DBS Launch New Regional Outreach Team
Background
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provide a vital service to UK employers. They process over 6 million criminal record checks each year, as well as, maintaining the Child and Adults Barred lists of over 75,000 names. It is their responsibility to ensure that employers have all the available information they need to make safe and effective recruitment decisions.
Back in September 2020, the DBS announced their plan for the next 5-years. One of the key areas that they identified for improvement was ‘Profile’, i.e., managing the public's perception and understanding of what the DBS actually do.
Launched within the existing Partnerships and Engagement team, the new Regional Outreach service aims to tackle this point. By engaging directly with safeguarding organisations and employers across the nation the DBS hope to improve knowledge of the service they provide and how to practice safe recruitment.
Why a regional outreach service is needed
In our experience, there is a lot of confusion around what the DBS do. This new team aims to mitigate this and create a safeguarding ecosystem that works for everyone. They help organise events that help employers understand the essential role that the DBS play, and how employers can support the vital work that they do to.
The biggest thing that employers are often unaware of is how to make a barring referral. In broad terms, any employer working within regulated activity has the responsibility to make a referral to the DBS. Referrals should be made if an employer has evidence that an individual:
harmed or poses a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult.
has satisfied the harm test.
has received a caution or conviction for a relevant offence.
the person they’re referring is, has or might in future be working in regulated activity.
Full details on how and when it is appropriate to make a barring referral can be found here.
The Regional Outreach team aim to educate employers about this, and other aspects of safeguarding through events and workshops. They have various upcoming events including:
Sessions with university students studying Social Care with The Greater Lancashire Teaching Partnership and Teesside University.
Workshops with staff responsible for submitting DBS checks at the University of Manchester – Giving an overview of the DBS checking process, the different levels of DBS checks, regulated activity and barring referrals.
Delivering a barring-focused event to Foster Care Providers and Foster Panel Members
Speaking about barring referrals and the legal duty to refer at several events, including:
The Department for Education’s ‘Prevent Independent Learning Providers Network’ event,
The London Safeguarding Children Partnership Managers Meeting
Make sure to follow them on Twitter (@dbsgovuk) to ensure you’re up to date with all their news and upcoming events in your area!
Who are they?
The Regional Outreach service is managed by a team of Regional Safeguarding Outreach Officers. At the time of writing, there are 6 Regional Safeguarding Outreach Officers in total, each covering specific regions.
There is a roll-out of more regions planned later in the year, if you can’t see your region listed here, you can contact the DBS with general enquiries for the outreach team on DBSRegionaloutreach@dbs.gov.uk.
List of Regional Safeguarding Outreach Officers:
|
Region |
Outreach Officer |
Contact |
|
North West |
Jordan Hayden |
|
|
North East |
Susan Davison |
|
|
Wales |
Carol Ann Eland |
|
|
East Midlands |
Elizabeth Whittington |
|
|
Greater London |
Kiranpreet Rehal |
|
|
Northern Ireland |
Allister Woods |
What do they do?
Aside from running and organising events alongside the wider Partnership and Engagement team, your Regional Safeguarding Outreach Officers are also there to support you with the following:
DBS-related queries and providing advice via phone/email
Visiting your organisation to have face-to-face discussions (in line with pandemic restrictions), attending meetings, training and conferences.
Developing and delivering presentations, workshops, webinars or discussions to provide an overview of DBS to organisations
Helping organisations/networks to understand what level of DBS check can be applied for, and what information these checks will provide
Informing organisations and employers of their duty or power to refer
For more information about how the Regional Outreach team can help you, click here.
For more information about how Personnel Checks’ background screening solutions can aid your organisation, get in touch! You can give us a call on 01254 355688 or drop us an email at letstalk@personnelchecks.co.uk
