Welcome to the Safer Recruitment Consortium website
Face to face and virtual training Early in the pandemic, we adapted the materials for virtual / online delivery and provided written guidelines for all accredited trainers to ensure that the collaborative and interactive nature of the Safer Recruitment course was protected as much as possible. Working life is very much back to normal for most of us but we realise that some now find remote training more convenient or accessible to staff. Contact your usual accredited trainer for more information.
Many organisations are still using remote interviewing, so we have made temporary amendments to the SR checklist - if you are accepting scanned documents for identity, right to work, etc., it is essential to see the originals as or before the person commences in post.
If you are recruiting staff remotely, please see the Disclosure & Barring service website where they have set out the steps they are taking to ensure people who work with vulnerable groups are still appropriately vetted - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-how-dbs-is-supporting-the-fight-against-coronavirus
Who we are
The Safer Recruitment Consortium is a partnership between four organisations with the safety and wellbeing of
children at their heart:
Representatives of these organisations have been working together, in consultation with the DfE, since January 2014 to ensure that schools, FE colleges and other education providers have access to high quality, up to date Safer Recruitment training.
Risk assessment for volunteers
Risk assessment for volunteers
KCSiE says that schools should have a written risk assessment for all volunteers, regardless of whether they are in regulated activity. We are very grateful to one of our accredited Safer Recruitment providers for allowing us to share their model risk assessment. Schools / academies / colleges may use the risk assessment as long as Wardell Associates are credited as the source. If you are a consultant or LA providing services to schools / education providers, you must contact Wardell for consent before using their resource.
Wardell Associates editable pdf Risk Assessment (updated September 2022)
Looking for training?
Safer Recruitment training
If you are an individual who would like to attend a face-to-face course in your area, your first call should be to your Local Authority or Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) training coordinator. Many LSCPs run regular Safer Recruitment courses or can provide contact details for their preferred providers. Alternatively, you may wish to contact LFF for details of accredited trainers in your area.
Schools, colleges and other organisations often benefit from booking in-house Safer Recruitment whereby an accredited trainer comes to your own setting to deliver to your leadership team, HR colleagues, governors, etc. Again, your LA or MAP may provide this or LFF can provide you with a list of accredited trainers in your region.
Train the Trainer
LFF provides TtT courses centrally and for Local Authorities or MAPs who wish to develop a team of Safer Recruitment trainers in their own locality. Generally speaking, individuals wishing to become SR trainers will have relevant practical experience such as child protection, human resources, school governance, etc., or will be an experienced trainer/facilitator in a related field. See the Lucy Faithfull Foundation website for more information
We are very pleased to be able to publish 'Guidance for Safer Working Practice for professionals working in education settings' 2022 on 15/02/22. The original guidance was developed by a DfES network in 2005, revised in 2009, 2015 & 2019. This 2022 update has been produced in consultation with representatives from CAPE, local authorities and other stakeholders and incorporates both the GSWP Covid addendum (2020) and KCSIE expectations around low level concern reporting. We hope that you will find this (non-statutory) guide helpful when developing your staff behaviour policy / code of conduct.
If you wish to see what's new, this version shows all changes in yellow. .
We also have a basic training resource to support the introduction of 'safe working practice' in INSET / staff briefings with a short exercise (NB there are two options on the slideshow).
Low level concerns reporting - We were proud to see the GSWP referenced a number of times in the Farrer & Co low level concerns tool kit published in September 2022.
Sep 2023 the consortium has worked with the Better Hiring Institute, Disclosure & Barring Service and supply chain sector to produce this Better Hiring toolkit for education settings
We like feedback!
How to recognise a Safer Recruitment Consortium course ....
The Safer Recruitment Consortium does not require approved trainers to evaluate courses, although many will choose to do so. However, we do like to hear from delegates and trainers, and use this feedback as part of our quality assurance process.
If you want to tell us about the impact the new Safer Recruitment training has had on your practice or have any comments about the training, please use our contact page (but don't tell us about the venue or biscuits as these things are beyond our control!)
There will perhaps be many companies and organisations offering safer recruitment training now that the content does not have to be approved by the Secretary of State. If you would like to assure yourself that the SR training accessed by you or your colleagues is the most up-to-date available, and fully compliant with Keeping children safe in education, there are a number of things you can do:
- look for our consortium logo on the slides, workbook, certificate, etc
- ask the trainer to show you their Safer Recruitment Consortium 'approved trainer' certificate
- all consortium trainers have signed a code of conduct which includes certain standards - a minimum delivery time of 7 hours, for example
- if the material is up to date, there will be no references to CRBs, list 99 or other checks that no longer exist!
