Safer recruitment

What is a safer recruitment policy statement?

A safer recruitment policy statement is a vital part of your overarching safeguarding policies and procedures. It sets out your organisation's commitment to recruiting staff and volunteers who are suitable to work with children.

It sends a clear message to staff, volunteers and potential applicants that your organisation prioritises the safety and welfare of children.

What to include

Your safer recruitment policy statement should set out your organisation’s commitment to:

• safeguarding and protecting all children and young people by implementing robust safer recruitment practices
• identifying and rejecting applicants who are unsuitable to work with children and young people
• responding to concerns about the suitability of applicants during the recruitment process
• responding to concerns about the suitability of employees and volunteers once they have begun their role
• ensuring all new staff and volunteers participate in an induction which includes child protection
• a list of the supporting procedures that accompany the policy
• the date the policy comes into force and when you will review it.

Your safer recruitment policy statement should work alongside other policies within your organisation, for example your equal opportunities policy. It should sit under a wider safeguarding policy statement.

Aim to keep your policy statement under two sides of A4 paper. You could consider incorporating safer recruitment statements into existing policies on recruitment, selection and induction. 

Safer recruitment procedures

Having a safer recruitment policy statement in place is a vital first step towards keeping the children and young people who have contact with your staff and volunteers safe. But it's also important to establish clear written procedures and make sure everyone who is involved with any form of recruitment knows how to follow them.

These will ensure that staff and volunteers are recruited safely and fairly, and that children’s safety is being considered at every stage of the process.

Plan the recruitment process

Plan the whole of your recruitment process in advance to make sure you have a consistent approach every time you recruit a new staff member or volunteer.

Taking a planned and structured approach will help:

• minimise the risk of appointing someone unsuitable
• ensure you select the right person for the role
• make sure the process is fair
• make sure there are records of the process for future reference.

Following a written procedure also means you’re less likely to miss anything out and that each time you recruit you’re adhering to legislation and guidance.

Think about the resources that you'll need and how you are going to make them available.

This includes making sure enough people will be available to help conduct the interviews.

Define the role

For any role working with children and young people, both the role description and the person specification should highlight the safeguarding responsibilities.

Advertising the role

The advertisement is your first opportunity to send out a clear safeguarding message. Every advert for a role that includes work with children should include a statement about your commitment to keeping children safe.

If the role requires a criminal records check, this should be included in the advert.

You should advertise all vacancies to attract a wide selection of applicants – whether the role is for paid staff or a volunteer. 

Applicant information pack

Providing an application pack ensures that people interested in applying for a role have all the information they need about your organisation and the advertised vacancy. It’s best practice to use a standard application form for all roles, whether paid or unpaid. This helps make sure you get all the information you need from each candidate. It should include space for the candidate to explain how they meet the criteria outlined in the person specification.

You should include an overview of your safer recruitment process so that candidates understand what information will be sought from them and why, and what will be expected of them at each stage of the process.

See our interactive elearning courses for scenario examples and more on how to prepare a successful safer recruitment process

Safer recruitment in education

Safer recruitment (non-education)

Self-disclosure form

A self-disclosure form gives shortlisted or successful candidates the opportunity to tell you confidentially about any relevant criminal convictions, child protection investigations or disciplinary sanctions they have on their record. 

You can only ask for the information you are entitled to know about as a potential employer. What you can ask for, and when, will depend on the role they will be doing. For more information about this, see our legislation and guidance section.

The form:

• ensures applicants are aware that you are entitled to ask for this information
• provides you with an opportunity to discuss and consider relevant information before findings from vetting and barring checks are received
• helps deter unsuitable candidates and shows that you take safer recruitment seriously.

Your safer recruitment procedures should set out at what point in the process you should request a self-disclosure form. It should also set out when you should open a completed form.

Self-disclosure forms contain sensitive, confidential information. Forms should be submitted in a separate, sealed envelope marked 'Confidential' or through a secure, online system. Your organisation’s policies and procedures on the retention, storage and destruction of records should set out in more detail the process for collecting, storing and disposing of opened and unopened self-disclosure forms.

