General

The College recognises the importance of recruiting staff from as large a pool of people as possible based on merit and ability without excluding unreasonably ex-offenders.

Social exclusion is an important issue for the College and one which challenges the College to help eliminate.

It also recognises its responsibility to ensure people are not employed who are unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable adults or could compromise or damage the operation of the college. The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (CJCSA), The Education Reform Act 1988, the Education Act 1996 and Protection of Children Act 1999 provide the legislation. The new Criminal Records Bureau provides the means to enforce the legislation set up under the Police Act of 1997.

Recruitment Procedures

Disclosure of "spent" or unspent" convictions will not normally be the sole criterion to decide a person's fitness for work unless that person is disqualified by the Court or the DfEE from working in a College.

The College will adhere to the CRB Code of Practice which is designed to ensure the Disclosure information is used fairly, sensibly and confidentially.

The College will :-

• fully consider the relevance of any conviction
• ensure recruitment information for each post contains a statement that Disclosure will be requested of a successful applicant.
• encourage applicants to declare convictions and encourage confidence in our policy not to automatically exclude ex-offenders.
• ensure this policy is available on request
• train recruiters as to the use of the policy and the CRB guidelines.

The College will only seek Disclosure at a level (Basic, Standard or Enhanced) appropriate for the job applied for.

The College will only request Disclosure information from one applicant offered a job and when the level of Disclosure required has been assessed.

The College will only seek Disclosure of an existing employee where he or she has been promoted or transferred to a post which requires Disclosure, or where it is discovered they have failed to disclose new convictions or information comes to the College's attention which causes concern. A full appraisal of the risk involved will be undertaken and steps such as redeployment to a non-risk area considered or disciplinary action. However, evidence of a previous non-declared conviction will not automatically justify dismissal. Account must be taken of the individual's service record and the nature of the undisclosed conviction.

Assessing the Relevance of Criminal Convictions

An applicant's criminal record will be assessed against the tasks he or she will do. In assessing the risk the level of supervision will be assessed, contact with money or items of value, contact with the public; length of time since the offence, personal circumstances at the time of the offence, is it still a criminal offence, was it a one-off, degree of remorse and how serious was it in terms of the safety of other staff, students, clients and visitors will be relevant.

Confidentiality

Only the relevant HR staff and managers will be informed. No information will be disclosed to colleagues or students. To encourage confidence in this, the successful applicant will be informed who in the College is aware of the conviction and why they have been told.

Disclosure information will be kept at all times in lockable cabinets which can be accessed only by HR staff.

Review

The HR department will review when a post becomes vacant to assess the risk in liaison with the relevant line-manager.