To think not checking references and a DBS before appointing to a school is pretty awful?

[friarca]

This happened to me and unsure whether to report or not.

It’s pretty standard, I was offered the job before references. Of course if I’d had bad references they would have withdrawn the offer of a job, you can’t start until these are checked.

Your offer of employment is subject to satisfactory references and DBS though isn’t it?

You presumably haven’t started actually working there yet?

It depends on the job and the duties. My dbs hadn’t come through before I started my job at a school, it just meant that there was always another adult there when I was with the children for a couple of weeks.

We need more info in order to make an informed decision.

Did you actually walk into the school and work with the children before your DBS came back? Or did they just offer you the job, and you're now waiting to start? The first is unacceptable, the second is basically how it works.

Usually the job is offered "subject to satisfactory references and DBS", but those must be checked before you are let loose in a classroom. As a previous poster says, occasionally if the DBS isn't through they let you start with another adult present at all times, but the job would presumably end immediately if the DBS came through with anything unexpected on it.

Need more information- usually school job offers are made "subject to satisfactory references and DBS checks", so that they can confirm job offers whilst waiting for the results to come back, otherwise they'd have multiple people waiting for their references/DBS checks to come back only for most of them to be rejected after they've waited potentially weeks.

I was appointed October 2019. I started in the January and had worked there for a few weeks before being told they hadn’t got my DBS or references.

So presumably nearly 3 years later, they do have your references and dbs?

What’s making you think about reporting it after so long?

If someone complained two years after the event to me, I would assume they have fallen out with the school. Did you leave straight away or are you still there, OP?

They would have done the teacher status check.
But why query it now?

No, that's pretty bad.

@LethargicActress

So presumably nearly 3 years later, they do have your references and dbs?

What’s making you think about reporting it after so long?

I resigned not long after it emerged that they hadn’t done the requisite checks and I have toyed with the idea of reporting it on and off but lockdowns and so on. But it never sat right with me.

Also how is January 2020-January 2022 nearly three years later?

It’s probably true I should have reported at the time but I left without a job to go to so I was worried about the repercussions.

Very surprising.

I would expect be sacked if I let a member of staff start work without those checks in place; it's not in line with Safer Recruitment requirements, it also means as an employer you consider those checks not essential, which of course they are.

What was the actual job?

@100problems

What was the actual job?

HOD.

They did it when I first got a job in a school. I started work before my dbs came back but I wasn't allowed to be unsupervised around any children until it was back. Not sure about references. I interviewed on the Thursday and started on the Monday so unless they did references before interview.

You left because of an HR error?

It was a bit more than “a HR error” @JurgensCakeBabyJesus

I could have been anybody. My identity wasn’t checked, I could have been sacked from my last position for inappropriate behaviour around children, I could have sexual abuse convictions, violent convictions, I might not have been who I said I was.

It’s a bit chilling tbh.

Ok, typically teacher refs are taken before interview. Most teachers wouldn't necessarily know that's even being done, but certainly one would be requested from your current HT.

Do you recall completing a DBS application and providing the ID to verify it. The certificate would go to your home address, but the school can see it's been issued therefore no immediate issue to you starting, but sight of the hard copy you receive would be needed to complete the SCR.

Is it possible that you had an existing certificate that was registered with the DBS uodate service that can be viewed by your employer with your permission? Or that you presented a copy of your DBS at interview which was copied and could be ported if your new school is in the same authority?

I'm a bit surprised as a HOD you didn't challenge any of this before you started.

Also a Barred List check can be requested pre-DBS issuance, and another typical check is to ensure you do not appear on any of the DfE prohibited lists.

I know what happened - that’s not in dispute. The school definitely just did not do the requisite checks. I’m just unsure about whether to follow it up, and if I can do so anonymously.

@friarca I understand that, I work in an industry that requires a higher level of vetting than teaching. It just seems odd to quit with no job to go to, rather than making a formal complaint, notifying the relevant authorities and staying in your job until you had a new one. You do have the appropriate vetting and references. It is an HR error in that somewhere along the line whoever does that had said or implied that yours had been received and it hadn't. Mistakes are made but processes aren't improved by walking out and not raising it anywhere that could ensure the same mistakes aren't repeated. It's like saying oh yes there was a serious safeguarding failure but we won't investigate where things could've been saved and propose changes, we'll just fire someone and move on.

@JurgensCakeBabyJesus there was a lot going on at the time and I was made to feel it was my fault (it wasn’t) and it meant that having started I felt I had got off very much on the wrong foot and wanted to move on.

I didn’t have any problems getting another post but it was very stressful.

Two years later I don’t think I necessarily dealt with it brilliantly but ultimately there was a major safeguarding fail and it’s that I’m asking about.