriate. 
• Verification of professional status/registration where required, i.e. Social Care Wales, Education Workforce Council, Health & Care Professions Council. 
• Receive written references, where possible confirmed by telephone. Specific questions relating to safeguarding allegations or concerns and their suitability to work with children and adults at risk are included in the Request for Reference template. (See Employment References Guidance.) 
• Check if the applicant has previously worked for the Authority and the reason for leaving. 

Carry out further additional checks, as appropriate, on candidates who have lived or worked outside of the UK. These could include, where available:  

•  Criminal records check: see GOV.UK - Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

For teaching positions: 

• obtaining a letter from the professional regulating authority in the country where the applicant has worked, confirming that they have not imposed any sanctions or restrictions on that person, and/or are aware of any reason why that person may be unsuitable to teach. 
• If any Safeguarding concerns are revealed by these checks, the Recruiting Manager and the HR Adviser will be informed and will be required to undertake a risk assessment. 

For further information, See Disclosure and Barring Service DBS Checks and Self disclosures Guidance for Managers – April 2024

All checks should be:

• Confirmed in writing; 
• Documented and retained on the personnel file (subject to restrictions on the retention of information imposed by Disclosure and Barring Service regulations);  
• Followed up with the candidate where they are unsatisfactory or where there are discrepancies in the information provided. 

The following information will be reported to the Police and/or the Disclosure and Barring Service:

• The candidate is found to be on the Barred Lists, or the Disclosure and Barring Service check shows that they have been disqualified from working with children or adults at risk by a Court 
• The candidate has provided false information in, or in support of, their application; 
• There are serious concerns about an applicant’s suitability to work with children or adult at risk 
  Anyone who is barred from work with children or adults at risk is committing an offence if they apply for, offer to do, accept or do any work which constitutes regulated activity. It is also an offence for an employer knowingly to offer work in a regulated position, or to procure work in a regulated position for an individual who is disqualified from working with children or adults at risk or fail to remove such an individual from such work.