Visit Homepage Visit Homepage

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation - The Voice of the Recruitment Industry

Safe Recruitment

REC’s first priority is to ensure that those placed to work with vulnerable groups are safe. It is only through a comprehensive vetting procedure that safe recruitment can take place. 

However no recruitment is risk free and even criminal disclosures have been shown to occasionally have inaccuracies. Requirements to vet candidates on temporary placements should be considered in the light of the wide ranging statutory requirements already placed on them.

Recruitment agencies are bound by the Employment Agencies Act (2003). The conduct regulations stemming from this Act requires the recruiter to: 

  • Verify the identity of the work-seeker
  • Obtain copies of relevant qualifications or authorisations.
  • Obtain two references from the work-seeker, and if this is not possible to inform the hirer as to why and the circumstances around this.

 A recruitment business also has a duty to take steps to ensure that the work-seeker is not unsuitable to work with vulnerable persons and where necessary must: 

  • Obtain a CRB disclosure
  • Check that the work-seeker is not included on relevant banning lists, e.g. List 99, POCA and POVA lists.
  • Register with relevant regulatory bodies e.g. the Commission for Social Care inspection,

Further regulation to tighten up safe recruitment practices needs to be taken in light of these existing regulations.

Establishing the Independant Safeguarding Authority 

Our briefing on the establishment of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) details the significant changes afoot in the way in which vetting and barring procedures will operate from October 2009.