Existing Staff Members
In the Portal: Existing staff members would fit into either the default 'Teachers' profile type, or the 'Support Staff' profile type, depending on their role.
If you have concerns about an existing staff member, it is your statutory duty to carry out all relevant checks as if the staff member were a prospective candidate.
If existing staff members change role, the new relevant checks must be carried out.
Examples of this include, but are not limited to:
Moving to a post with regulated activity, where you must then obtain an enhanced DBS certificate including barred list information
Promotions to management where Section 128 checks might then be required
Specific key differences to note:
For colleges, if a staff member moves from a post that did not involve the provision of education, to a new position that does, you must treat them as if they were a new candidate. All required pre-appointment checks must be carried out.
Governors
In the Portal: Our default 'Governors' profile type is best suited for this group. You can also use this to record 'Trustees' or 'Members'.
Maintained school
It is your statutory duty to check that all Governors have enhanced DBS certificates. It is the responsibility of the governing body to apply for the certificate for any of their governors who do not already have one.
It is your statutory duty to perform a Section 128 check on your Governors. Governors found subject to a section are disqualified from being a Governor.
Governance is not a regulated activity, so governors do not need a barred list check – unless, of course, they also engage in regulated activity outside their governor duties.
Associate members (governors appointed to serve on one or more committees) are not required to have an enhanced DBS check.
Your checklist:
Check all governors have an enhanced DBS certificate
For those who don’t, the governing body must apply for an enhanced DBS certificate for those individuals
If the governor engages in regulated activity outside duties, conduct barred list check
Governors/proprietors of independent schools, academies, free schools, alternative provision academies, non-maintained special schools
Before an individual is appointed, the Secretary of State will:
Carry out an enhanced DBS check, obtaining an enhanced DBS certificate including (or not including) barred list as is appropriate,
Confirm the individual’s identity, and
If the individual lives or has lived outside of the UK, carry out all of the necessary further checks as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
It is the chair’s statutory duty to ensure that the following are carried out before, or as soon as practicable after, any individual takes up their position:
Enhanced DBS checks are undertaken for all members where this check has not previously been carried out,
Identity checks are completed,
A section 128 check is completed, and
If appropriate, checks for individuals who have previously lived/worked overseas, where an enhanced DBS certificate is not sufficient.
If an academy is converting from a maintained school to an academy, and the chair of an academy trust has already been subject to a check carried out by the local authority, they will no longer need an enhanced DBS check and certificate.
Members of the academy trust, individual charity trustees, and the chair of the board of charity trustees.
In the case of an academy trust (including those established to operate a free school), it is the statutory duty of the trust to require enhanced DBS checks on such individuals.
Where an academy trust delegates responsibilities to any delegate or committee (including a local governing body), it is the statutory duty of the trust to require DBS checks on all delegates and all members of such committees.
It is also the statutory duty of academy trusts to perform Section 128 checks on such members.
Academy trusts (including those established to operate a free school) have the same responsibilities as all independent schools in relation to requesting enhanced DBS certificates for permanent and supply staff.
Your checklist:
An enhanced DBS check for all who have not previously been checked,
Identity check,
A section 128 check, and
If appropriate, checks for individuals who have previously lived/worked overseas.
Sixth Form college governors
If they are engaging in regulated activity, it is your statutory duty to request an enhanced DBS certificate with a barred list check.
If they are not engaging in regulated activity, you can only conduct an enhanced DBS certificate without a barred list check.
The above applies equally to volunteer governors.
Your checklist:
If engaged in regulated activity, enhanced DBS with barred list
If not engaged in regulated activity, optional to conduct enhanced DBS without barred list
Volunteers
In the Portal: Our default 'Volunteers' profile type is best suited to anyone in a volunteer or unpaid role.
If you haven’t completed any checks on a volunteer, it is your statutory duty to ensure that they do not engage in regulated activity or be left unsupervised.
Unsupervised
If an unsupervised volunteer who is new to their duties engages in regulated activity regularly, it is your statutory duty to obtain an enhanced DBS certificate including barred list information.
Existing unsupervised volunteers in regulated activity do not have to be re-checked if they have already had a DBS check including barred list information.
