DBS and soft play

[Bareoness]

AIBU to have assumed that’s staff at soft play / play cafe places etc have a DBS?

I was at a party at one a few days ago and saw a petition this particular soft play had set up. The petition was to have this matter discussed in parliament in the hope of making it law. I’ve linked the petition.

I realise a basic DBS are only as good as the day it is granted and someone could go out and commit a crime the very next day and it won’t show, but surely that’s not a reason not to have them?

I also realise that in most cases you supervise your own child at these places. But I’m sure some of you will have been to these places and lost sight of your child for 5mins or they’ve legged it off to the loos without you knowing.

It just seems such a basic not to enforce and are t basic ones about £25 so not hugely costly (that said I realise small businesses are struggling).

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/748554?fbclid=IwY2xjawPJhzBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETB4a080Z3dlcUZPTThPVk1wc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvPIgJzX2ohxyYcY62gOJw_wOQhS0kRYnv08BZ5D-skg_qEyI57_fWz5DlkS_aem_X_--qj0nBTkapl-uVDTaug

AIBU - excessive and not needed.

Not unreasonable - seems sensible to have even if not foolproof.

The rules are currently that people who are responsible for children have DBS, staff in soft play are no more responsible for the children than the hundreds of other parents in the building.
i do think DBS should be renewed annually or three yearly. I was a childminder I had one dbs for the 17 years I did the job.

They don’t care for the children and are never left alone with children even if one is separated from parents, so I don’t see why they would need a DBS any more than anyone working in a cafe, or a toy shop or anywhere else that caters for families. Parents are there to supervise their children.

Whats the point of making small businesses pay out more for no reason?

Even if they were dbs checked there are all the other parents in the building that could be dodgy. Just don't assume your children are safe anywhere, stay alert and aware of where they are. Talk to them about things to be aware of and things that make them uncomfortable, what to do if someone is acting strange etc, that's all you can do

In all honesty, I don’t think it’s worth it tbh. As you said, it’s only there to protect children from the convicted essentially as anyone could commit a crime the next day. Also, I don’t know one soft play that lets children in without an adult supervising? Soft play workers are not in a position of care. No different than taking your kids to a play area in a pub or at a cafe

The staff are not responsible for children in soft play the parents are

Most of the staff in these centres are minimum wage teenagers and they don’t look after your children. Any of the parents could be weirdos. It’s your job to watch your children at all times

I kind of see the point as they could become "trusted" by the children if they see them regularly.

(I work with children and our DBS has to be renewed every three years)

Seems pointless to me. They are usually behind a till or cleaning it after hours or serving food. Same as a pub, shop, leisure centre or anywhere like a zoo etc where kids are!

Those places have huge staff turnover and lots of casual staff that just support parties, plus, a DBS is crap. I have an enhanced one for my role and even that doesn’t feel particularly ’deep dive’. Everyone will come back clear until they’re actually caught for something anyway

My DBS for volunteering at a Scout group needs updating annually. I’ve subscribed to their update service to make sure it happens.

How did you not update yours for 17 years as a childminder? That’s very worrying.

But the businesses could choose to dvs check their staff? If their customers think this is important then more people will go to them if not then I guess it's not as important as they think? I don't understand why the government should be involved in this at all?
How would the law work? What about pubs or cafes that have a soft play?

I find it really surprising anyone would expect dbs.

Its like expecting all the parents to have one. They aren't caring for the children any more than other parents are.

not only are they not directly responsible for your child if you know they’re all DBS checked you might presume the safer in the soft play than they are because there could be plenty of dodgy parents in there. Much better you stay alert to your child.

I can’t see any reason for this. It takes ages to get it back and these sorts of places have massive staff turnover so it would be a constant admin task for no reason. The actual risk at soft play would probably be the other parents (if there’s a risk at all of course)

It’s not a legal requirement although some employers do it. In fact it was originally a crb and I don’t think I even had to change it. When I worked in a school we renewed every 3 years. Now I work in a facility that provides a play session that I run, I don’t have a dbs.

Tell that to some of the parents at my local one!! Parents sat on their phones (of course) with their backs to the actual play equipment. Children as young as 18 months old totally unsupervised, wandering into the older children's area, where kids are running, swinging, jumping. The level of parental neglect is off the scale

Wow really! I work in healthcare and we have to get them every 5 years.

I think it just wouldn’t be worth it for all the reasons mentioned already - but the main one being the other parents are realistically the biggest risk to your child in a soft play. The staff are usually rushed off their feet, so are never likely to find themselves in a position alone with a child there. But no one would bat an eyelid to a parent with a child… but you wouldn’t know if it was their child or not!

Out of curiosity, had the soft play that put the petition up done their own DBS checks anyway? If not, they clearly don’t think it’s that essential and the info about the petition they’ve put up just sounds kind an attempt to make parents trust them more than other soft plays.

By the way, I’m sure I read on here somewhere you aren’t allowed to share petitions except on a topic that’s specifically for petitions. I might be wrong though.

Beyond serving food and drinks, I've never seen the staff at soft play remotely interact with the children.

Parents are supposed to supervise and know where there children are at all times anyway.

Lots of parents try to palm off any responsibility they can

No, it would be an unnecessary use of the DBS system. A person should only have a DBS if they have regular, unsupervised access to young people of vulnerable adults.

It would be prohibitively costly and time consuming for a business of this nature to DBS all their staff when their job isn’t even to supervise children.

Annoyingly the petition has shot itself in the foot by not clarifying which level of check. As commenters have mentioned, and enhanced DBS is only for those directly supervising, teaching, or caring for children. However, anyone is eligible for a Basic DBS and in a place like softplay it may be a good idea. There isn't just contact with children but also parents and handling money. Unspent convictions such as assult, drunk and disorderly or petty theft would likely show on a basic DBS and helps inform recruitment decisions.

It may give a false sense of safety/security/trust from parents if soft play staff were DBS checked. They're no more responsible for supervising your kids than someone working in a cafe next to a playground.

Even if the staff did have a DBS what does that do? It is up to the employer to decide what they will tolerate on a DBS.

I know a teacher with an assault conviction.

I came across someone who could volunteer with guides but not scouts (or visa versa) which made joint events interesting.

It would give extra expense for the employer, and clog up the DBS system for other people who really need it such as teachers.