> See our guidance on child protection records retention and storage

The self-disclosure form does not replace the need for a criminal record check, which should always be carried out as appropriate to the role.

The information provided should be considered as part of your vetting checks, applying a risk assessment process if information has been disclosed. You can find more information about risk assessments in the What to do if vetting checks raise concerns tab.

> See our example self-disclosure forms

References

Your application pack should provide information about how and when you will request references.

You should ask applicants to provide the details of at least two referees and check references as part of your vetting checks.

It's a good idea to give candidates an overview of the questions you'll be asking referees, so the candidate can consent to this information being provided. Make sure you ask about the candidate’s suitability to work with children and young people.

It’s best practice to use a standard reference form for all roles, to make sure you get all the information you need. 

Online checks

Some organisations consider carrying out a search of shortlisted candidates for any information that is publicly available online.

Online checks are not a mandatory requirement of a safer recruitment process, but it is important that you review your recruitment and selection policy and procedures and update it to incorporate the online search process if you are including this as part of your recruitment process.

If you are thinking about conducting online checks, you must let all applicants know that they will be subject to an online search if shortlisted.

Selecting applicants for interview

Shortlisting should be carried out by at least two people. They should each be clear about what their role involves and should assess each application form according to how well it meets the criteria set out in the person specification.

Preparing for interview

You should assess all applicants on their ability to carry out the role, based on justifiable and objective criteria. Plan a range of selection methods that are clearly related to the person specification.

Panel

At least two people should be on the interview panel and you should have a chair.

Agree beforehand who is responsible for ensuring all assessments are conducted fairly and candidates are treated equally.

Children's participation

Involving children, young people and their families in recruitment can be a really useful way of finding the right people for the role.

Practical test

A question and answer format may not be the best way to test a particular requirement or competency. You may want to consider other methods such as a practical test.

Interview

Interviews to recruit people to work with children should always be conducted face-to-face.

Ask candidates in advance whether they have any access requirements for the interview venue and provide what they need. Give an outline of the selection methods you’ll be using and ask if they need any special arrangements for these. 

Plan your questions in advance. Choose questions that relate to items in the person specification and enable you to explore the candidate’s suitability to work with children, their attitude and their motivations for applying for the role.

You should ask each candidate the same questions so that they are all treated equally.

Make notes during the interview. This will form the evidence for assessing each candidate after the interviews are complete. Use a scoring system based on the person specification and follow the same criteria for each candidate.

It’s best practice to use value based interviewing techniques, which will help you focus on each candidate’s values and behaviours (Erooga, 2009).

During the interview candidates should show that they are able to:

• establish and maintain professional boundaries and professional integrity
• establish and maintain relationships with children
• take action to protect a child.

Checking identity

Check each candidate’s identity during the recruitment process. The first opportunity to do this is usually when the candidate attends an assessment day and interview.

> Find out more about the checks you need to complete before taking on a new member of staff or volunteer

Making an offer

When you contact the successful candidate, make it clear that the offer is still subject to satisfactory completion of all the vetting processes you need to undertake.

See our interactive elearning courses for scenario examples and more on how to prepare a successful recruitment process

Safer recruitment in education

Safer Recruitment (non-education)

Vetting, disclosure and barring checks

You should carry out a range of processes and checks to ensure you employ the right people to work or volunteer in roles that have contact with children.

Verifying references

References can help you make an informed decision about an applicant’s suitability to work or volunteer with children.

Ask referees about the candidate's:

• suitability and ability to work with children and young people
• knowledge and understanding of child protection and safeguarding.

Make sure information provided in the reference is consistent with the information provided by the candidate in their application form and interview. Follow up any discrepancies, concerns, or vague statements. 

After advice on how to approach referees and checking and following up references? Take one of our interactive online courses

Safer recruitment in education

Safer Recruitment (non-education)

Criminal records checks

Criminal records checks enable you to ensure that people aged 16 or over have nothing on their record that makes them unsuitable to work or volunteer in roles that have contact with children.

