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.

So there isn't any proof then?

I did actually want to hear about evidence that soft play jobs were a bit of a beacon for predators. It would've surprised me, because such roles do not actually involve much interaction with children. Which is of course not the same thing as merely being in proximity, as loads of roles involve being around kids in public without the need for interaction- supermarket staff for example. But I'm not a paedo expert and would've carefully considered anything that shed more light than I can on the matter, had it been posted.

Lots of softplay staff interact with the children. There are admin and food prep roles as well, but there is also supervising the drop slide/softplay/baby area and running extra activities (ours does art and craft and music on different days).

(I don't expect them to have a DBS check, but it's silly to suggest that softplay staff ONLY do admin and food prep and don't spend time with the children).

I've never heard of ones with arts and crafts, ours are of the running around screeching variety. That would make more sense for a predator to target than a job making toasties, I agree.

what a ridiculous idea.

Supervise your own children, as you should be doing, and you'll be fine.

It would make lazy parents even more lazy, and give them even more excuse to neglect their kids there. Terrible and stupid idea.

I didn’t bother reporting it as I wasn’t 100% sure if it was a rule or not… and the point of your post wasn’t to get people to sign the petition and I think it’s a good topic to debate anyway. I just wanted to mention it in case you find your post disappears or gets moved!

You haven’t addressed the argument that the other parents present a greater risk to children than staff. What do you think about that, and how could that be improved?

You say about the cost issue shouldn’t be a reason not to do it - but ultimately, especially with high staff turnover, it has to factor in or the business will go under. Consider this - soft play 1 is £2 per child cheaper than soft play 2 because the second does DBS checks. You have 2 or 3 children - or maybe you’re a childminder looking for a wet weather morning activity so have a number in your care. This is adding £4/£6 or even more on to every visit. Maybe the drinks are more expensive too? And ultimately you know that it doesn’t guarantee the kids will be safe, it just means the people working there have never been caught, and does nothing to reduce the risk from any other adults there. Which soft play are you going to go to? I know I’m picking the cheaper one. I suspect many parents would say the same. And so the DBS checked one goes out of business.

surely the fact it's for under 8, so the very little ones, means it should be a place where parents actually supervise their kids?

As Pp have said, the staff don't work with the kids and the parents are with the kids.

Where would you draw the line on this? what about theme parks, local attractions etc that allow children in. Should they all be DBS checked as well?

I used to run a toddler group when DD was little, and we didn't need DBS checks because the parents had to stay with their children.

There are any number of places where the onus is on parents to supervise but I kind of would still prefer a sex offender not to be in charge!

Yeah, the reality is that this would be an expectation for parents to fund something that many of us wouldn't consider important, because we actually supervise our DC and/or go to those soft plays where the staff have no actual interaction with the kids anyway. These are also not particularly attractive jobs, they aren't beating people off with a shitty stick for low paid, inflexible roles.

If my local soft play ended up having to shut because it wasn't practical to staff and fund this, I would not be impressed.

I’m on the DBS renewal it refreshes yearly ( all online) and i get to pay for that privilege myself. Enhanced due to working in NHS Peads.

As for soft play, i mean the place will also be full of parents… some will not be the most upstanding of people! Arent parents responsible for supervising rather than the staff anyway?

You haven’t addressed the argument that the other parents present a greater risk to children than staff. What do you think about that, and how could that be improved?

Responding to this point specifically:

I suppose it depends on the layout and rules of your softplay, but at our local one I don't believe it's the case that other parents present a greater risk. For the following reasons:

The staff wear a uniform. This gives children the idea that they are to be trusted and listened to more so than another parent. I've drummed into any children I'm caring for to never go anywhere with a stranger, but I think they potentially would go with a member of staff. In fact, when we're out and talking about what would happen if they got lost I actively encourage them to seek out a member of staff for help.

Parents are not allowed on the big playframe, it is instead supervised by members of staff. You cannot see all aspects of the playframe from outside so this means there are times and spaces that children and staff members are together out of sight of parents/carers. A parent in there would be asked to leave/easy to spot as they're an adult who isn't supposed to be there.

Our softplay offers music and arts n craft classes led by the softplay staff. They don't offer any classes run by other parents. Again, this gives staff an increased level of access to the children and an increased presumption of trust.

Some parents/carers, as is clear from this thread, assume that the staff are DBS checked so are likely to place trust in them that they wouldn't place in another parent.

