Safer Recruitment Policy

The SEN Agency, Love Teachers Ltd, is a specialist education recruitment agency. We have built our business and reputation on our core values of excellence and integrity. We’re an employment business supplying temporary and permanent workers to work within the education sector. The candidates that we engage must pass thorough and robust vetting procedures before we can consider them for any placement or assignment with our clients and this policy sets out our commitment to comply with the highest standards at each stage of the recruitment process.

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1. Purpose and safeguarding commitment

The SEN Agency will recruit people who are suitable to work with children, deter unsuitable applicants, and make placement decisions with children's safety and welfare first. Checks form part of wider safeguarding practice and do not replace professional judgement, supervision or reporting concerns.

 

2. Responsibilities

The Director is accountable for the policy, safeguarding escalation and placement clearance. Recruiters gather and verify evidence, resolve discrepancies and record decisions. A designated compliance reviewer signs off the candidate file before a placement is confirmed. Staff involved in recruitment receive appropriate safer recruitment training, including KCSIE Part three.

 

3. Guidance and implementation

This policy draws on Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) September 2026, particularly Part three and agency supply requirements. Schools retain their own safeguarding duties. The SEN Agency will agree the role, setting, regulated-activity status and checks required with each school before supply. Related procedures for allegations, recruitment of ex-offenders, data handling and candidate training must be in place alongside this policy.

 

Recruitment and selection

 

4. Role definition and advertising

Job descriptions and person specifications identify safeguarding responsibilities, contact with children, required qualifications and regulated activity. Adverts state that The SEN Agency is committed to safeguarding children and that appointments are subject to appropriate checks. Relevant adverts explain Rehabilitation of Offenders Act exemptions and that protected convictions/cautions need not be disclosed. A barred person must not apply for regulated activity with children.

 

5. Application and shortlisting

Use a completed agency application/registration form covering identity and former names, education, qualifications, complete employment and voluntary-work history, reasons for leaving and gaps, referees, and suitability for the role. A CV supplements but does not replace the form. Obtain a signed truth declaration. Shortlisting uses the role criteria; two reviewers examine gaps and inconsistencies and record reasons for decisions. Tell shortlisted candidates that proportionate public online searches may form part of due diligence. Do not use protected characteristics or irrelevant personal material in decisions.

 

6. Interviews and declarations

Use structured interviews with at least one safer-recruitment-trained interviewer. Explore motivation to work with children, professional boundaries, safeguarding understanding, employment gaps and discrepancies. Ask for examples of responding to a child's disclosure, concerns about a colleague and behaviour support. Record answers and decisions. Request relevant criminal-record/suitability self-declarations at the shortlisted stage, not as a shortlisting filter; follow current disclosure and filtering rules. Offers remain conditional on clearance.

 

7. References

Obtain two satisfactory references directly from verified referees, ideally before interview and always before clearance. Include the current/most recent employer and, where different, the most recent employer where the applicant worked with children. References should come from an authorised senior person; confirm school references with the headteacher/principal as appropriate. Do not accept open testimonials or rely on references supplied only by the applicant. Verify source and content, seek factual suitability information, compare with employment history and resolve concerns with the referee and candidate. If the applicant lacks conventional work history, the Director agrees suitable independently verified alternatives without reducing safeguarding scrutiny.

 

Pre-placement clearance

 

8. Required checks

The compliance reviewer records who checked each item, the date, outcome and evidence source. No candidate starts until applicable checks are complete and satisfactory.

• Identity: verify original/suitable approved evidence, photo identity, name changes and address history using applicable DBS identity guidance. Confirm the person interviewed is the person checked.

 

 

• Right to work: use the applicable Home Office manual, online or approved identity-service route; record evidence and any follow-up date. Do not assume nationality, a share code alone or a DBS proves permission to work.

 

 

• Enhanced DBS and barred list: obtain and examine an appropriate enhanced certificate. For regulated activity with children, obtain children's barred list information through the entitled route before appointment. Never place a barred person in regulated activity. Do not request barred-list information without legal entitlement.

 

 

• Update Service: where registered, check consent, identity, the original physical certificate, legal entitlement and the correct workforce/level/barred-list coverage before making a status check. Registration alone is not a current check. Record date and result. If the certificate is no longer current, obtain a new DBS check and hold clearance pending assessment.

