Criteria Relating to under 18s
CARE OF UNDER 18s: GUIDANCE FOR ELT PROVIDERS
Contents
The British Council believes that all children have potential and that every child matters ‐ everywhere in the world.
The British Council affirms the position that all children have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse as set out in article 19, UNCRC, 1989. British Council child protection standards incorporate the following three elements:
ELT providers have a legal duty of care to all their students.In England the law states that people who work with children have to keep them safe. This safeguarding legislation is set out in The Children Act (1989) and (2004). It also features in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (to which the UK is a signatory) which sets out the rights of children to be free from abuse. The Government also provides guidance in their document Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013.
While expecting providers to comply with the law, the Accreditation UK scheme specifies requirements for the care of under 18s relevant to their age and background which reflect good practice and may go beyond the responsibilities set out in law. Safe and successful provision for students under 18 is most often found where there is a strong ethos of care and managers have established sound safeguarding practices in line with clear procedures which are based on legal requirements and government guidelines.
This document was developed by the Accreditation Unit, in consultation with: the British Council Child Protection team, English UK, the inspectorate, accredited junior providers and adult course providers with 16- 17 year olds (welfare staff and management), to provide guidance on developing good practice and on meeting the new 2014-15 inspection criteria and the needs of students under 18.
Contents
- Introduction
- Glossary of terms and notes
- Care of under 18s section standard, inspection criteria and guidance
- Other inspection criteria which may have specific application for under 18s Inspections 2014
- Other sources of support and information
- Frequently asked questions Introduction
The British Council believes that all children have potential and that every child matters ‐ everywhere in the world.
The British Council affirms the position that all children have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse as set out in article 19, UNCRC, 1989. British Council child protection standards incorporate the following three elements:
- Developing and implementing procedures for safer recruitment
- Developing and implementing procedures for response to welfare and safeguarding concerns
- Raising awareness of safeguarding issues.
ELT providers have a legal duty of care to all their students.In England the law states that people who work with children have to keep them safe. This safeguarding legislation is set out in The Children Act (1989) and (2004). It also features in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (to which the UK is a signatory) which sets out the rights of children to be free from abuse. The Government also provides guidance in their document Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013.
While expecting providers to comply with the law, the Accreditation UK scheme specifies requirements for the care of under 18s relevant to their age and background which reflect good practice and may go beyond the responsibilities set out in law. Safe and successful provision for students under 18 is most often found where there is a strong ethos of care and managers have established sound safeguarding practices in line with clear procedures which are based on legal requirements and government guidelines.
This document was developed by the Accreditation Unit, in consultation with: the British Council Child Protection team, English UK, the inspectorate, accredited junior providers and adult course providers with 16- 17 year olds (welfare staff and management), to provide guidance on developing good practice and on meeting the new 2014-15 inspection criteria and the needs of students under 18.
Glossary of terms and notes
Under 18s: the Scheme refers to ‘under 18s’ rather than ‘juniors’ or ‘children’ in the inspection criteria to make it clear that these requirements apply to all providers who recruit (intentionally or not) any students who have not yet reached their 18th birthday, irrespective of the age of majority in their home country or the location of the ELT provision.
Safeguarding: means caring for children appropriately and protecting them from that which is not in their best interests; as such, it includes health and safety, child protection and pastoral care. Connected to safeguarding is the phrase 'Duty of Care'; there is a legal responsibility that adults who work with children as professionals or volunteers have a duty to look after them properly; children depend on adults for their safety and well-being.
Child protection: means protecting children from abuse. The British Council uses the definition of abuse commonly used by the World Health Organisation: ‘Child abuse’ or ‘maltreatment’ constitutes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.’
Safer recruitment: recruitment procedures and practices which aim to prevent the appointment of people who may pose a risk to children; this is an essential part of safeguarding. The robust screening of applicants is proven to act as a deterrent for offenders seeking employment with access to children in order to harm them. Training is widely available (see below).
Regulated activity: the term most commonly used to describe roles where a suitability/criminal records check is required by law – the Accreditation UK Handbook uses the phrase ‘roles involving responsibility for or substantial access to under 18s’. In broad terms regulated activity is any position that has direct contact with children, or a position which manages staff who work with children. Any person that is engaged in ‘regulated activity’ as defined by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Group Act 2006 (England & Wales) and parallel laws in Scotland and Northern Ireland requires an enhanced disclosure check. This also applies to existing employees who move from a post that is not regulated to one that is. Regulated activities most applicable to ELT providers are teaching; leisure programme supervision; general care or supervision (e.g. by a group leader, homestay host or residential staff); when they are carried out frequently (once a week or more), intensively (4 times or more in a 30 day period) or overnight. Regulated activity also includes any activity of any kind carried out by an individual visiting a school frequently or intensively, for or in connection with the school, and which gives the individual opportunity to have unsupervised contact with children.
Suitability checks: checks made to identify any known reasons a person would be considered unsuitable to work with under 18s, such as criminal records check. In the UK, there are three primary criminal record disclosure services; DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service), Disclosure Scotland and AccessNI. All services provide parallel checks as they conduct searches through police records (the Police National Computer and other data sources) and maintain the barred lists for individuals assessed as unsuitable to work with children and/or vulnerable adults.
The DBS cannot currently access criminal records overseas.
