Safer recruitment
Detailed Guidance on Safer Recruitment can be found on the Church of England’s Safeguarding E-Manual
To register a change of Parish Safeguarding Officer, you must fill in a form. This can be found in Appendix 4 of A Safe Church.
The DBS process
Due to a recent data breach that has occurred involving Access Personal Checking Services (APCS) Ltd – the provider the diocese and most parishes currently use for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for parish officers. We have currently paused carrying out DBS checks using APCS. Read more about this here.
A new provider of DBS checks for use by parishes has now been arranged. The organisation is thirtyone:eight – a not for profit organisation, which has a long history of working with dioceses and other faith-based organisations as an umbrella body for the processing of DBS checks, as well as the provision of other safeguarding services.
Read more information about thirtyone:eight here.
How to register with thirtyone:eight
You can register by completing this registration form.
The particular details required for each parish / church will be sent individually to the email addresses of those who were previously registered to use the DBS service with the previous supplier.
The details of the people who carry out DBS checks for your church / parish, will then need to be completed on the form, the ‘Lead Recruiter’ being the main person who carries out the DBS application process, and the ‘Additional Recruiters’ being those who also support this process, either initiating the DBS checks and / or carrying ID checks. There is no difference in the functions that these two roles carry out, but the Lead Recruiter will receive notification emails from thirty-one eight when different stages of the process have been completed.
In many cases the Parish Safeguarding Officer is also the person responsible for carrying out the DBS processes, but not in all cases. It is still important that you let the Diocese know who is the designated Parish Safeguarding Officer, through this form.
Once your parish / church and your ‘Recruiters’ have been registered with Thirtyone:eight, you will receive further information about the process and how to go about initiating DBS checks. There will be details of the process and the support that is available from Thirtyone:eight, through their website, guidance notes and support centre.
DBS ID checking during the COVID-19 pandemic
The DBS has issued temporary changes to ID checking guidelines as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. These temporarily relax the ID checking arrangements enabling new checks and renewals to take place without risking infection to the applicant or ID checker.
This enables ID checks to be done remotely using live video links and accepting scanned documents where this is not possible.
Please visit gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-changes-to-dbs-id-checking-guidelines
It remains important that all those we have involved in working with vulnerable individuals across the Diocese remain subject to the relevant safeguarding checks.
DBS update service
With an annual subscription to the DBS update service, applicants can have their criminal record certificate kept up to date and take it with them from role to role. (However, if the certificate relates to work with children and an individual’s role changes to working with vulnerable adults, or vice versa, then a new criminal record application must be made as the basis on which the original certificate was issued has changed.)
To apply for the update service, an applicant must apply within 19 days of the criminal record certificate being issued. The DBS update service is very useful to those who have multiple roles where a criminal record certificate is required. It can also be useful for organisations to check someone’s criminal record certificate status online and receive a result straight away.
To check someone’s registration with the DBS Update service, the DBS administrator should send the following details to the Diocesan Safeguarding Administrator, Shola Smith (contact details below):
- applicant’s name
- applicant’s date of birth
- certificate number with which the applicant has registered on the Update Service.
The Diocesan Safeguarding Administrator then verifies the details online and sends confirmation to the parish of the results. The DBS administrator at the parish will still need to have sight of the original certificate to verify it is for the same/higher level of check and workforce as required by the parish role.
Applying for the DBS update service, which carries with it a number of benefits for the individual and the organisation, is a matter of individual choice for the applicant. The Diocese is not able to contribute towards an individual’s annual subscription.
To contact us, email: [email protected]
