6. Concerns about adults who work with children

If an allegation has been made about a staff member or volunteer, then your setting has a legal duty to make a barring referral if the following conditions are met:

Condition 1

You withdraw permission for a person to engage in regulated activity with children and/or vulnerable adults. Examples: dismissed, re-deployed, retired, been made redundant or retired.

Condition 2

You think the person has carried out one of the following:

• Engaged in relevant conduct in relation to children and/or adults. An action or inaction has harmed a child or vulnerable adult or put them at risk or harm or;
• Satisfied the harm test or
• Received a caution for, or a conviction for, or been convicted for a relevant offence

More information on Barring Referrals can be found online.

A Barring Referral can be completed online via the DBS website

Settings need to have a named person responsible for making a barring referral, and who would do this if the allegation is against the named person. 

There could be times when you might consider that you should still make a referral in the interests of safeguarding children even if the legal duty to refer has not been met. This could include acting on advice of the police or a safeguarding professional, or in situations where there may not be enough evidence to dismiss or remove a person from working with vulnerable groups. DBS are required by law to consider any and all information sent to them from any source. This includes information sent to them where the legal referral conditions are not met. If you do make a referral to DBS where the referral conditions are not met, you must do so in consideration of relevant employment and data protection laws.