The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), alongside Skills for Care, has been working to provide free, specialised training to social care providers across the Midlands, ensuring safer, effective recruitment into the adult social care sector.
Delivering two free training workshops, attended by around 300 people, the sessions allowed DBS and Skills for Care to work with providers to educate and support them with common recruitment questions and challenges.
Following the success of the two Midlands sessions, further workshops are to be hosted in the region in November, with a view to then expand the training scheme nationally thereafter.
The training covers recruitment and safeguarding responsibilities for those working in the adult social care sector and is part of the Government’s aim to support safer recruitment in social care.
At the most recent workshops, each lasting 90 minutes and covering two key topics within social care recruitment – disclosure and barring – respectively, a range of topics were covered.
The disclosure workshop focused on the different types of DBS checks, how legislation affects the type of role that can be applied for, the information contained on each type of DBS certificate and how to evaluate this, and the legal definition of ‘regulated activity’ and how this relates to the DBS processes.
The barring workshop covered barring referrals, the legal duty to refer, and what the process for barring an individual consists of.
Both training sessions were carefully designed, with input from experts and experienced members of the adult social care profession, to provide social care staff with a better understanding of DBS checks and barring referrals, and their role in this safer recruitment and management of the sector.
The Midlands sessions were delivered by DBS Regional Outreach service, which aims to provide organisations with a single point of contact for all DBS-related queries and questions, as well as working with providers to deliver and access tailored DBS training for their staff.
The Regional Outreach service also collates feedback to influence and inform future improvements which are made to DBS services and processes.
Lizzie Whittington, DBS Regional Outreach Adviser for the East Midlands, who was delivering the latest workshops, said: “It has been fantastic to receive support from Skills for Care to deliver these workshops to such a range of organisations across the Midlands.
“I’m looking forward to continuing our work together later in the year, where we will have more workshops available in November.”
Natalie Benton, Executive Director of Strategy and Performance at DBS, added: “DBS is pleased to support Skills for Care and adult social care providers in the Midlands with free training and support.
“This work helps to give organisations a better understanding of DBS checks and our role in barring people from certain roles if they pose a risk to children or vulnerable adults and enables these employers to make safer recruitment choices.”
Organisations based in the East Midlands are encouraged to contact Lizzie and colleagues via the Regional Outreach service, should they have any DBS-related queries.
A list of Regional Outreach Advisers for other parts of the UK can be found here.
