Safer recruitment refers to a set of practices vital to creating a secure environment and making sure your volunteers are suitable to work with vulnerable groups.
It means you must take all reasonable steps to ensure the volunteers you recruit into your organisation are suitable and appropriate.
Three key principles will help make sure you’re putting safeguarding into practice when finding and selecting your volunteers:
Your processes must relate to the level of risk involved for the role
Don’t use a one-size-fits-all approach for all staff and volunteers. Your requirements must suit the risk of each role.
Safer recruitment should be a continuing process of improvement. Processes should be reviewed at least once a year to make sure they are working well to keep people safe
No one wants to think that people do not have the best interests of the charity they work for at heart but there have been recent reports of fraudulent volunteer applications in the sector.
If you have any concerns about fraudulent volunteer applications, please contact the Charity Commission using the details here: https://forms.charitycommission.gov.uk/
Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and strategic. Related information and guidance can be found here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/information-for/individuals-families
Social Care Wales recently launched a new training framework and standards for safeguarding.
Powys County Council has commissioned training to meet the requirements starting in May 2024.
It is recommended that all staff working in the third and voluntary sector - including volunteers - complete an online basic awareness training module. This should take a maximum of two hours. Learn more here.
You can review the WCVA Code of Practice here.
Any organisation working with children or vulnerable people should ensure they thoroughly research their legal obligations. Learn more here.
