Module 1 of 2 · 45 minutes
The checks, the gaps and the questions
By the end of this module you will be able to
- State what Schedule 3 requires before a person starts
- Explore an employment gap and a disclosure proportionately
- Conduct right to work checks without discriminating
- Ask behavioural questions that predict conduct
Work through it
1 interactive for this module, built on the WAJD Teach engine. Nothing moves until you ask it to, and every one has a written version if you would rather read it.
Amara We are short staffed constantly. What can I safely skip?
Nadia Nothing in Schedule 3, and I know that is not the answer you wanted. Recruitment is the first safeguarding control in your service, and under staffing pressure it is the one that gets thinnest.
Amara What does Schedule 3 actually require?
Nadia Proof of identity with a recent photograph. A DBS at the right level with barred list checks where they apply. Evidence of conduct in previous work with children or vulnerable adults. The reason previous health or care employment ended. Qualification evidence. A full written employment history with explanations for gaps. And evidence of fitness for the role.
Amara Are gaps a red flag?
Nadia No, and this is worth being clear about because people treat them as one. A gap is not a red flag. Illness, caring, a visa, a breakdown, prison, redundancy, raising children. An unexplained gap that nobody asked about is the red flag.
Amara So I just ask.
Nadia You just ask, and you write down the answer. It is the asking and recording that satisfies the regulation, not the answer being tidy.
Amara References. Everybody writes bland ones now.
Nadia Then ask better questions, in writing. Were there any concerns about this person's conduct towards people using the service. Were any safeguarding or disciplinary matters raised. And: would you re employ them.
Amara And if they will not answer that last one?
Nadia That is your answer. A refusal to say whether they would re employ somebody is information, and experienced managers hear it clearly.
Amara Anything practical?
Nadia Ring the organisation on a number you found yourself, never the number printed on the reference. Fabricated references using a friend's mobile are common, and that one check finds nearly all of them.
Amara DBS comes back with something on it. Automatic no?
Nadia No. Assess relevance, how long ago, their age at the time, the pattern, and what it actually says about risk in this specific role. Then record the assessment. A blanket refusal is both unfair and indefensible if challenged.
Amara Right to work. How careful do I need to be?
Nadia Very, and in a specific way. Check every candidate, before employment starts, in exactly the same way.
Amara Every candidate?
Nadia Every one. Checking only people who look or sound foreign is race discrimination. And it is also how services end up with illegal working penalties, because the statutory excuse depends on having done a correct check for the person you actually employed.
Amara Let us do interviews. Ours are quite chatty.
Nadia Then they are measuring fluency, and fluency predicts almost nothing about how somebody behaves at three in the morning when a resident is distressed and nobody is watching.
Amara What should I ask instead?
Nadia For a specific past event, never a hypothetical. Tell me about a time you disagreed with how a colleague treated somebody. What did you do?
Amara As opposed to what would you do if.
Nadia Which everybody answers correctly, because everybody knows the right answer. It tells you nothing except that they have heard of safeguarding.
Amara How do I know a real story from an invented one?
Nadia Probe for specifics. What did you actually say. Who else was in the room. What happened afterwards. Somebody recalling a real event can keep answering. Somebody constructing one runs out of detail quite quickly, and you will hear it.
Amara One favourite question?
Nadia Tell me about a time you raised a concern about somebody's practice. Then listen for whether anything happened afterwards, and how they talk about it. That single question tells you more about whether they will speak up in your service than an hour of anything else.
The written material
What must be in place before somebody starts
Schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 sets out the information required for each person employed in a regulated service.
Proof of identity including a recent photograph. A DBS certificate at the correct level, and where applicable a check of the barred lists. Satisfactory evidence of conduct in previous employment involving children or vulnerable adults. Where a person has worked in health or social care before, the reason the employment ended. Documentary evidence of qualifications relevant to the role. A full employment history in writing, with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps. Satisfactory evidence of physical and mental fitness for the role.
That last one interacts with the Equality Act: it does not license health questions before offer, and it must not be used to screen out disabled applicants.
References that are worth having
A reference from a personal friend is worth nothing. Take references from the most recent employer and from any previous employer involving work with children or vulnerable adults, and take them from the organisation rather than from an individual's personal email address.
Ask directly and in writing: were there any concerns about this person's conduct towards people using the service, were any safeguarding or disciplinary matters raised, and would you re employ them. A refusal to answer the last one is itself information.
Verify by ringing the organisation on a number you found yourself, not the number on the reference. Fabricated references using a friend's mobile are common and easy to detect this way.
DBS, right to work, and not discriminating while you do it
An enhanced DBS check with the appropriate barred list check is standard for regulated activity in care. A disclosure is not automatically a bar: assess relevance, how long ago, the person's age at the time, the pattern, and what it says about risk in this specific role. Record the assessment.
Right to work checks must be carried out on every candidate, before employment begins, in the same way for everyone. Checking only candidates who appear or sound foreign is race discrimination, and it is also how illegal working penalties are incurred, because the statutory excuse depends on a correct check for the person employed.
Keep a clear dated copy of what you checked. The statutory excuse depends on the evidence, not on the belief.
Interviews that predict something
Most care interviews reward fluency and confidence, which predict almost nothing about how somebody behaves at three in the morning when a resident is distressed and nobody is watching.
Behavioural questions ask for a specific past event, not a hypothetical. 'Tell me about a time you disagreed with how a colleague treated somebody. What did you do?' produces evidence. 'What would you do if a colleague was rude to a resident?' produces the correct answer from everybody, because everybody knows it.
Probe for specifics. What did you actually say. Who else was there. What happened next. Somebody describing a real event can answer those; somebody describing an imagined one cannot for long.
Use the same core questions for every candidate and score against agreed criteria, because unstructured interviews are where bias enters and where you end up hiring the person most like you.
- Ask for a specific past event, not a hypothetical
- Probe: what did you say, who was there, what happened next
- Same core questions for every candidate, scored against criteria
- Include a values question about a time they raised a concern, and listen for whether anything happened
Knowledge check
The knowledge check and your certificate need a free account, so that your progress and results can be saved as evidence.
The learning itself stays free and open. You are reading all of it right now without an account.