Secure

This Policy summarises the arrangements in place at the Organisation that ensures the correct handling, use, storage, retention and disposal of Disclosure Information provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

1. As part of the staff recruitment process, ref Policy No 1200, it is a critical requirement to obtain Disclosure Information from the DBS for each applicant for whom a job offer will be made. This has two key objectives:

1.1 To assess the overall suitability of the applicant to work with vulnerable persons, as reflected by the Disclosure Information provided;

1.2 To ensure that any applicant that has a criminal record is treated fairly, as appropriate to the nature of the criminal conviction identified.

2. Access to the Disclosure Information will be strictly limited to those persons within the Organisation who are entitled to see the information as part of their daily duties and will be securely stored at all times.

3. Management will ensure persons who conduct Disclosure Checks are trained to accurately and comprehensively verify the identity of the applicant / staff member prior to submission, in accordance with the latest DBS guidelines.

4. Management recognises that it is a criminal offence to divulge this information to any person who is not entitled to receive it as part of their daily duties.

5. The Disclosure Information will only be used for the specific purpose for which it was requested, and for which the job holder’s / applicants full consent has been given.

6. The Disclosure Information Certificate will be checked when received from the staff member / applicant, and the date and

7. Reference number will be recorded in the staff personal file.

8. The Organisation will not make any reproductions or copies of Disclosures or their contents. COPYING OF DISCLOSURE INFORMATION IS NOT PERMITTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

9. Disclosure Information is disposed of in a secure manner.

10. On each occasion that the Organisation carries out a status check on any individual they will need the individual’s consent to do so.

11. Disclosure Information will be updated when the Organisation deems it appropriate, according to circumstances.

12. If an individual’s status check reveals a change the Management will discuss this with them and ask them to apply for a new DBS check.

FORMS REFERENCES:

Form No: 1-207 Employee Verification Record

Form No: 1-220 Criminal Records Disclosure - Risk Assessment