Each nation in the UK uses a different criminal records check process, but they are all aligned and recognise each other’s decisions. A person who is barred from working with children in one nation will be barred across the UK.

Depending on the size of your organisation and what kind of criminal records check you need, you can either apply directly or use an umbrella body. More information about how to apply for different kinds of check is available from each criminal records agency.

• England and Wales: The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers and voluntary organisations in England and Wales make safer recruitment decisions.
• Northern Ireland: AccessNI provides disclosure information and the DBS carries out barring procedures for Northern Ireland.
• Scotland: Disclosure Scotland carries out criminal record checks and manages the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.

A criminal records check is only valid on the date stated on the certificate but:

• in England and Wales, individuals who have a new DBS check can subscribe to the update service, which means they can keep their certificate up to date and take it with them to a new employer
• in Scotland, people joining the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme will have their suitability to work with children checked continuously. PVG membership lasts for life, unless you choose to leave the scheme or you get barred from working with children or protected adults.

Enhanced with barred list checks

There are different types of criminal record checks depending on the nature of the work being carried out. In all four UK nations checks can be: 

• basic – showing unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• standard – showing spent and unspent convictions and adult cautions which have not been filtered in line with legislation
• enhanced – showing the same as a standard check plus any information held by local police that’s considered relevant to the role.

In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, there is also the option for an enhanced with barred list check for anyone doing “regulated activity”.

This provides the same information as an enhanced check, but also includes information about whether the person has been barred from working with children.

In Scotland, the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme is used if someone is doing “regulated work”.

What is regulated activity/regulated work?

In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, regulated activity with children means carrying out any of the below activities frequently or with intensity (more than 3 days in a 30 day period or overnight).

• Unsupervised activities: teaching, training, instructing, caring for or supervising children; providing advice or guidance on wellbeing, or driving a vehicle only for children.
• Working for a limited range of specified places with the opportunity for contact with children and young people, for example schools, children’s homes, childcare premises (excluding work done by supervised volunteers).

Some activities are always regulated activities, regardless of how often they take place and whether or not they are supervised. These include:

• engaging in intimate or personal care of children.
• health care by, or under the supervision of, a registered health care professional.

In Scotland, regulated work with children can be paid or voluntary. It usually involves:

• working directly with children
• teaching or supervising children
• providing personal services to children
• caring responsibilities.

The frequency and intensity requirement does not apply.

Regulated work can also apply to certain positions of trust within organisations, for example being a trustee of a children's charity.

For more information about the definitions of regulated activity and regulated work, please see the Legislation and guidance tab.

Other checks

There are a range of other checks you should carry out.

Birth certificates

It's best practice to check the successful candidate's birth certificate, to find out whether they have changed their name since birth. You should carry out vetting and barring checks for all names the person has used.

Transgender people who do not want to share gender and name information with an employer can follow a special process to apply for a criminal record check. More information is available from each criminal records agency:

• sensitive applications for transgender applicants in England and Wales
• information for transgender applicants in Northern Ireland
• information for transgender applicants in Scotland.

Right to work in the UK checks

Even if the role is not paid, you may need to carry out a right to work check. The Home Office has published guidance on right to work checks (Home Office, 2021a).

Overseas checks

If a candidate has been resident outside the UK for three months or more over the past five years, you should check the candidate’s criminal record in that country. The Home Office provides guidance on applying for criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Home Office, 2021b).

The UK ENIC, the UK national agency for international qualifications and skills, can advise on how to check international qualifications and skills.

Any documents not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

If you are unable to obtain overseas checks for a candidate, you should carry out a risk assessment to help make an informed decision about how best to proceed.

Disqualification from working with children

Organisations are responsible for making sure the people they employ as staff and volunteers have not been disqualified from working with children.

The Department for Education (DfE) has published statutory guidance to help organisations comply with their responsibilities (DfE, 2018).

Pre-employment checks for schools and colleges

Teachers can be prohibited from teaching children and young people for various reasons, including unacceptable professional conduct or a conviction of a relevant criminal offence.

