Date policy issued: 01.10.2026
Date policy last reviewed: 01.10.2026
This policy will be reviewed every 12 months (as a minimum).
Review due date: 01.10.2027
Designated Safeguarding Lead Contact Details
Designated Safeguarding Lead: Billie-Jo Jarrett, Compliance Manager
Email: [email protected]
Contact number: 07495 068440
1. Purpose and Scope
1.1 Social Work Partners recruits social workers and social care professionals for temporary, agency, interim and permanent roles. This policy supports fair recruitment, safe placements and protection of children and adults.
1.2 It applies to directors, recruitment consultants and staff involved in recruitment, compliance and placement administration. Relevant selection and employment checks also apply when recruiting internal staff.
1.3 “Must” identifies applicable legal or regulatory requirements. “Should” identifies company procedures and expectations.
1.4 Staff must follow applicable recruitment legislation, equality law, data protection law, safeguarding requirements and professional registration rules. Requirements must be checked for the nation and role concerned.
2. Responsibilities
2.1 Recruitment consultants should obtain accurate vacancy and candidate information, assess suitability and maintain recruitment records.
2.2 The Compliance Manager should oversee checks, review discrepancies, monitor expiring requirements and record placement clearance.
2.3 Company directors should resolve escalated concerns, approve justified exceptions and oversee complaints and external referrals. No approval can override a legal prohibition or requirement.
3. Fair and Ethical Recruitment
3.1 Recruitment decisions must comply with applicable equality law. Staff should use relevant qualifications, experience, competence and role requirements consistently.
3.2 Staff should offer accessible recruitment and support reasonable adjustments. Discriminatory client instructions should be challenged and escalated.
3.3 Advertisements and candidate submissions should be accurate. Staff should not advertise fictitious vacancies, exaggerate qualifications or conceal relevant restrictions.
3.4 Candidates should not be charged for work-finding services in the roles covered by this policy. Optional services should not be made a condition of finding work.
3.5 Conflicts, gifts and hospitality should be handled under the company’s Code of Conduct. Staff must not engage in bribery.
4. Procedure: Confirm the Vacancy
4.1 Before matching candidates, the consultant should obtain and record:
- Client identity, workplace and reporting arrangements.
- Duties, service-user group and required competence.
- Required qualifications, registration, authorisations and training.
- Start date, expected duration, hours and location.
- Pay, expenses and relevant employment or assignment terms.
- Health and safety risks and the measures used to control them.
- Safeguarding, supervision and induction requirements.
4.2 Staff must obtain and communicate the information required by applicable agency legislation. Client terms should be agreed before services begin.
5. Procedure: Register and Assess the Candidate
5.1 The consultant should obtain an accurate CV or work history, discuss experience and competence, and clarify gaps or discrepancies.
5.2 The assessment should establish the candidate’s availability, preferred work, suitability and willingness to undertake the proposed role.
5.3 Required written terms must be provided and agreed at the applicable stage. Agency workers must receive a Key Information Document where legally required, with relevant changes reflected in updated documents.
5.4 Candidates should receive the company’s privacy information and relevant conduct requirements. Agreement should be obtained before submitting their details to a named client.
6. Procedure: Complete Recruitment Checks
6.1 Checks should be proportionate to the role and completed by trained staff. The record should show what was checked, the source, date, outcome and person completing the check.
6.2 Identity: Verify the candidate’s identity using appropriate evidence and resolve unexplained differences between documents.
6.3 Right to Work: Confirm who is responsible for the prescribed employer check. Where Social Work Partners is responsible, complete the applicable Home Office check before employment starts and arrange required follow-up checks. For permanent placements, the client remains responsible for its employer check.
6.4 Qualifications and Registration: Verify qualifications required for the position and check the appropriate professional register. Record registration status, renewal date and any restrictions. Confirm that conditions are compatible with the proposed duties.
6.5 References: For roles involving vulnerable people in Great Britain, obtain the two written references required by the Conduct Regulations from unrelated referees who agree to their disclosure to the hirer. Staff should verify referee identity, seek relevant recent employment references and investigate material discrepancies.
6.6 Criminal-Record and Barring Checks: Establish the legally permitted level and workforce before requesting a DBS, AccessNI or Disclosure Scotland check. Required barred-list checks or Scottish PVG membership must be confirmed where applicable. Overseas checks should be considered where relevant and lawful.
