Section 3.1: Safer Recruitment and People Management (General)

Guidance

It is recognised that ordained members will have gone through a safer recruitment process prior to ordination, but they will still need to go through a process as part of their preparation for joining a recognised or acknowledged community as set out above and in the community’s own governance documents.  It is also recognised that communities strive to be as welcoming and inclusive as possible, but this needs to be proportionately balanced against risks and will depend on the nature of the community. General advice on joining and exiting procedures can be found in the Handbook of the Religious Life.

For recognised communities, it is of utmost importance that no-one who is going to be a risk to themselves, to other members of the community or to members of the public is admitted, but is supported to get help in other ways. Therefore, these issues should be fully explored as part of the process of joining, and if any issues are raised, these should be discussed with the DSO and the Leader.  It is accepted that someone may present with issues which are temporary, or which are more permanent, and the receiving community needs to be confident in their ability to support people appropriately.  It is unlikely that the community will be able to make this judgement on its own, therefore advice from the DSO (and through them potentially the statutory services) needs to be sought as to the current level of risk of an individual, and whether that can be safely managed, both currently and in the future.

As a minimum, should discussions during preparation for joining or at any point during ongoing supervision bring to light similar behaviours to the examples below, which is not an exhaustive list, these should be taken as warning signs and explored further, with help from the DSO if needed:

• Non-consensual touching, e.g. hugging, holding hands
• Not appreciating personal space or boundaries
• Reference to spending time alone with children/taking children away for trips
• Interest in children that is beyond what would be expected
• Unwilling to be challenged on their ideas
• Unwilling to undertake safeguarding training or appreciate its importance
• Unwilling to accept that abuse can occur in a faith setting

It should be noted that simply being a member of a religious community does not automatically qualify someone for a DBS check – DBS checks are determined by the role that someone undertakes. The full guidance around DBS checking eligibility is set out in Section 9 of the Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance, but in summary:

• Basic checks: Any individual can apply for a Basic DBS check.
• Enhanced check with or without barred list: Must be applied for by an organisation for a role that is in regulated activity.  Regulated activity is clearly defined in law and covers roles such as teaching and personal care of children and personal care of adults.  All ordained clergy (including those with PTO) are subject to an Enhanced with barring list check. 
• Trustees: The Charity Commission recommends that where a role is eligible for a check, that check is undertaken. For trustees, this would be an Enhanced check only if the charity is a children’s or vulnerable adults charity, again there are legal definitions of what these are.

If you are in any doubt about whether a DBS check should be undertaken, you should seek advice from the DSO.

Only staff/volunteers involved in substantial work with children or vulnerable adults need to go through a Safer Recruitment process, which may involve an Enhanced DBS check if the work is Regulated Activity. Where these circumstances apply, the guidance in the next section should be followed.  However, given the nature of recognised communities, it is strongly recommended for roles not subject to safer recruitment, that some form of process, e.g. checking references, full job history, interview is undertaken.