Before appointing teachers you must check their qualifications, qualified teaching status and their eligibility to work as a teacher.

Since 01 January 2021, checks for teachers from the European Economic Area (EEA) are no longer available from the Teaching Regulation Agency in England, General Teaching Council (GTC) in Northern Ireland, GTC in Scotland and the Education Workforce Council in Wales. Instead, employers will need to obtain proof of past conduct as a teacher and a criminal records check from the country/countries the teacher has lived and worked in. For teachers that have worked or trained overseas you should request a Letter of Professional Standing from the professional regulating authority in the relevant country.

The Department for Education (DfE) has provided information about this in its Keeping children safe in Education guidance (DfE, 2023).

Non-teaching staff, school managers and governors should also undergo vetting and barring checks.

Checking temporary or agency staff and visitors

It's just as important to ensure you recruit temporary or agency staff who are suitable to work with children as it is with permanent staff.

If someone is visiting your school or organisation to run an activity with children, you must also make sure they have undergone the necessary checks.

You should only engage people to work with children if they come from an agency or organisation that has robust safer recruitment policies and procedures.

Supply teachers, student teachers and contractors in schools are all in regulated activity if they work in schools for more than three days in a 30 day period, or overnight.

Ask the agency for written confirmation that the relevant safer recruitment vetting checks have been made for each temporary staff member or visitor. When supply staff arrive on site you should check their ID.

After scenario examples and more information on completing pre-appointment checks? Take our interactive elearning courses

Safer recruitment in education

Safer Recruitment (non-education)

What to do if vetting checks raise concerns

If references, vetting, disclosure and barring checks reveal concerns about a person’s history, your organisation needs to assess whether or not they are suitable to work with children and young people.

It’s important to have clear procedures in place for making these decisions.

You may need to put any formal offer of an appointment on hold to make sure you’ve got time to consider everything thoroughly.

If necessary, you must pass on information to the relevant authorities, such as the criminal records agency, professional bodies or police.

References

A reference should provide you with all the information you’ve asked for and the responses should be clear and direct.

• If a reference expresses concerns, is incomplete or vague, contact the referee directly to address these issues. Keep a written record of any telephone conversations.
• If the issue is significant, ask the referee for further details in writing.
• You should not consider information about unsubstantiated concerns or allegations that have been proven to be false when deciding whether to interview or employ a candidate.

Self-disclosure form

If a candidate discloses a caution or conviction on their self-disclosure form, you need to carry out a risk assessment to decide if this is relevant to the post. 

Criminal records checks

People on the barred list must not be given a role that requires them to work or volunteer with children or young people in regulated activity or work.

It is illegal for an employer to knowingly employ somebody to carry out regulated activity or work whilst they are on the barred list.

If you find that someone who has applied to work with children is barred, you should notify the police.

You cannot use 'spent' or 'protected' convictions as a reason not to employ somebody (unless the conviction makes them unsuitable to work with children).

If the applicant has not been barred from working with children but the checks have raised concerns (for example if they have a criminal record), you need to carry out a risk assessment to ascertain whether the applicant is suitable to work with children and young people.

After scenario examples and more on completing pre-appointment checks, including when to pass on concerns?

See our Safer recruitment in education course

See our Safer recruitment (non-education) course

Carrying out the risk assessment

Decisions about whether or not to employ someone whose vetting checks raised concerns should be made on a case-by-case basis. A risk assessment will help you work out whether they are suitable to work with children and young people.

You should only share information about an applicant’s criminal record with those who need to know. The applicant should be told who in the organisation knows about his/her record.

The applicant will usually know about any information revealed during the course of a vetting or barring check. You should discuss any concerns with them as part of the risk assessment process.

• Past convictions might be a great source of anxiety and embarrassment for the person concerned, so you need to act with sensitivity and empathy.
• Take all reasonable steps to gather as much relevant information as possible.
• Make sure a third party is present during the discussions. Ask a colleague who was involved in the recruitment process to support you and take notes.
• Carefully plan the questions you need to ask in advance and keep the discussion focused on the individual, their feelings and attitudes
• It is not your responsibility to decide whether a legal decision was right or fair – you need to decide whether the applicant is suitable to work or volunteer with children and young people.