6.7 Training and Competence: Confirm role-specific training and authorisations required by law, the professional body or client. Arrange updates where necessary.
6.8 Health and Adjustments: Obtain only relevant information about safe performance and adjustment needs. Health questions must comply with applicable restrictions; a disability or diagnosis should not automatically result in rejection.
6.9 Missing Information: Escalate missing documents, adverse findings and suitability concerns to the Compliance Manager. Any legally permitted introduction with missing information must meet the statutory conditions, including required disclosure to the client. It must not bypass a separate legal requirement.
6.10 Staff must offer required qualification, authorisation and reference documents to the hirer where applicable. Disclosure must also comply with data protection and criminal-record handling requirements.
7. Procedure: Approve and Confirm the Placement
7.1 The Compliance Manager should record clearance before an introduction or supply proceeds. Clearance should identify completed checks, outstanding matters, restrictions and any justified approval.
7.2 Clearance should be specific to the role. A previous placement does not automatically establish suitability for a new assignment.
7.3 The consultant should confirm the candidate’s willingness, agreed terms and assignment details, and provide required information to both candidate and client.
7.4 For temporary or interim work, confirm pay arrangements, timesheet submission, absence reporting, induction, supervision and safeguarding contacts.
7.5 Where an umbrella company or another intermediary is used, explain the arrangement and deductions accurately, complete appropriate checks and confirm statutory responsibilities.
8. Procedure: Monitor Assignments
8.1 Staff should monitor registration, time-limited right-to-work permission, required training and other role-specific requirements. Further work should not proceed where a required authorisation has expired.
8.2 Candidates should promptly disclose changes affecting registration, legal authorisation, safeguarding or fitness to practise. Relevant concerns should be assessed before further affected work.
8.3 Consultants should maintain contact with the professional and client, record significant feedback and escalate unsafe workloads, inadequate supervision or conduct concerns.
8.4 The company must meet applicable agency-worker, minimum-wage, holiday and working-time obligations. Staff should obtain the information needed to track qualifying service and apply agency-worker equal-treatment rights.
8.5 Where Social Work Partners is responsible for paying agency workers, payment for work performed must not be withheld solely because the client has not paid or has not authorised a timesheet. Disputed hours should be investigated promptly.
9. Procedure: Respond to Concerns
9.1 Safeguarding concerns should be reported immediately through the company’s and client’s reporting routes. Call 999 where there is immediate danger.
9.2 The Compliance Manager should assess risk, preserve evidence, record action and obtain appropriate advice. Protective action may include pausing placements or removing a professional from an assignment.
9.3 Staff must make statutory suitability notifications. For temporary supply in Great Britain, confirmed unsuitability requires immediate cessation of supply and notification to the hirer. Information suggesting possible unsuitability must be notified without delay and investigated as required.
9.4 For permanent introductions in Great Britain, the agency must notify the hirer without delay where relevant unsuitability information becomes known within three months of introduction. Later concerns should still be considered under applicable safeguarding and professional duties.
9.5 The person concerned should have a reasonable opportunity to respond, subject to immediate protection needs and external-investigation requirements. Allegations should not be treated as proven findings.
9.6 DBS, Disclosure Scotland, regulator and other authority referrals must be made where required. Resignation or removal from the company’s books does not remove an applicable referral duty.
10. Complaints, Records and Review
10.1 Candidates and clients may raise complaints with the Compliance Manager. Concerns involving that manager should be referred to a company director. Complaints should be acknowledged promptly, investigated fairly and answered with reasons and any proposed action.
10.2 Personal information must be handled lawfully. Recruitment and allegation records should be kept securely under the Data Protection and Processing Policy and Record Retention Policy.
10.3 The Compliance Manager should periodically review recruitment files, clearance decisions, overdue checks and complaints. Identified gaps should be corrected and staff training updated.
10.4 Directors should review this policy annually and after material legal, regulatory or operational changes. Approval and version records should be retained.
11. Legal and Professional Framework
11.1 This policy operates alongside the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 in Great Britain and the separate Northern Ireland 2005 Regulations, as amended.
11.2 It also reflects applicable equality, immigration, safeguarding, barring, employment and data protection requirements; relevant Social Work England, Social Care Wales, SSSC and NISCC standards; and the REC Code of Professional Practice as an ethical benchmark.