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01 Introduction
1. This document is intended to help employers, especially in the social care and social work sectors, to meet existing requirements in relation to the safer recruitment and selection of people who work with service users in these sectors. It also sets out Scottish Ministers' expectation that employers will work towards continuous improvement of their safer recruitment practice in relation to those who will work with the most vulnerable people.
2. This guidance was developed by the Safer Recruitment Group ( see membership at Annex B) with representation including employers from both the statutory and independent sectors and professionals from social work services and human resources.
Status
Helping to Meet Existing Standards
3. This guidance will help social care and social work employers to meet existing safer recruitment requirements in the Scottish Social Services Council Code of Practice for Employers. It will also allow employers to achieve the outcomes for users set out in the relevant National Care Standards, issued in accordance with the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 and its associated Statutory Instruments.
Continuous Improvement in Recruitment of Staff Working With the Most Vulnerable People
4. Scottish Ministers also expect employers to work under the principle of continuous improvement to enhance safer recruitment practice over time in relation to those who will work with the most vulnerable people. This guidance will provide one framework to help employers to achieve this. More detail around this expectation is set out below. Employers should also give consideration to recruitment arrangements in relation to services carried out on their behalf.
The Guidance
5. This guidance contains:
- A Foundation Level of safer recruitment practice: which will help employers to meet existing requirements.
- A Higher Level of safer recruitment practice: which provides a best practice model to assist employers achieve continuous improvement in their recruitment practice. Though Ministers would encourage employers to make use of as many elements of the Higher Level as possible, or other means which achieve the same outcomes, they are not obliged to do so as a result of this guidance.
- A list of Safer Recruitment Outcomes: which may be used as guiding principles in designing a recruitment and selection process. The suggested outcomes are as follows:
- Legal and regulatory requirements are met
- Robert Brown MSP Potential applicants are aware of the employer's commitment to the welfare of vulnerable people
- Employers are satisfied that each candidate has demonstrated their suitability for the specific post
- Employers are satisfied as far as possible at each stage of recruitment and selection that the candidate is safe to practice
- Employers are satisfied at each stage of the recruitment and selection process that the best candidate(s) have been selected to progress to the next stage
- Employers are satisfied of the candidate's identity, qualifications and registration status
6. However, this document is not a comprehensive guide to recruitment and selection or employment issues. It does not cover all the issues relevant to that subject. Neither is it a substitute for training in those areas, or in interviewing and assessment techniques.
Continuous Improvement
7. In relation to the safer recruitment of some of those who will work with the most vulnerable people, Scottish Ministers also expect employers to work under the principle of continuous improvement. The onus is on employers to make an assessment in relation to their own service provision as to which service users constitute the most vulnerable and for which particular staff this expectation should apply:
As a general guide, this expectation would apply to the recruitment of some of those working with the most vulnerable people in the following settings or who fall into the following categories (though not excluding other categories or settings):
(as defined in the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 and in the National Care Standards):
- Adult Placement Services
- Care At Home
- Care Homes For Children and Young People
- Care Homes for Older People
- Care Homes for People with Learning Disabilities
- Care Homes for People with Mental Health Problems
- Care Homes for People with Physical and Sensory Impairment
- Housing Support Services
- School Care Accommodation Services
- Support Services (as appropriate)
( Note: this guidance has not been designed specifically for the early years and childcare sector, though employers in that sector may find it useful)
Also:
- Local authority social workers and social care staff who work with the most vulnerable people.
8. However, the setting or category of worker providing a service to the most vulnerable people should not be the only consideration. Another key factor should be the type of duties undertaken and level of contact with service users.
links to Inspection and regulation
Social Work Inspection Agency
9. The Social Work Inspection Agency ( SWIA) takes account of this guidance within the terms of their Performance Inspection Model ( PIM). Local authorities are asked to report how recruitment and selection practices ensure that staff are suitable to work with vulnerable people. In relation to the expectations contained in this document, local authorities should provide evidence that:
- they have assessed who the most vulnerable groups are in relation to their own service provision;
- are working on the basis of continuous improvement in relation to the safer recruitment of staff who work with such service users.
They may also wish to comment on how services provided on their behalf have been taken into account in relation to continuous improvement in safer recruitment of staff who work with the most vulnerable groups.
10. The assessment of the authority's position in relation to safer recruitment will also act as a benchmark to assess future progress in relation to continuous improvement.
11. The Social Work Inspection Agency operate within the statutory powers of inspection under the Joint Inspection of Children's Services and Inspection of Social Work Services (Scotland) Act 2006 and the Social Work Inspections (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (S.S.I. 2006/531). Their inspections extend to the majority of social work services provided by a local authority (or another person under arrangements made by a local authority) listed by section 7(2) of that Act. Some of the services they inspect are also inspected by other regulators, such as the Care Commission. When that is the case, SWIA take the other regulator's findings into account and do not duplicate the work.
Further information on SWIA is available at: http://www.swia.gov.uk
The Care Commission
12. The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission) was established in April 2002 as the new, independent regulator set up under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 to regulate care services in Scotland.
13. Safer recruitment will occasionally be an Inspection Focus Area for the Care Commission during their inspection year. These inspections will take account of requirements set down in the Scottish Social Services Council ( SSSC) Code of Practice for Employers and in the relevant National Care Standards. In addition, the Care Commission will always follow up on recommendations/requirements made in the preceding report(s) relating to safer recruitment or where issues have been raised as a result of other regulatory work, e.g. complaints.
14. The Care Commission will not inspect specifically on the implementation of this guidance. This guidance can, however, provide one basis for a provider to demonstrate to the Care Commission how they have delivered the safer recruitment outcomes in the relevant National Care Standards and the requirements of the Scottish Social Services Council ( SSSC) Code of Practice for Employers.
Further information on the Care Commission and the National Care Standards is available at: http://www.carecommission.com/
The SSSC Codes of Practice are available at: http://www.sssc.uk.com
Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill
15. The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in September 2006 aims to stop people who are unsuitable from gaining access through work to children or protected adults (as defined in the Bill), through the introduction of a new vetting and barring scheme. However, such a scheme is only one part of a rigorous safer recruitment and selection process. This document will help employers to take a holistic approach.
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