Recruitment and Employment of Ex-Offenders

Brooklands College is a ‘designated place’. All posts involve contact with children and vulnerable young adults and are therefore exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, 1974. Applicants for positions at the College are required to provide details of all relevant convictions, spent or unspent, or cautions, and if there are any court actions pending.

Existing staff are required to inform the Principal of any criminal charges, cautions or convictions during the period of their employment.

The College is also subject to the provisions of the Protection of Children Act, 1999 and the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act, 2000, which require that the names of potential employees are checked against the Department of Health’s Protection of Children List and the Department for Education and Employment’s List 99, now superseded by the Disclosure and Barring Service, and that they not be appointed if their names appear on either of the lists.

Disclosure is an integral part of the recruitment process and for every position (unless otherwise stated), an applicant will be required to make an application to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Existing staff taking up different positions within the College may also be required to make an application for Disclosure. The cost of Disclosure applications will be borne by the College.

Applicants should provide details of convictions, cautions, etc., at the application stage, in a sealed envelope marked “Confidential” and addressed to the Head of Human Resources who is a DBS Countersignatory for the College. Any information received is treated in the strictest confidence and only seen by those who need to see it as part of the recruitment process.  Failure to provide details of convictions, cautions, etc., may result in the offer of employment being withdrawn or, in the event of employment, in dismissal.

As an organisation using the DBS Disclosure service to help in assessing applicants’ suitability for positions of trust, Brooklands College complies fully with the DBS Code of Practice.  Further information about the DBS and the Code of Practice is available from www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-code-of-practice

All those involved in the recruitment process are trained in fair recruitment practices and in the relevant legislation, including the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, 1974. They are, therefore, able to identify and assess the relevance and circumstances of offences during the interview or at a separate discussion. The College undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a Disclosure on the basis of conviction or other information received, whilst having due regard to its duty of care for students, staff and other customers. Any matter revealed in a Disclosure will be discussed with the applicant before withdrawing a conditional offer of employment.

Having a criminal record will not necessarily preclude an offer of employment since each case is determined according to the nature of the position and the circumstances and background of the offence(s).