Management Information Sheet

On 3rd April 2014 the DfE published 'Keeping Children Safe in Education.' It had immediate effect and is statutory guidance that all schools (including academies) must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. MI sheet 102/14 has already given an overview of the guidance. This MI sheet concentrates specifically on the HR related updates - mainly section three of the Keeping Children Safe guidance.

What should Schools do?
Section three of the document covers the level of Disclosure and Barring Service checks that are, or may be, required for any individual working in, or visiting the school. There are no significant changes to policy in respect of this specific area as it reflects the updates made when the Disclosure Barring Service was implemented. There are, however, other changes - summarised below - that schools should familiarise themselves with and apply with immediate effect:-

Prohibition Order Checks
All new teachers to the school must undergo a prohibition order check. This must be done as part of the pre-employment checking process and a record must be kept on the school's single central record.

A prohibition order check ensures the teacher is not prohibited from teaching. This requirement has been statutory since 3 April 2014 but there is no requirement to retrospectively check teachers who commenced their current employment prior to that date.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) maintains the database of all teachers eligible to teach in the maintained sector in England. The database is called the Employer Access Service. It replaces the database previously managed by the GTCE which listed any teacher who may have been the subject of a suspension or conditional order.

To undertake prohibition order checks, schools can register on the 'Employer Access Service'. This is a free service and enables employers and potential employers to view the record of any teacher with qualified teacher status or any teacher with an active restriction. This service can be found here . A helpful guide to using the service can be found here .

NOTE 1: The Employer Access Service is not currently taking any new registrations due to the imminent launch of a new system. In the meantime you are still able to check the database for prohibition orders and can register your school to be informed as soon as the new service is up and running. Instructions on how to do this can be found on the website shown above. Unfortunately no date is available of when the new system will be available.

NOTE 2: The prohibition order check is different to the barred list check operated by the DBS. Some new appointments will require an enhanced DBS check, a barred list check and a prohibition order check.

Our template 'F112a Single central record' on Schools' PeopleNet, available to schools and academies who purchase HR services from the County Council, has been updated to reflect this requirement, with the relevant information.

Concerns regarding the suitability of existing members of staff
The 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' guidance states that if a school has concerns about an existing member of staff's suitability to work with children, the school should carry out all relevant checks as if the person were a new member of staff.

We are seeking clarification regarding what this actually means, specifically around how this fits into the process for early referral to the Local Authority Designated Officer for child protection under the procedure for dealing with allegations of abuse made against staff who work with children. We will be in contact again as soon as this is clear.

Adults who supervise children on work experience
Since 2012 employers have not been able to request enhanced DBS checks with barred list check for staff supervising children aged 16 to 17 on work experience.

The 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' guidance states that schools should ensure policies and procedures are in place to protect children from harm when on work experience placements. A barred list check might be required for staff specifically designated to supervise a child under the age of 16 while on work experience. In many instances it may not be necessary and depends on the circumstances of the work experience, in particular the nature of the supervision and the frequency of the activity being supervised. The considerations would include whether the person working with the child will be:

• unsupervised: and
• providing the teaching/training/instruction/supervision frequently (at least once a week or on more than three days in a 30 day period, or overnight)

If the person is unsupervised and is in frequent contact with the child, the work is likely to be regulated activity. If this is the case schools could ask the employer providing the work experience to ensure the person providing the supervision is not a barred person. Schools should not ask an employer to conduct a check on staff members who are simply working alongside the child.

Asking health questions prior to employment
The 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' guidance reiterates that schools must verify an appointee's mental and physical fitness to carry out their work responsibilities as part of their pre-employment checks. However, health questions should not be asked prior to an offer of employment as this may breach the Equality Act. Further information and guidance can be found on the Equality Human Rights Commission website.

Allegations of abuse made against staff
The Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board (NSCL) protocol 27 was recently replaced by Section 8.3 of the NSCL policies and procedures. Section 8.3 is the process schools must follow when an allegation of abuse is made against a member of staffAny allegations that are found to be false, unsubstantiated or malicious should be removed from personnel records. For all other allegations, a clear and comprehensive summary should be kept. Schools purchasing HR services from the County Council can refer to P303 Employee discipline model procedure for schools on Schools' PeopleNet for further information.

For cases in which an allegation was proven to be false, unsubstantiated or malicious no mention can be made in the any employer reference of the allegation. This remains the case where there is a history of allegations where all allegations have been found to be false, unsubstantiated or malicious. Schools purchasing HR services from the County Council can refer to P119 Provision of references model policy on Schools' PeopleNet for further advice on the provision of references.,

Other changes to affected model policies and procedures

P112 Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) checks model policy for schools has been updated to cover the requirements of Keeping Children Safe in Education and also fully reflects changes made in 2013, i.e.:-

• amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013) requiring that certain spent convictions and cautions are 'protected' and are not subject to disclosure to employers, and cannot be taken into account. Please refer to the Guidance and Criteria on the filtering of these Cautions and Convictions which can be found on the Disclosure and Barring Service website.

• the introduction of the DBS Update Service on 17 June 2013. The Update Service changes the way individuals can use their criminal record check and how employers check their suitability. For a small sum (£13 per annum at introduction), individuals can take their DBS check with them from role to role, within the same workforce, where the same type and level of check is required. Employers will be able to go online to see if the information presented is still current and valid. However, at this early stage of introduction of the Update Service, the DBS is not able to guarantee that inspection regulators will accept status checks and, therefore, until there is clarity on that issue and to avoid schools experiencing difficulties through inspection, Norfolk's policy is to continue to require a fresh enhanced DBS check where a new appointee meets the criteria (of this policy) for an enhanced DBS check. This position will be reviewed when assurances are given that status checks will be viewed as acceptable by inspection teams.

• that from 17 June 2013 DBS certificates have been issued direct to individuals rather than to organisations. Schools must have sight of the certificate and take appropriate action in each case, as well as completing the single central record. No copy of the certificate should be kept once viewed and recorded on the single central register.

All policies and information affected by the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance on Schools' PeopleNet have been updated. See the Schools' PeopleNet updates log for specific policies and information affected.

Where schools and academies have adopted and subsequently adapted model policies provided by Norfolk County Council all relevant policy documents and procedures should be reviewed and revised to reflect the changes published in the guidance.