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.

IH had lots of previous contact with police 're sexual assaults and relationships with underage girls but no convictions.

Does higher security clearance elsewhere even check the same things as the enhanced dbs checks for vulnerable adults or children?

A dbs check is only as good as the days its done on. Mine was done years ago. What's to say I haven't committed a crime and not declared it between doing so and starting a volunteer job in a school? They must ensure checks are up to date when you start.

All volunteers should be doing safeguarding training.

No one gives a monkeys if someone has high security clearance elsewhere. Build a bliming bridge and get over yourselves

Sounds ok, but I agree it could put volounteers off. (Which is exactly what happened when the school asked my parents to go through the CRB checks back in the 90s to ‘allow’ them to car pool with other parents on a Saturday for netball. Dad said it was ridiculous and ‘that’s fine, I’ll not help’ ((like most of the dads)). The mums, however, knew that we all had to get to the neighbouring town some how, and knew it was ridiculous for 9 individual cars to drive through. So the mums jumped through the hoops, and the car pool was reinstated, but only the mums could drive.)

I think the DBS is a valid query though our school will accept one done for another setting. But the rest is a PITA and yes I think it does put people off.
I used to be on the committee for a nursery and even though we met in the evening and had no contact with the children we had to fill in a DBS. They now have to be completed online and literally some of our parents dont have internet access. And I know people will say you can go to the library but its just another reason why people dont volunteer. Its hard enough to get people off their backsides as it is...

I assume an old employer would probably suffice but having gone from GCSEs to housewife that doesn’t do me much good.

If he has DBS has he attended a Safeguarding course? Otherwise this is pretty usual, sorry.

Surely if the activity your husband is helping with means he will never be left alone with a child/children he shouldn't have to go through this process. Are there health and safety issues involved? He may have to demonstrate his awareness of these rules but other than that and given the inconvenience of going for an hour think he should just say no thank you.

It is a lot of paperwork required for volunteering. I have had to complete 3 different DBS. one for work, one for guiding in one county, one for volunteering at school in a neighbouring county. It offers a very false sense of security. It's just a snapshot of what someone was convicted with at a point in time. You could easily still be a danger to children but you just haven't got caught yet. They are no substitute for proper safeguarding provisions.

As far as I was aware you don’t need a DBS unless you will be on your own with the children, unless this has recently changed! But it is true that each institution will always want their own DBS even if it is one school to another. A ten page document sounds excessive!!! But if that’s the guidelines the school has set that’s the hoops you need to jump through I guess...

I assume an old employer would probably suffice but having gone from GCSEs to housewife that doesn’t do me much good.

And my old employers are probably all dead by now.

Ihave taught in infant schools for nearly 40 years in the same county.
Now teaching part time I am also a homestart volunteer. I had to have an additional dbs certificate, references etc . Ironically I was until recently, the child protection officer in school!

I can totally understand the DBS and the ID issues - those are box-ticking exercises and, unfortunately, needed in this nasty new world.

However, if somebody has a current DBS and photo ID, that should be all they need for something like this, unless the school has particularly special requirements/H&S regulations, etc.

You an get writer's cramp from ticking boxes these days...

Well, would you want YOUR children to be safe with other volunteers, or not?

Would YOU be happy to have unchecked, unknown people working with your children?

Good on your dh for being an highly paid expert in his field. But even highly paid experts can be a danger to children.

The school have no idea what clearances your dh has, so of course they need to ask and possible need to see them.

The online safeguarding course will be in case a child discloses something to him.

Yanbu

Dh, my two teens and I have 9 current enhanced Dbs checks between us. It's such a stupid system. A current Dbs that can be electronically accessed by all interested parties via use of a code would be more efficient and cost effective

In fact, the more posts I read of op's the more I am convinced that this is just a bragging thread to say how highly paid her dh is...

Well I bet the OP is wishing she hadn't written "highly paid" as it seems to have ruffled a few feathers for some reason! The way I read it was she was just highlighting his level of expertise in the subject - i.e. he would be doing the school a huge favour in volunteering his time. But correct me if I'm wrong and you were just coming on here to boast about your husband's large salary

The DBS system is not perfect (multiple ones for different organisations/it only picks up stuff you've been caught doing). BUT it's better than nothing. Abusers come in the form of 'naice' middle class highly paid experts too (as well as everyone's stereotype of the dark peverted strangers). As for safe guarding training...well unless your dh's well paid expertise is in child social work/mental health I'm guessing not since the pay tends to be shit then he needs to know what to look out for and what to do. Most people minimise abuse and neglect or think someone else 'must know' or its someone else's job...

The dbs system is bizarre , it was meant to be portable ie your current dbs can be used by other organisations. The update service puts the onus on the individual - if you are a volunteer why would you pay £13 a year to this. The comment which said that people weren't committed to the volunteering if they withdrew there offer due to this red tape misses the point. It is the additional time and effort over and above what you are willing to do. Safeguarding is important, but the system is flawed , in this case the volunteering as a weekly offer has been deemed enough contact to require a dbs- if the person is always with a teacher then surely a dbs is not required, however as a matter of risk management it would be prudent . In the case of one off visits a DVDs is excessive .

Agreed we don't know the details, but all too often recently volunteers are asked to leave and the reasons seem dubious . Soon people will stop volunteering due to the hassle

The DBS update service is free for volunteers, the same as an application.

You get an email reminder annually to renew your free subscription to the update service. Just click .

Not really onerous.

It's way over the top. I ran a primary school club. I had to apply for a DBS check, including providing the school with ID. As I was accompanied by school staff at all times, I felt that the DBS check was a bit over the top.

And in a couple of days there will be a thread where someone finds out that the person who mows the grass at their kid’s school isn’t DBS checked, and the outrage will be immense...........

Well it’s just the way it is. Your husbands clearance is totally irrelevant. A lot of people have SC. It’s also a private matter as depending on level then they will know an awful lot, it’s all about transparency.

I know a lot of people who have clearance probably higher than your husbands and they still need a full DBS done as they work in the vicinity of under 18’s at times.

All volunteers need them for school. They won’t be allowed any access to what is on your husbands clearance. It’s totally irrelevant. Plus don’t forget clearance has to be renewed, much like a DBS is valid on the date of issue however in the mean time you could do something which would jeopardise being able to get clearance. Which is why it needs renewing, like most organisations will ask for a new DBS from time to time. Or they should do.

It doesn’t make him anymore exempt from a DBS check than anyone else.

numbkinuts I have never had an email to renew any of my DBS and I've kept the same email address. It's frustrating because this system could work so well yet it seems so poorly implemented.

I don't quite follow the 'always with a teacher logic'

I really wouldn't want a convicted paedophile volunteering at school to hear readers and build up a relationship with my child on a weekly basis even though during the time at school they were always with a teacher. A dbs is the only way a school can attempt to screen for it.

I heard the same group of readers for 4 years and they told me all about their lives, when their baby siblings were born, what sort of house they live in - just spontaneously as part of reading to me (eg if the book was called 'houses' or 'families' and now when they see me at the park they rush up and say hello etc.