DWex Rehab of Offenders

Dingwall Wildlife Explorers Recruitment of Ex Offender Policy The purpose of this policy is to ensure consistent and fair practices are implemented for the recruitment of staff or volunteers who have a criminal record to paid/unpaid child care and Adults at Risk positions within Dingwall Wildlife Explorers. Dingwall Wildlife Explorers undertakes to treat all applicants for positions within the organisation fairly and not to discriminate unfairly against the subject of a disclosure on the basis of conviction or other information revealed. Having a criminal record will not necessarily de-bar an individual from working/volunteering in child care/adults at risk positions within this organisation. Only convictions or conviction information that is deemed relevant to the position applied for will result in an applicant not being granted the position. This organisation implements a fair recruitment policy that ensures individuals have the opportunity to disclose any convictions or conviction information in a way that allows for a clear risk assessment to be carried out that will determine whether or not the conviction or conviction information is relevant to the position applied for. To ensure the correct applicant is appointed and to enable [name of your organisation] to determine the relevance of any convictions or conviction information to positions applied for Dingwall Wildlife Explorers will use the following recruitment tools: Application Form Self-Declaration Form References Interviews Disclosure Certificate As part of Dingwall Wildlife Explorers recruitment policy we request the appropriate level of Disclosure certificate at the final part of the recruitment stage, when a position has been offered. Enhanced Disclosure certificates will only be sought for positions that are deemed to be exempted posts. An exempted post is one, which is detailed in the Exclusions and Exceptions (Scotland) Order 2003 Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, ex-offenders have the right not to reveal spent convictions. However, additional legislation (the Exclusions and Exceptions (Scotland) Act 2003) allows for employers to ask for an applicant to detail their full criminal record history. One of the positions listed in the Exclusions and Exceptions (Scotland) Order 2003 is a child care position. The definition of a child care position is defined in Schedule 2 of the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 (PoCSA). Applications for Child Care and Adults at Risk Positions Where a position requires an Enhanced disclosure we make this clear on the application form, job advert, self-declaration form and any other information provided about the post. All applicants are required to complete an application form, self-declaration form, interview and give details of 2 referees. Self-Declaration Forms: Self-Declaration Forms will be viewed by the Lead Signatory before interview to determine the relevance of any disclosed information to the position applied for. When assessing the relevance of any convictions or conviction information the Lead Signatory will look at the following information: Whether the conviction is relevant to the position being offered The seriousness of the offence revealed. The length of time since the offence took place Whether the applicant has a pattern of offending behaviour Whether the applicant’s circumstances have changed since offending took place How the individual completed their sentence to move forward and stop the offending behaviour Should the Lead Signatory decide that the information is relevant to the post the applicant will be deemed to have been unsuccessful and this information will be fed back to the applicant by letter. For applicants who have disclosed convictions or conviction information that is not deemed to be relevant to the post an interview will take place. At interview we will ensure that open, measured and relevant discussions can take place on the subject of any disclosed offences. Failure to reveal information on the Self-Declaration Form or at interview that is directly relevant to the position sought will lead to the withdrawal of the offer of paid/unpaid work. The appropriate level of Disclosure certificate will be accessed once the applicant has successfully completed the interview and the paid/unpaid position has been offered. Should the returned Disclosure certificate disclose more offences, more serious offences or relevant non-conviction information than previously disclosed by the applicant this could lead to the withdrawal of offer of employment/volunteer post. This will be a decision for the Lead Signatory to make. However should the Disclosure certificate for a Child Care position reveal that the applicant is Fully Listed on the Disqualified from Working with Children’s List under no circumstances will the applicant be offered or entitled to work/volunteer in a child care position for [name of your organisation] All Disclosure Certificates accessed for successful applicants will be stored for a maximum of 6 months by the Lead Signatory as per our Dingwall Wildlife Explorers policy on storage, handling and retention policy.