To think this is why more parents don’t volunteer

[Hoppinggreen]

So DH has been asked by a teacher (via DS) to help with a certain after school club where he has expertise. He is happy to do it and will finish work early that day to do it. So far so good BUT Aibu to think that the hoops he has to jump through to do it are a bit ott?
Firstly he has had to fill in a 10 page document, then he has to have a DBS, then he has to complete an online safeguarding course, attend an induction in School and present 2 forms of ID “to make sure he is who he says he is”
DH works on a govt contract and has high level security and 2 current DBS certs ( one less than 6 months old). We have also had children at the school for the past 8 years and I am well known to the school as well ( for the right reasons!). He has volunteered there before but as it was over 12 months ago he has to do all this for 1 hour once a week where he will be accompanied by a teacher anyway.
He works full time, some times with long hours and is a highly paid expert in this subject - if I hadn’t offered to sort most of this out for him I doubt he would be bothering
So Aibu to think this is a bit excessive? What do other schools do?
I know that safeguarding is important but all this will tell them is that he has no convictions, nothing else.

I wonder if all these people denouncing OP for asking for simply asking a very valid question, are actually volunteers themselves? Her DH was asked to volunteer, and is being very generous with his time to consider doing this. It is ridiculous to berate the question as to whether the administration process involved, actually puts other people off. Because the answer is obviously, yes it does! Our school asked for volunteers at the beginning of the school year, about 35 parents replied. When the application process was detailed, DBS, academics, past employment, character references, safeguarding course, first aid and medical...so far, only 7 parents actually followed it through.
While most people do not have issues with the DBS application process, I think the rest is quite intrusive and unneccessary. I did what was required, but I can totally understand why others have not. The application checking process took nearly 2 weeks, and involved a lot of form filling and contacting suitable referees. All so I can help out on the odd school trip here & there, and tidy up the books at the end of a lesson. The safeguarding course was at times, an insult to basic intelligence, and that itself involved an afternoon of my time.
Will things like this prevent things happening? I very much doubt it, not all people with warped intentions, have the clear career path of a pardophile...as sad as that may seem. And children who are being exposed to harm outside the confines of their school, will still continue to slip under the radar.

Gobsmacked people think there should be no checks, or it's too much trouble!!

Who has said there shouldn’t be checks?

Too much trouble for me now? Absolutely which is why I’m winding down the volunteering.

To get the check done it’s a 45 minute drive to the Council office (assuming there’s no traffic). There’s no onsite parking so find somewhere to park in a city centre. Go to the appointment which invariably runs between 30-60 minutes late. 45 minutes drive home. Not to mention the fact they offer appointments on 3 days a week and only for limited hours.

I love volunteering. I’ve run out of patience dealing with the relevant council departments.

When the application process was detailed, DBS, academics, past employment, character references, safeguarding course, first aid and medical...so far, only 7 parents actually followed it through

I'm surprised you even got 7, thats more checks than for almost anything you can think of, and none of it would filter out a child abuser....

Exactly IronMan. And getting professional character references from people you have worked with in senior positions in the city...how the hell are they in a position to vouch for my suitability to be around children? Does having my own and being a parent with the school, who was allowed to volunteer ‘unofficially’ for over 10 years not count? Seemingly, not at all. Now we have to follow the official protocol. Long gone are the days of all hands on deck...now it’s full palm read and fingerprint check...and a good old wringing out in the process

See Page 31 Section 3.5
There are other relevant documents, but this is the one that I came across first. None of my Safer Recruitment in Education training contradicts this part.

Surely if he was that lively he would do the paperwork himself rather than palming it off on to you as wifework. You are effectively being held to ransome as he won't do the volunteering if you don't do the paperwork.

*lovely

OP - some of the responses to you are very rude.

Your husband is doing a kind thing.

Yes the paperwork is a PITA and as acknowledged in other posts no it doesn't necessarily mean that if Person X has passed the paperwork checks that Person X is ok to be around children as DBS will obviously not flag crimes that are not known about.

In answer to someone else's question, yes safeguarding is way more of a 'thing' here than in other countries, particularly so in the past 5-10 years.

@sprinklesinmyelbow Yes- we're a charitably run preschool and until we can complete the onerous process of converting to a CIO, we're all personally liable. Unfortunately, the work we do just keeping things ticking over and supporting the staff and families in the setting means that the faff of sorting out the CIO keeps being put off, which sometimes keeps me awake at night when I think about it!

Think I have about 4 DBS:

1. as prospective adopter
2. for Beavers
3. As school governor
4. As charity trustee

them's the breaks.

In answer to someone else's question, yes safeguarding is way more of a 'thing' here than in other countries, particularly so in the past 5-10 years

And yet children are no more safer in the UK.

All part of safer recruitment checks of which the DBS is only a part.

