RandstadEducation is a proud holder of the DCSF
Quality Mark and this means that any person provided to you
will have been through a rigorous face-to-face interview and
all of the required checks including, references, qualification
and identity checks and the List 99 and CRB process. All of
these vetting procedures serve to reduce the risk to the
school. Nevertheless, just occasionally, allegations of
improper conduct are made against such workers.
In years gone by, if there was any concern about the conduct
of an agency worker, the solution for schools was simple - send
them back to the agency and tell the agency not to ever send
them back. And why wouldn't a school do this, surely that was
one of the benefits of using an agency?
Well, times have changed and so too, have expectations of
parents and the wider community.
At the beginning of 2007 the (then) DCSF introduced their
new guidelines, Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in
Education. These guidelines have statutory force and
Chapter 5 spells out the specific obligations upon schools to
investigate allegations made against adults in school.
The guidance highlights the three strands of any such
investigation and these are:
- A police investigation of a possible criminal
offence.
- Enquiries and assessment about whether a child is in need
of protection or other services.
- Consideration of any disciplinary action against the
adult involved.
It is self-evident that simply sending the worker back to
the agency would not cover these three strands and (critically)
may leave children in another school vulnerable.
So, how should you respond in such circumstances? We suggest
you follow these simple rules:
- Treat the allegation in exactly the same way as if it had
been made against a permanent member of your staff. The
worker's status should not affect your response to the
allegation.
- Contact your local authority's Designated Officer ('the
LADO') to alert them to the circumstances, talk through the
issues and receive any advice they may have to offer. This is
critical if they believe there are any particular steps that
you might need to take to protect the children involved.
- Contact our local Business Manager (telephone 0845 600
1234) and alert them to the circumstances. It is standard
company practice in such situations for us to suspend the
person in question. This means that we will not offer them
any further work unless or until the matter is resolved
satisfactorily. We will interview the person in question and
get them to make a written statement whilst the events are
fresh in their memory. We will provide you with a copy of
this statement.
- Whilst we would wish to co-operate with your
investigation, it would not be appropriate for us to come
into school and speak to children or other witnesses to
events. That responsibility has to rest with you.
- It may be that the authorities decide to hold an initial
evaluation or "strategy" meeting (in accordance with Local
Safeguarding Children Board procedures) where all the
relevant statutory agencies can meet to decide on an
appropriate course of action. In such cases we are happy to
attend and will provide all relevant information on the
individual to inform the decision making. We will always
co-operate fully at these meetings and will assume
responsibility for keeping the individual informed of
progress as appropriate.
- At the conclusion of an investigation we shall make a
decision as to whether we feel the individual is someone who
is an acceptable risk to be working in schools in our name.
If we conclude that they are not, we will report all of the
circumstances leading to our decision, to the Independent
Safeguarding Authority. We will copy this report to you for
your information. They will decide whether the person should
be placed on List 99 or whether the circumstances warrant a
referral to the GTC's disciplinary committee.
- If we conclude that there is no case to answer, we will
debrief the candidate and discuss their future options. This
may or may not include the return to your school.
Occasionally candidates will not wish to return to your
school even if the complaint has not been upheld.
The risk of frivolous or malicious complaints made against
supply staff
It is a fact of life that supply staff can be vulnerable to
frivolous or malicious complaints made by pupils. We take
trouble to alert our people to this risk and give them explicit
written advice (e.g. on the physical handling of children and
the use of ICT equipment in schools). They are told that if any
incident occurs it is their responsibility to alert the school
and our local office as to the circumstances.
Ultimately, however, we are reliant upon your judgement as
to whether a complaint may be frivolous or malicious. You will
know the characters involved. As a matter of policy we will
always err on the side of caution and assume the complaint to
be genuine unless or until it is proven otherwise.
Responding to parental concerns
There have been situations in the past where schools have
referred irate or concerned parents to our local Business
Managers. This is not, in our experience, very helpful. We are
not in a position to answer all of their questions and cannot
provide them with the sorts of guarantees they are seeking. It
is our view that it is only the school that can manage that
relationship with parents and our involvement only complicates
and compounds these difficulties. We are always happy to advise
you of the steps we are taking and for you to share this, as
appropriate, with parents.
Concerns about our response to such complaints
All complaints such as these would be handled in accordance
with our Complaints procedure. Where these involve allegations
made against one of our workers, the circumstances are referred
to me for monitoring and further advice. All such cases would
be brought to the attention of our Managing Director.
If, however, you have any concerns about how case is
progressing or would like any further advice, please contact me
using the form below.
Jon Sheridan
Child Protection Officer