Course outline

This course is suitable for staff in the role of designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy designated safeguarding lead (DDSL) as well as members of management teams with recruitment responsibilities, including HR and Governors/Trustees. The training will enable you to meet your local statutory responsibilities related to safe recruitment, including Keeping Children Safe in England and Working together to Safeguard Children in England.

This course is provided by an experienced consultant with a background in policing and experience delivering training to police and social workers working in the Child Abuse field, specialising in the interviewing of children and the assessment and investigative approach.

Training topics will include:

• What is safer recruitment?
• The recruitment process:
  • Advertising
  • Interview and selection stages
  • Self-disclosure form
  • The recruitment panel
  • Job description and person specification
  • References
• Safeguarding policy
• Regulated activity and Disclosure and Barring Service checks
• Single Central Register (SCR)
• Risk assessments
• Existing staff
• Volunteers
• Induction
• Creating a safer culture
• Reporting
• Offending behaviour.

Course objectives:

• Developing safer recruitment policies and procedures for your organisation
• Preparing the recruitment process
• Selecting the right people to interview
• Responding to concerns identified through background checks and assessing risk
• Responding to inappropriate behaviour and allegations of abuse
• Carrying out thorough background checks
• How to complete international ‘police’ checks on potential candidates
• How to use the UK police check system for UK candidates
• Have an awareness of ‘professional’ offending behaviour
• Identify useful interview questions and evaluate answers
• What is needed in induction of new staff to prevent poor practices
• Keeping records of the recruitment process in line with the UK and international standards
• Create policies and procedures for ‘safe’ working practices with and around children
• Identify how and why organisations have failed and the consequences
• Understanding what ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020’ states in relation to safer recruitment.

Learning outcomes:

• The guidance that leads to safer recruitment procedures
• Outline what is meant by safer recruitment and the practices involved
• Explain how safer recruitment supports effective safeguarding practice within their organisation
• Define pre-employment and employment checks
• Be able to identify legislation that underpins safer recruitment, with a focus on Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020 (UK) and cases where a safe recruitment process could have prevented abuse
• Understand how to assess the suitability of a candidate and have an understanding around offending behaviour – in particular sex offending by professionals.

Cost:

• Member rate: £185
• Non-member rate: £370*

*If you would like to become a member and access discounted rates for Sacpa CPD and events, please click here.

Speaker: Robin Watts, Child Protection and Safeguarding consultant
A former detective with the Metropolitan Police, Robin specialised as a child abuse investigator and worked as a trainer/instructor/consultant, training Police and Social Workers how to investigate Child Abuse from initial referral to a conclusion. He trains police officers, social workers and education professionals in the Child Abuse field, and specialises in the interviewing of children, and the assessment and investigative approach and safer recruitment training both in UK and internationally.

Robin is a worldwide specialist in delivering child abuse awareness training to schools, charities and volunteers and training the designated people in organisations in an advanced level of child protection. He has delivered training to and consulted with in excess of 1,000 schools in the UK and all over the world. He has delivered safeguarding training, and assisted in the child protection procedures, policies, and practices. He also helps schools to get ready for the Ofsted inspection process and, to date, all schools he has worked with have achieved ‘Outstanding’ in the safeguarding arena.