If any volunteer or employer is subject to an enquiry about harm to a child the first thing statutory agencies ask is about what safer recruitment process took place and what safeguarding training that person had. It is regardless of what role they have outside of volunteering.

Also ensures that children are in a safe environment with adults who can recognise signs of harm and how to deal with it.

If you are a volunteer you can sign up for the update service within a couple of weeks after getting the DBS for free, no yearly payment, so if you have signed up for the service for one covering children and you go and volunteer for another org, they can check if anything has been picked up since the clear DBS

It's because of Ofsted. They are massively hot on safeguarding now and when they visit they will spend half a day with the office staff ensuring that everyone is DBS checked and what safeguarding measures they have in place, regardless of whether a certain staff member has unsupervised contact or not. (I had to have one as a clerk, and I came into school at night when there were no children!)

Ofsted could also do an unannounced safeguarding visit at any time. Schools need to have all this paperwork in place, and don't care that someone is supervised or not, it is just easier to get everyone done. The questionnaire will be an extra thing the school has devised to show they are hot on safeguarding. Schools also have to fill out a safeguarding audit for the local safeguarding children's board, and the questionnaire may tick one of those boxes. If there is a safeguarding incident involving a member of staff, someone will ask 'what did their last audit say', 'were they DBS checked' so it covers the school's back.

A DBS from another place isn't good enough unless someone signs up to the update service which allows them to port it, but you can only do that within a few weeks of signing up.

I agree it can be off-putting for volunteers though.

And yet children are no more safer in the UK

employment suitability checks (including DBS) do help prevent unsuitable people from working with children. I do these checks at work and you'd be amazed.

I think our school district here in America has it right. If you are a parent volunteering in the district you don't need a background check if there is a member of staff with you when you are with children. Everyone else needs a background check.

It's a sensible approach and works well. I've done a lot of activities in my Dcs school and other district schools but always with a member of staff present.

I also volunteer in other school districts and some don't require a background check. They are so desperate for help they won't turn anyone away. However a member of staff is always with them.

I would not volunteer without a DBS, but it doesn't take all that long. It sounds as though this school has added some extra bits of its own.

Always having someone with you sounds great, but then you become a trusted adult to the children (as Ian Huntley would have been) so I do think a DBS is needed, but as we all know it only shows up what people have been caught for.

sun Someone like Ian Huntley would have needed a background check as he didn't have a child in the school. Didn't he have a job with the school? If so, a background check should have been done.

Here the police are very good about tracking those who aren't convicted but have had complaints made against them numerous times.

We go through all application forms, references, interview notes, social media, etc. looking for red flags. Then if we find any we spend longer unpicking the application, and maybe ensure higher levels of supervision and ongoing monitoring if we do feel clear for them to start. I've whistleblown on a volunteer many years ago over a minor issue that got me wondering, and my concerns were well founded. Nothing happened in our school, it was what I now know was the early grooming stage, but they had previously elsewhere. This person was hearing readers in the corridor, with the classroom door open and under the supervision of a teacher and was before the need for applications or getting volunteers.

Safeguarding is far, far more than just getting a DBS. I need to be 100% certain we have done our very best to make sure only the right people have access to our children. The system isn't perfect, but it does protect some of them.

I don’t believe Ian Huntley had done anything like that before though, so a DBS wouldn’t have helped, although they didn’t exist in those days anyway

To all those people saying the OPs situation is standard- it absolutely isn’t! I’m a school
Governor and have been at 2 schools. All I have ever done is a DBS. No 10
Page forms, no online course, none of that.

I used to volunteer in the school second hand uniform shop, basically I sorted through filthy clothes. I mainly dealt with other parents and occasionally they would bring their children with them. I was happy to be DBS checked even though I had 3 already, I understood the need. After 2 years I was asked to complete health forms and a full job application which asked for my education/employment history and details of previous wages. I declined and was told my services were not needed anymore. Another mum went through the whole process and then had to attend a little chat with a very embarrassed headteacher about FGM.

I feel that some of these checks were unnecessary and intrusive and only asked for to cover the school if anything were to go wrong. Now the school struggles to find volunteers for events and we get lectured about not being supportive.

Whilst I know why the checks are done. When I volunteered to help at school and they gave my a dbs form to fill out which says I need 2 references one of which must be an employer and all the boxes were too small to actually fill out anything. Having always been a housewife while husband works away and earns the money I didn’t have an employer reference. So it meant that as a stay at home mum who would surely have more time to give than a working one I wasn’t able to fill out the DBS form. 3 years later I haven’t helped out beyond making cakes for bake sales.

I don't think it's excessive. He would be working with young children and the school has a duty of care towards them.

Does it really require an employer reference? How ludicrous

Re Ian Huntley there was a police checking system in place at the time but he slipped through it. The successor system, the CRB check, would also have come back clear.