I don't think, on balance, softplay staff need to be DBS checked, but I do think they pose a greater risk than another parent would based on my personal experiences of softplay centres.

One soft play in Kilmarnock did recently have a convicted sex offender working in it 🙈. Needless to say, business has now folded.

i have literally never seen staff in a soft play interact with the children or indeed go anywhere near the actual soft play area. In my local soft play there aren’t even any staff in the vicinity to oversee anything, you have to go through 2 ticketed barriers to even speak to anybody. It’s a free for all.

Yes I'm not it's correct that you can have 1 for 17 years.

I volunteer with a baby group run by the local church and was told they needed to get my DBS sorted really quickly as "so many" of the volunteers were about to run out and they all needed updating before the new year.

DBS ‘s are updated yearly if on the update service

I expect all professional childcarer’s to be on the update service

staff in soft play do not look after children generally on their own so no need

but yes as children are in the premises be nice if all had a dbs

This. Staff aren’t in charge of your kids at soft play and requiring them to be DBS checked won’t make your kids any safer. Mr Johnny Peadophile could take his kids or grandkids to soft play and you’d be none the wiser. Same for anywhere you go.

It's actually better than that with the update service, new information is added as discovered. So if you were convicted of something mid-way through the year it would flag immediately.

There was definitely something needed before then, as I remember having to have a police check done on me when I was 16 as my mother was a childminder (she and my father had it done when she started) - this would have been in the 1980s/1990s

I may have had a police check when I started my nurse training in can't really remember, but it definitely wasent yearly.

This

There are lots of blind spaces at soft play that unless you helicopter you don't have eyes on your kid at all times.

Also, abusers work by grooming families. Who better to babysit the kids than Fred from soft play who all the kids love. Poor chaps only on minimum wage so nice for him to have a bit of extra money in his pocket.

Ian Huntley didn't have care of kids like the teachers did, but the children saw him in a trusted place, then happily went off with him out of school.

Of course nothing will come back if predatory, but not yet convicted, but a flawed system is better than no system.

I would support advanced DBS for all soft play workers with flexibility to start work whilst waiting for it to come through so long as applied for prior to start.

You should recognise though, from a good number of posts on here, that your local soft play is HIGHLY unique in that respect. I have literally never been in a soft play where the members of staff are on the equipment in the way you describe. Parents are usually allowed in there too, especially when to help their kid. I see what you are saying about uniform, but the reality is, if a kid gets playing with another child and that child’s parent is sat there and starts talking to them, in your kids mind they’ve just become a safe adult because they are their new friend’s dad/mum/etc. So their kid wanders off and this parent stays playing with your child, no-one nearby would realise it wasn’t their child and your kid might not even register that the adult is still there. At that point anything could happen. If they’re a paedophile they might not have been the first kids parent and might ask your child to go with them and help them find their kid that wandered off. They take hold of your kids hand, say let’s go check the toilets and 30 secs later they’re out the back door and no one has a clue.

I’d like to stress this is unlikely and not something I think is going to happen, but using it to demonstrate how easy it COULD be in the standard type of soft play where it’s very parent led.

Re other parents; yes you are right, that would be a factor in every aspect of life - supermarkets, cinemas, restaurants etc. But surely the difference is that the soft plays are designed specifically for children to go to. And whilst I can’t know the offending history of every punter, surely it’s nice to know the people who work there (and they aren’t just taking payment and making lattes - at the one we go to there are lots of parties where the same staff do face painting, crafts and activities).

I don’t think there is an answer to reducing the risk others may pose, other than brandishing them with a tattoo of their foreheads! But I suspect that would go against Rehabilitation of Offenders Act or similar!

And cost, I’m still not convinced that should be a blocker. I understand that there is a cost to the business (about £20 to £50 per check I think).

Quite honestly, I don’t have all of the answers, or any perhaps!

It was just something that surprised me when I read it.

I wouldn't expect it as you are present to supervise your child.

If you expect this then you must also expect ANY environment where a child is not explicitly banned to have the same standards. Post office, shops etc etc etc. In those establishments the staff has about as much responsibility towards the children as the staff in a soft play centre.

I had a DBS check when joining the legal profession 17 years ago. It’s never been repeated since. If you make it a requirement for soft play, would you want an annual check? Also would this apply to all forms of venues where kids might go? What about someone working in an amusement arcade? What about someone working at a cafe next to a children’s outdoor playground?