Safeguarding
Bedford Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and
promoting the welfare of all children, young people and vulnerable
adults in its care.
To ensure this is achieved, we expect all employees to
share this commitment, and staff working with these vulnerable
groups will be recruited and selected in line with Best
Practice.
Disclosure & Barring Service Check
(was Criminal Records Bureau Check)
Where appropriate, you will be required to
complete a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.
If the post you are applying for carries this requirement it will
be clear at the application stage.
An enhanced DBS check must be undertaken
for all posts where candidates will be working directly with
children & young people (under 18) or vulnerable adults.
The Disclosure must be satisfactory before we
can confirm any offer of employment. On receipt of disclosure from
the DBS, a risk assessment will be undertaken to assess suitability
for the role and to evaluate the implications of any offences
and/or convictions. The Recruiting Manager will consider the
specific disclosure in relation to the post applied for.
Things they will take into account will include:
· The type of offence and sentence
given
· The position applied for
· When the offence(s) occurred
· Any mitigating circumstances
· Your attitude
· Whether you declared the
offence(s)/conviction(s) on the ‘Declaration of Criminal Records’
form.
Disclosure information will be retained for a
maximum of six months in lockable and non-portable storage cabinets
and access is restricted to members of the HR Safeguarding Team.
After this time, the information will be confidentially
shredded by the HR Safeguarding Team. Photocopying/scanning
of disclosure information or copying/representing the contents in
any way is strictly prohibited.
Bedford Borough Council has adopted and abides
by the Disclosure & Barring Service Code of Practice. You
can download the Code of Practice using the link
below.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/crb/
Rehabilitation of Offenders
Act
The Council recruits based on merit and
ability to perform the duties of the role; having a criminal record
will not automatically exclude you from gaining employment.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
states that, once a conviction is ‘spent’, it does not have to be
revealed in most circumstances.
However, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, as amended in 1986 and 2001, says
that you must declare ‘spent’ convictions when applying for certain
posts; these relate mainly to posts working directly with children
and young people, or vulnerable adults.
If you are selected for interview you will be
asked to complete a ‘Declaration of Criminal Records’
form.
Applicants for positions which are exempt from
the Act will be asked to declare any unspent
convictions, spent convictions, pending charges/current Police
investigations, bind overs, warnings/cautions or reprimands
(applicants for positions which are not exempt from the
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act will be asked to provide details of
all unspent convictions).
Any details declared on the form may be
discussed at interview.
For more information about
the 'Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974" please
visit
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/dbs/
http://www.nacro.org.uk/data/files/nacro-2005020105-194.pdf
The Warner Report 1992
As recommended by the Warner Report 1992,
extra safeguards have been built in to the recruitment and
selection procedure for posts with regular contact with
children/vulnerable adults.
Certain positions which involve working with
these vulnerable groups will require candidates selected for
interview to pass a Warner Interview. This will normally take
place prior to the formal interview, and questions will be asked to
determine applicant’s suitability to work with the appropriate
client group, their experience of working with vulnerable groups in
the past, and their motivation to work with the appropriate
vulnerable group.
Extra safeguards are also put in place when
seeking references. We reserve the right to apply to a
candidate’s last employer for a reference if they have not been
specifically named. All referees are asked to comment on the
suitability of the candidate to work with vulnerable groups.
No applicant will be appointed to work with vulnerable groups
if there is any doubt at all about their suitability to do so.