You may, if you have concerns about a volunteer, conduct a repeat DBS check including barred list information.
Your checklist:
If new to the role, obtain enhanced DBS certificate including barred list
If you have concerns about an existing member, conduct a repeat DBS check including barred list
Supervised
Supervised volunteers are not considered to be engaged in regulated activity, so employers are not legally permitted to request barred list information on such individuals.
You may, however, obtain an enhanced DBS certificate not including barred list information, for supervised volunteers (i.e. those who are not engaging in regulated activity).
If you choose to obtain one, you should use your professional judgment and undertake a risk assessment, in order to consider:
The nature of work with children
What you, and your institution, know as a whole about the volunteer, including formal and informal information offered by members of staff, parents, and other volunteers
Whether the volunteer engages in other employment or undertakes voluntary activities where referees can advise on suitability
Whether the role is eligible for an enhanced DBS check
If you undertake a risk assessment, you should record details of such.
On Sign In Central Record, you can choose to upload such documentation to the bottom of the volunteer’s profile.
Your checklist:
If you choose to obtain an enhanced DBS certificate for a supervised volunteer, then you must use judgment and do a risk assessment — but you must not do a barred list check.
How do I know if the volunteer is supervised or unsupervised?
It is for your institution to determine whether a volunteer is considered supervised or unsupervised. To consider a volunteer “supervised”, the supervision must be:
By a person who is in regulated activity, and
Regular and day to day, and
“reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure the protection of children.”
Agency and Third Party Staff
In the Portal: Our default 'Agency Staff' profile type is best suited to anyone coming from an agency or third party, where you are receiving a letter of assurance or written confirmation that checks have been carried out.
If you are used to a different terminology for this group of staff, you can rename the profile type via the Template Editor.
It is your statutory duty to include on your SCR whether you have received written confirmation from the employment business that the necessary and relevant checks have been carried out.
This confirmation should include whether the appropriate certificates have been obtained.
It is your statutory duty to record what date you received this written confirmation.
It is your statutory duty to record whether any enhanced DBS certificate check has been provided.
It is your statutory duty to check identity by verifying that the person presenting themselves for work is the same person on whom the checks have been made.
Where the position requires a barred list check, this must be obtained by the agency or third party prior to appointing the individual.
Your checklist:
Written confirmation received?
Does confirmation include whether certificates were obtained?
If a barred list is required, the third party must obtain it prior to the appointment
What date written confirmation received
Whether an enhanced DBS certificate check provided
Identity check upon arrival
You can upload a copy of the written confirmation to each staff profile on Sign In Central Record. Please see Document and File Management
Contractors (self-employed)
In the Portal: Our default 'Contractors' profile type is best suited to anyone who is self-employed.
If you are used to a different terminology for this group of staff, you can rename the profile type via the Template Editor.
It is your statutory duty to ensure that any contractor who is to work at your school or college, has been subject to the appropriate level of DBS check.
It is your statutory duty to require an enhanced DBS certificate (including barred list information) for contractors engaging in regulated activity.
It is your statutory duty to require an enhanced DBS check (not including barred list information) for contractors who are not engaging in regulated activity (but whose work provides them with an opportunity for regular contact with children).
It is your statutory duty to check the identity of contractors and their staff on arrival at your school or college.
If the contractor is self-employed, you should strongly consider obtaining the DBS check (as self-employed people are not able to apply directly to the DBS on their own account).
Your checklist:
If in regulated activity, require an enhanced DBS certificate including barred list information
If not in regulated activity, require an enhanced DBS certificate not including barred list information
Check the identity of contractors and staff on arrival
Agency Staff vs Contractors
What's the difference between these two Profile Types?
The difference between Agency Staff and Contractors on Sign In Central Record is whether the staff member is being provided by and checks are being carried out by an external 3rd Party Agency/Company (Agency Staff) or whether they are self-employed and therefore checks are being carried out by the School (Contractors).
You may notice that the wording of the checks is different within Agency Staff profiles to reflect the fact that if a member of staff comes from a 3rd party, you are being asked to confirm that the 3rd party/agency has provided you with written confirmation that they have had all the necessary checks completed, rather than asking you to confirm that you have completed the checks yourself.
At a glance:
