CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS
All people working with children need a Criminal Background Check to be carried out on them before they can commence work. In the UK this process is carried out by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) www.crb.org.uk The CRB is an Executive Agency of the Home Office (UK Government Department) and was set-up in 2002 with the intention of providing schools and other organisations working with children and vulnerable groups access to criminal records information in order to help them to make safer recruitment decisions.
There are two levels of checks, Enhanced Disclosure and Standard Disclosure. Positions in school involving unsupervised contact with children all require an Enhanced Level Disclosure. Enhanced Disclosures will contain all convictions including those considered spent. It will also contain cautions, reprimands and warnings.
Since all positions at ICS involve working with children it will also contain details of whether the person is named on list of those thought unsuitable to work with children (called ‘List 99’ and held by the Department for Education and Skills). Finally, this certificate may contain the information that the police believe to be relevant even if it is not about convictions. After a CRB Check had been processed one copy is mailed to the Applicant and another copy is mailed to the school.
Employees are responsible for providing information of their suitability to work with children therefore they are responsible for the cost of carrying out any Police Check. The school will cover the cost of the process. All staff will have a criminal background check every three years.
Please note that CRB is not portable and you may be asked to re-apply with ICS even if you have done with other employer within the last three years.
Overseas Staff
The CRB cannot currently access overseas criminal records or other relevant information as part of its Disclosure service. You will be asked to obtain police record form your resident country since a CRB Check may not provide a complete picture of their criminal record that may or may not exist. You should arrange to do this before leaving your home (resident) country, and is usually done by contacting your local police department.
A criminal background check is only one of several pre-recruitment checks that ICS do. Please however note that all offers of employment are subject to a satisfactory check.
Updated February 2010
