16 | CHILD PROTECTION | LEGAL ADVICE
SAFETY FIRST
Tracey Eldridge-Hinmers and Richard Hewit address the changes and main points of interest in the Government’s ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’
On 3 April 2014 the Government published the long awaited statutory guidance ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE). It applies to all schools and replaces ‘Safeguarding Children & Safer Recruitment in Education’ (SCSRE) with eff ect from 3 April.
Child protection policy and related policies All schools should now ensure that their policies are updated to refl ect the requirements of KCSIE. As there is now much emphasis on
local requirements, all policies should contain the main points of the local procedures and identify where full local procedures are available. It is also suggested that reference is made in the
child protection policy to local guidance on thresholds for referrals and make clear the route for obtaining advice and assistance with borderline cases. It is also now a requirement that
the child protection policy contain missing pupil procedures, since it is recognised that this is a potential indicator of abuse or neglect. The aim is to help to identify any risk of abuse and neglect including sexual exploitation and help prevent the risks of children going missing in the future. The policy is now also required to
diff erentiate between safeguarding of those children who have suff ered, or are at risk of, suff ering serious harm and those who are identifi ed as in need of extra support from external agencies, which
should lead to inter-agency assessment using locally agreed procedures. In addition KCSIE states that
schools must put in place a code of conduct for staff .
Safer recruitment checks KCSIE contains much less detail than SCSRE on the recruitment processes to be followed by schools. This seems to be recognition that schools have made great strides in adopting professional recruitment processes since the publication of SCSRE. However, SCSRE still contains some very useful information and should remain a best practice reference point for all schools. KCSIE has introduced an additional
pre-employment check for teaching staff recruited from 3 April 2014. Schools must now check that teachers are not subject to a Prohibition Order issued by the DfE. The check can be undertaken using Employer Access Online. However, it is
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