 

 

• Overseas history: assess periods lived/worked abroad; obtain criminal-record evidence and other suitable checks where applicable. For teaching roles seek relevant overseas professional-regulator information where available. An overseas check does not replace UK DBS.

 

 

• Qualifications and restrictions: verify relevant qualifications and awarding bodies; check teaching prohibition and QTS where required using DfE Check a teacher's record. Check section 128 restrictions for relevant independent-school/academy management roles. Record why a check is not applicable.

 

 

• Medical fitness: establish fitness for the duties after a conditional offer, seek occupational-health advice where needed and consider reasonable adjustments. Avoid unnecessary medical details and discriminatory pre-offer questions.

 

 

• References and training: complete reference scrutiny under section 7 and the safeguarding requirements in section 10.

 

 

• Childcare disqualification: assess whether the role is within the childcare-disqualification rules; obtain relevant individual declarations/checks. School roles do not require blanket household disqualification-by-association declarations. Domestic childcare needs separate assessment.

 

Decisions, records and safeguarding

 

9. Discrepancies, disclosures and clearance

Hold clearance where identity, references, DBS, qualifications or other information is unclear, missing or inconsistent. The Director records enquiries and the suitability decision. Assess relevant disclosed information fairly and proportionately, respecting DBS filtering and the policy on recruitment of ex-offenders. A DBS entry does not automatically mean rejection, but a statutory bar cannot be overridden. Do not treat a school's risk assessment or supervision plan as a general waiver of required checks. This policy does not authorise starts with a pending DBS certificate. Where overseas evidence cannot be obtained, document attempts and seek specialist advice with the school about lawful alternative evidence; do not mark an outstanding requirement “complete”.

 

10. Safeguarding training and school induction

Before placement, candidates read KCSIE Part one in full, confirm understanding and complete suitable safeguarding training. Training includes recognising abuse, professional boundaries, online safety, reporting, Prevent awareness where relevant, and responding to disclosures. The school supplies its safeguarding/child-protection and behaviour policies, staff code of conduct, DSL/contact details and reporting routes at induction. The agency confirms arrangements and candidates raise concerns promptly. Training and KCSIE acknowledgements are updated when guidance changes and at least annually.

 

11. Records and school assurance

Keep a secure candidate vetting register with checks, dates, reviewer, evidence source, decisions, training, restrictions and review dates. Before each placement send written confirmation of relevant checks and that an appropriate enhanced DBS certificate has been obtained, with candidate identity, certificate/check details and dates needed by the school. Where DBS information is disclosed, arrange the certificate information the school must receive under KCSIE. The school maintains its own single central record and verifies the arriving person's identity; agency records do not replace those duties. Share only necessary information securely with authorised recipients. Keep a documented retention/deletion schedule consistent with data-protection duties and DBS rules; do not keep criminal-record copies indefinitely.

 

12. Ongoing monitoring and concerns

Candidates must report relevant changes to identity, right to work, criminal/suitability information, restrictions or safeguarding concerns. Track time-limited permission, training and check-review dates; repeat Update Service checks only with valid consent and entitlement. Review clearance on changes, adverse information, gaps in work or role changes. Notify affected schools promptly of concerns and coordinate safe action. Record low-level concerns and patterns without substituting them for formal allegation procedures. Suspend further supply where safety requires it; immediate danger is reported to police/emergency services.

 

Escalation, adoption and sources

 

13. Allegations and statutory referrals

The Director works with the school's safeguarding lead and the relevant local authority designated officer (LADO) on allegations meeting the harm threshold, without prejudging or conducting enquiries that compromise statutory investigations. School and agency responsibilities, information sharing and actions are recorded. Personnel suppliers must refer to DBS when the legal conditions are met, including withdrawal (or intended withdrawal) from regulated activity and relevant conduct, harm test or relevant offence. Resignation or a referral to another authority does not remove this duty. Consider Teaching Regulation Agency referral where applicable. Keep confidential, factual records and follow a separate allegations procedure.

 

14. Review and adoption

The Director reviews implementation and samples candidate files, booking confirmations and exception/discrepancy records. Review this policy at least annually and promptly after changes to KCSIE, DBS/Home Office guidance, incidents or audit findings. Record revisions and brief the team.