Safeguarding children & young people policy

7.1  Employment processes

In line with the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 we will take reasonable steps to ensure that staff working with children and young people are safe to do so. Posts will be appropriately assessed to determine their level of contact with children and young people.

Where appropriate we will vet potential employees using the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to support safer recruitment decisions and to prevent unsuitable people from working with at-risk groups. There are four types of checks which can be conducted:

- A basic check will contain details of convictions and conditional cautions considered to be unspent under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974Standard check - this will check for spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings.
- Enhanced DBS check - the same as the standard check plus any additional information held by local police which is reasonably considered relevant to the post being applied for.

7.2  Contracted services

In line with the core standards set out by the HSCB, we will ensure that in any services we commission, safeguarding children standards are in place. We can will monitor the ability of the contracted provider to meet these standards through the contract/compliance monitoring process. This includes ensuring that:

• Commissioned services know about, and adhere to, relevant safeguarding children at risk guidance.
• Senior managers of commissioned services are aware of their leadership role in ensuring quality of the service provided; supervision and support of staff; and responding to concerns about a child at risk.
• Service users and carers are provided with relevant safeguarding information.
• Enhanced with list checks – same as the enhanced check but includes a check of the DBS Barred lists.

All disclosures for unsupervised work with children and young people, that meet the definition of regulated work, will be at an enhanced level.

Additionally, all individuals we recruit will undergo pre-employment referencing covering at least two satisfactory references covering a period of three years and including a reference from the last employer where they worked in a relevant setting.

7.3 Safeguarding training and support

We will ensure that all employees who work with or have contact with children are appropriately trained. Although not all staff, volunteers, contractors or Members will work directly with children or have direct access to their information, they will be required to understand the responsibility they have in protecting children from harm.

All staff, volunteers, contractors and Members will be appropriately trained and supported to ensure their skills and knowledge match the level of contact they have with children through their work.

We will offer different levels of training, appropriate to different roles and responsibilities within the council and provide updates to reflect changes in legislation and government guidance.

We will ensure staff, volunteers , agency workers, contractors and Members who come into contact with children  are appropriately informed with up to date knowledge and awareness of safeguarding themes such as Prevent, Child Exploitation, Human Trafficking and Domestic Abuse.

7.4 Behaviour standards for staff, Members, volunteers, contractors

Staff will provide the highest level of care ensuring a child’s welfare is a primary guide to their actions whilst maintaining professional standards of conduct with children who use our services. Staff, volunteers, contractors and Members should never act in such a way that could leave them open to allegations of abuse or inappropriate behaviour or relationships with a child.

The standard of behaviour expected by employees it set out in the council’s Code of Conduct for employees and supported in the Code of Conduct for Members.