Safer recruitment

Safer recruitment stop or go traffic light

Safer Recruitment refers to the steps and procedures undertaken during the recruitment and on-boarding process when a person begins in a new role. This process should be followed for all types of recruitment, including paid staff, volunteers, and those in elected roles. Everyone involved in Safer Recruitment must complete the Safer Recruitment and People Management online course. This is available via the Church of England’s Safeguarding Portal.

Safer recruitment process

The safer recruitment process can be grouped into 3 main sections:

Pre-recruitment

This refers to the work undertaken before inviting anyone to an interview for an open position. This includes:

Identifying the main responsibilities of the role and writing a role description/person specification
Outlining the application process
Advertising the role

Interview and appointment

This section is about the interview and appointment process itself and includes:

Shortlisting
Interviews/assessments
Pre-employment checks (DBS checks, obtaining references etc.)
Appointment

Post appointment

This section refers to the work done after a person starts in a new position and includes:

Induction
Probation/settling in period
Ongoing support/supervision
Complete relevant safeguarding training
Further training and development
Record keeping

The Church of England's Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance contains details of all the steps to Safer Recruitment and provides templates and resources for you to use. There are seperate sections detailing the recruitment steps for paid roles, volunteers, and elected roles.

The diocesan website also has a range of resources to aid in the recruitment/management process. These can be found on the Employing & managing staff - Bath and Wells Diocese section of the Diocese of Bath and Wells website.

Volunteer recruitment adjustments

We recognise that the full recruitment process can feel overwhelming and excessive for some church roles (for example, church café assistants). Whilst it is important for the safer recruitment process to be followed to ensure that suitable people are recruited in suitable roles, aspects of the safer recruitment process can be adjusted to be more appropriate to the role. For example:

Advertising a role: making an announcement at the end of a service that the Café team are looking for extra volunteers.
Interview: Having an informal ‘chat-style’ interview with an interested volunteer discussing what the role involves and to outline the expectations.
Ongoing supervision: having an informal ‘catch-up’ with the Café assistant team or with individual volunteers to check how things are going and identify if additional support is needed.

If you do have any further questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of the team at safe.guarding@bathwells.anglican.org.

Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) checks

The Diocese of Bath and Wells have partnered with Thirtyone:Eight, one of the largest providers of criminal record checks in the country. 31:8 is unique as it is a Christian organisation with an understanding of the various roles within the Church of England. It offers support and expert guidance via email or over the phone and should be your first point of contact should you have any technical or eligibility queries.

If you wish to be involved in processing DBS checks for your parish/benefice, please email dbs.safeguarding@bathwells.anglican.org with your name, parish and church role.

Below you will find a selection of links and documents particularly helpful to Parish Safeguarding Officers, DBS Administrators and anyone who needs to apply for a DBS check. These include: