Nursery World - New staff without DBS 'should not be left alone with children'

People who start working in settings before their criminal records check has come through should not be left in unsupervised contact with children, according to Ofsted guidance today.

Ofsted’s ‘Inspecting safeguarding’ guidance has been updated to clarify that people in this position should not be left alone with children.

The guidance now reads ‘If an early years setting allows an individual to start work in a regulated activity before their DBS certificate is available, they should ensure that the person is never left in unsupervised contact with children, and that they are in the process of obtaining a DBS certificate for that individual.’

Previous guidance had said simply that settings must ‘ensure that the individual is appropriately supervised and that all other checks…had been completed.’

From last month, the ‘disqualification by association’ rule for staff on non-domestic settings was revoked, meaning early years staff are no longer banned from working with children in non-domestic settings and schools if they live with someone who had been convicted or cautioned for a violent or sexual offence.

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