There are four types of checks in the UK:
Police ‘certificate of good conduct’: a general term covering the documentation available as a result of criminal records checked outside the UK. The access to, availability of, and legal use of criminal record information overseas varies greatly from country to country. Most countries maintain some form of central criminal justice agency, which is usually referred to as the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Ministry of Interior (MOI) or something similar. The MOJ may in turn delegate responsibility to a subordinate national law enforcement agency that is charged with overseeing and maintaining the country’s national criminal record system. These searches are generally national in scope and contain both felony and misdemeanor record information. Results and contents may vary. However, many reports include official declarations from local authorities confirming and attesting to results. Please refer to the British Council international criminal records check directory on the accreditation website for details of how to go about obtaining a criminal record check in various countries
Under 18s: the Scheme refers to ‘under 18s’ rather than ‘juniors’ or ‘children’ in the inspection criteria to make it clear that these requirements apply to all providers who recruit (intentionally or not) any students who have not yet reached their 18th birthday, irrespective of the age of majority in their home country or the location of the ELT provision.
Safeguarding: means caring for children appropriately and protecting them from that which is not in their best interests; as such, it includes health and safety, child protection and pastoral care. Connected to safeguarding is the phrase 'Duty of Care'; there is a legal responsibility that adults who work with children as professionals or volunteers have a duty to look after them properly; children depend on adults for their safety and well-being.
Child protection: means protecting children from abuse. The British Council uses the definition of abuse commonly used by the World Health Organisation: ‘Child abuse’ or ‘maltreatment’ constitutes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.’
Safer recruitment: recruitment procedures and practices which aim to prevent the appointment of people who may pose a risk to children; this is an essential part of safeguarding. The robust screening of applicants is proven to act as a deterrent for offenders seeking employment with access to children in order to harm them. Training is widely available (see below).
Regulated activity: the term most commonly used to describe roles where a suitability/criminal records check is required by law – the Accreditation UK Handbook uses the phrase ‘roles involving responsibility for or substantial access to under 18s’. In broad terms regulated activity is any position that has direct contact with children, or a position which manages staff who work with children. Any person that is engaged in ‘regulated activity’ as defined by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Group Act 2006 (England & Wales) and parallel laws in Scotland and Northern Ireland requires an enhanced disclosure check. This also applies to existing employees who move from a post that is not regulated to one that is. Regulated activities most applicable to ELT providers are teaching; leisure programme supervision; general care or supervision (e.g. by a group leader, homestay host or residential staff); when they are carried out frequently (once a week or more), intensively (4 times or more in a 30 day period) or overnight. Regulated activity also includes any activity of any kind carried out by an individual visiting a school frequently or intensively, for or in connection with the school, and which gives the individual opportunity to have unsupervised contact with children.
Suitability checks: checks made to identify any known reasons a person would be considered unsuitable to work with under 18s, such as criminal records check. In the UK, there are three primary criminal record disclosure services; DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service), Disclosure Scotland and AccessNI. All services provide parallel checks as they conduct searches through police records (the Police National Computer and other data sources) and maintain the barred lists for individuals assessed as unsuitable to work with children and/or vulnerable adults.
The DBS cannot currently access criminal records overseas.
There are four types of checks in the UK:
- Basic – checks for unspent convictions only (available through Disclosure Scotland).
- Standard – checks for spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings, and will take about 2 weeks. Enhanced – includes the same as the standard check plus any additional information held by local police that is reasonably considered relevant to the workforce being applied for (adult, child or ‘other’ workforce).
- It takes about 4 weeks. (‘Other’ workforce means those who don’t work with children or adults specifically, but potentially both, eg taxi drivers. In this case, the police will only release information that’s relevant to the post being applied for.)
- Enhanced with list checks – this is like the enhanced check, but includes a check of the DBS barred lists, and takes about 4 weeks.
Police ‘certificate of good conduct’: a general term covering the documentation available as a result of criminal records checked outside the UK. The access to, availability of, and legal use of criminal record information overseas varies greatly from country to country. Most countries maintain some form of central criminal justice agency, which is usually referred to as the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Ministry of Interior (MOI) or something similar. The MOJ may in turn delegate responsibility to a subordinate national law enforcement agency that is charged with overseeing and maintaining the country’s national criminal record system. These searches are generally national in scope and contain both felony and misdemeanor record information. Results and contents may vary. However, many reports include official declarations from local authorities confirming and attesting to results. Please refer to the British Council international criminal records check directory on the accreditation website for details of how to go about obtaining a criminal record check in various countries
Care of under 18s section standard, inspection criteria and guidance Notes in italics are guidance for providers Care of under 18s* [* This section is not applicable where the provider never recruits students under the age of 18.] Standard There will be appropriate provision for the safeguarding of students under the age of 18 within the organisation and in any leisure activities or accommodation provided. C1 There will be a safeguarding policy which specifies procedures to ensure the safety and well-being of all students under the age of 18, including safe recruitment (for all roles involving responsibility for or substantial access to under 18s), handling allegations and making referrals, and a named member of staff responsible for its implementation. This should be a working document (regularly reviewed) which sets out an organisation’s commitment to protect children from harm and the procedures in place to support this. It should cover: policy statements, codes of conduct, health and safety, safer recruitment, training, welfare provision and child protection procedures (including: awareness, how to raise concerns, responding to disclosure, named person(s) responsible, systems for recording information and handling allegations/incidents). There’s no specific format prescribed but the policy should be clear and relevant to the organisation. C2 The provider will make the policy known to all adults in contact with under 18s through their role with the