Making the decision

Follow your organisation’s procedures to make sure all recruitment decisions are consistent. 

The reasons for your decision should be objective, rational and easy to understand. Write these down and keep them in a securely lockable cabinet, along with the notes you made during your investigations.

Things to consider include:

• the nature of the offence and its seriousness
• the relevance of the offence to other staff, volunteers, children and their families
• the length of time since the offence took place
• the length of the sentence
• whether the offence was an isolated incident or part of a pattern or history of offending
• the circumstances which led to the offence being committed
• whether these circumstances have changed (if so, do these changes increase or reduce the likelihood of similar offences happening in future?)
• whether the individual has changed since the offence (if so, what has led to the change and does this reduce or increase the likelihood of them committing further offences?)
• the level of remorse expressed by the applicant and/or any efforts to change
• whether the new role provides opportunities to re-offend
• any legal constraints relevant to the role, for example if the person has lost their driving licence and the role requires driving.

Confidential information

If the vetting and barring check includes additional information that is marked "in confidence", you should not discuss it with the applicant. This could compromise a criminal investigation or the safety of another person, and may in itself constitute a criminal offence under the Police Act 1997.

If you decide not to appoint someone on the basis of confidential information, you need to be careful when you inform them that the offer is withdrawn. It is sufficient to tell the applicant that, on the basis of checks and references that have been made, you have had to withdraw the provisional job offer.

Storing disclosure and barring checks

You should not store copies of disclosure and barring check certificates unless there is a dispute about the results of the check. Instead, you should keep a confidential record of:

• the date the check was completed
• the level and type of check
• the reference number of the certificate
• the decision made about whether the person was employed (with reasons).

If there is a dispute about the results of a check, you may keep a copy of the certificate for no longer than six months. 

See our online courses for scenario examples and more to help develop your confidence and understanding in pre-appointment checks

Safer recruitment in education

Safer recruitment (non-education)

Creating a safer culture

The commitment to safeguarding children should be an ongoing process and have a high profile in your organisation.

All staff and volunteers should feel responsible for helping to make a safer culture and empowered to speak out if they have concerns.

To help develop a safe environment for speaking out, it’s important to make child protection a key part of your induction for new staff and volunteers.

Induction

Having a consistent induction process will make sure everyone in your organisation fully understands and knows how to follow your safeguarding policies and procedures.

Make sure all new staff and volunteers:

• have read and understand your safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures
• know how to spot the signs that a child may be experiencing abuse
• know how to respond appropriately if a child makes a disclosure about abuse
• know what to do if they have concerns about a child’s wellbeing.

All staff and volunteers should complete child protection training as part of their induction – even if they say they have done this before. It’s important to make sure everyone has up-to-date knowledge and skills and understands how child protection works in your organisation.

> Find out more about what level of child protection training your staff and volunteers need

You should also consider putting a mentoring and/or supervision process in place for new staff and/or having a probationary/trial period. This will allow concerns on either side to be raised and responded to appropriately.

Ongoing supervision and training

Supervision and training should be regular and ongoing. This gives everyone a chance to reflect on and improve their child protection practice and keeps safeguarding at the front of their minds.

Ensure everyone is kept up-to-date with any changes that are made to your safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures.

View our elearning and face-to-face training courses

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have specific legislation and guidance relating to safer recruitment.

Safer recruitment procedures

Across the UK, statutory guidance highlights the responsibility of those in the education, community and care sectors to have policies and procedures in place that ensure they only employ suitable people to work or volunteer with children.

In England, the statutory guidance is Working together to safeguard children (Department for Education, 2023). This highlights the responsibility of all organisations working with children to have safe recruitment practices in place.

English schools and colleges must follow Keeping children safe in education: Statutory guidance for schools and colleges (Department for Education, 2023).

• This gives school governing bodies the responsibility to ensure safer recruitment practices are put into place.
• Part 3 gives guidance on safer recruitment.

The Department for Education (DfE) has provided statutory guidance about disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006 for local authorities, maintained schools, academies and free schools (DfE, 2018a).

In Northern Ireland, the key guidance is Co-operating to safeguard children and young people in Northern Ireland (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2017). This states that:

• organisations providing services specifically to children and young people must have robust recruitment, selection and training procedures for staff and volunteers
• this includes making sure staff and volunteers have an early induction in safeguarding training before they have contact with children.

Schools in Northern Ireland must follow Safeguarding and child protection in schools: a guide for schools (Department of Education, 2020). This states that the designated governor for child protection is responsible for the recruitment, selection, vetting and induction of staff. It gives guidance on recruiting and vetting staff and volunteers, as well as dealing with allegations of abuse made against a member of staff.

In Scotland the Care Inspectorate has published guidance on safer recruitment to help employers meet safer recruitment requirements (Care Inspectorate, 2016). The guidance is aimed at those in:

• social care
• early education and childcare
• social work.

The principles will be helpful to any employer who needs to make sure they are recruiting the right people to work with children.

Welsh schools must follow Keeping learners safe: the role of local authorities, governing bodies and proprietors of independent schools under the Education Act 2002 (Welsh Government, 2021).

Rehabilitation of offenders

There is legislation across the UK that sets out what information should be disclosed on a self-disclosure form and what information will show on criminal record checks.

In England, Scotland and Wales, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 sets out what you can ask applicants about their previous cautions or convictions.

Roles which are eligible for a:

• standard
• enhanced
• enhanced check with a check of the barred lists

are exempt from the Act. This means that employers can ask applicants for more information about their past record.

A filtering system was introduced in 2013 and most recently updated in 2020. This further limits the information you can ask applicants to disclose to you.

The Ministry of Justice has produced guidance about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 for England and Wales, which explains which convictions must be declared when applying for a role and what the exceptions are (Ministry of Justice, 2020).

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has produced guidance about filtering (DBS, 2020).

In Scotland, the Scottish Government has produced guidance on self-disclosure of previous convictions and alternatives to prosecution (Scottish Government, 2020).

In Northern Ireland, the relevant legislation is the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

In 2012, this Order was amended to ensure that people applying to work or volunteer in ‘regulated activity’ with vulnerable groups, including children, must declare any convictions. The Department of Health has provided guidance on changes to the Order (Department of Health, 2012).

Access NI has provided guidance on filtering old and minor convictions and cautions on Access NI checks (Department of Justice, 2014).

Regulated activity and regulated work

In England and Wales, Section 5 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 sets out what is “regulated activity”.

In addition, Section 64 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 restricts the scope of certain activities, so that activities which are supervised by another person who has undergone all the relevant disclosure and barring checks do not count as “regulated”.

The DfE has published a factual note on regulated activity in relation to children (PDF) (DfE, 2012). 

In Northern Ireland, “regulated activity” is defined in Article 9 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (NI) Order 2007.

The Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI) published a circular (PDF) in 2012 which states that volunteers working in schools are not working in “regulated activity” as long as a school can ensure they are being reasonably supervised on a regular basis (DENI, 2012).

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Department for Education has provided statutory guidance for schools, childcare establishments, colleges, youth groups, sports clubs and other organisations working with children and young people about how to supervise activities which would be classed as ‘regulated activity’ if they were unsupervised (PDF) (Department for Education, 2013).

In Scotland “regulated activity” is defined in Schedule 2 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

Vetting and barring checks

The Disclosure and Barring Service provides detailed guidance for employers in England and Wales on the process of applying for DBS checks. It also provides an animated video guide to DBS checks and an accompanying quick guide leaflet (PDF) (DBS, 2022a; 2022b).

Ofsted has published guidance for children’s social care providers and managers in England, setting out the disclosure and barring checks that need to be in place and how this will be checked by inspectors (Ofsted, 2021).

nidirect provides guidance, forms and templates for AccessNI employers carrying out checks in Northern Ireland.

