PEOPLE IN ACTION
INFORMATION FOR JOB APPLICANTS, ON DISCLOSURE CHECKS FROM THE CRIMINAL RECORDS BUREAU
It is very important that we ensure that everyone who works for People in Action can be trusted and is suitable for working with vulnerable adults. This is also a requirement from April 2002 to enable us to meet the expectations of the National Care Standards Commission. Therefore, everyone who is successful in obtaining a post will be asked to complete an application form, which we will send off to the Criminal Records Bureau. This will provide us with details of your criminal record including convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National computer together with any information held by the Department of Health of those considered unsuitable for this type of work. Such details are known as a Disclosure.
If you are successful and after a formal job offer has been made to you, your manager will complete a Disclosure application form with you by checking your identity and address. This will be done by examining your passport and/or your driving license, together with other documents such as your birth certificate, marriage certificate, P45 or P60 and two documents which confirm your current address, eg recent bank statement, current council tax bill or recent utility bill. We will then send the form away and a copy of the disclosure information will be sent to you and to People in Action in about three weeks.
If your disclosure is clear, then you will have your appointment confirmed. If you have a criminal record, then it is expected that you will already have provided our Managing Director of Operations with details. This will then have been discussed with you at interview or subsequently. Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This will depend on the background of your offence and any decision to appoint will take into account the individual circumstances. Please ask us if you wish to see People in Action's policy statement on the recruitment of ex-offenders.
Where a Disclosure confirms information that we have already taken into account, then the appointment will be confirmed. However, if there are significant discrepancies between the information that you have provided and the information on the Disclosure, or if the information on the Disclosure has not been shared earlier, then further consideration will be necessary. We would discuss any new information revealed by the Disclosure with you before making a final decision. However, we reserve the right to withdraw your offer of employment if the discrepancy is serious.
You will have the opportunity to challenge the Criminal Records Bureau in relation to any of the information provided.