In Scotland, Disclosure Scotland provides information for individuals and organisations on disclosure and applying for criminal record checks. It also provides information about the Protecting vulnerable groups (PVG) scheme.

Information about how to apply to foreign countries for criminal records checks is available from the Home Office (2022).

Disqualification

Across the UK, it is an offence for an individual who has been barred to apply for a regulated position. It is also an offence for an employer to knowingly employ someone in a regulated position if they are barred from doing so. Employers must refer any information about employees or volunteers who (may) have harmed children while working for them to the relevant barring service for their nation.

In England and Wales, the legislation for this is the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

The Department for Education (DfE) has provided statutory guidance about disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006 (Department for Education, 2018a).

In Northern Ireland, the legislation for this is the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007.

In Scotland, the legislation for this is the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

Disqualification by association

In England, Regulation 9 of the Childcare (Disqualification) and Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 states that if somebody lives in the same household as another person who has been disqualified from working with children, they can be disqualified from working in registered childcare in domestic premises.

In Wales, if somebody lives in the same household as another person who has been disqualified from working with children, they can be disqualified from working in any registered childminding or day care setting under Regulation 8 of The Child Minding and Day Care (Disqualification) (Wales) Regulations 2010.

Keep up to date with new legislation and guidance by signing up to CASPAR, our current awareness service for policy, practice and research

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References and resources

Access NI (2014) Access NI circular 1-2014: filtering. [Belfast]: Access NI.

Care Inspectorate (2016) Safer recruitment through better recruitment (PDF). [Dundee]: Care Inspectorate. 

Department for Education (DfE) (2012) Regulated activity in relation to children: scope. Factual note by HM Government (PDF). [London]: Department for Education (DfE).

Department for Education (DfE) (2013) Statutory guidance: regulated activity (children) - supervision of activity with children which is regulated activity when unsupervised (PDF). [London]: Department for Education (DfE).

Department for Education (DfE) (2018) Statutory guidance: Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006. [London]: Department for Education (DfE).

Department for Education (DfE) (2023) Keeping children safe in education: statutory guidance for schools and colleges. [Accessed 01/09/2023].

Department for Education (DfE) (2023) Working together to safeguard children 2023: a guide to multi-agency working to help, protect and promote the welfare of children. [Accessed 15/12/2023]

Department of Education (2020) Safeguarding and child protection – a guide for schools. [Bangor]: Department of Education.

Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI) (2012) Disclosure and barring arrangements: changes to pre-employment vetting checks for volunteers working in schools from 10 September 2012 (PDF). [Bangor]: DENI.

Department of Health (2012) Changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979. [Belfast]: Department of Health.

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) (2017) Co-operating to safeguard children and young people in Northern Ireland. Belfast: DHSSPS.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (2020) Guidance: DBS filtering guide. [Accessed 07/07/2022].

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (2022a) A guide to DBS checks. [Accessed 07/07/2022].

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (2022b) A guide to DBS checks (PDF). [Accessed 07/07/2022].

Erooga, M. (2009) Towards safer organisations: adults who pose a risk to children in the workplace and implications for recruitment and selection. London: NSPCC.

Home Office (2021) Right to work checks: an employer's guide. London: Home Office.

Home Office (2022) Criminal records checks for overseas applicants. [Accessed 07/07/2022].

Ministry of Justice (2020) Guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975. [London]: Ministry of Justice.

Ofsted (2021) Disclosure and Barring Service: guidance for children’s social care providers and managers. [Accessed 07/07/2022].

Scottish Government (2020) Self-disclosure of previous convictions and alternatives to prosecution: guidance. [Accessed 02/10/2023].

Welsh Government (2021) Keeping learners safe: the role of local authorities, governing bodies and proprietors of independent schools under the Education Act 2002. [Cardiff]: Welsh Government.

Further reading

For further reading about safer recruitment, search the NSPCC Library catalogue using the keyword "recruitment".

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