The government’s new safeguarding rules are undermining Andy Burnham’s plans to significantly expand work experience for schoolchildren, educators and employers have warned.
Stricter requirements for employees in England, Wales and Northern Ireland coming into contact with children were introduced last month, increasing the requirement for them to undergo so-called enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on whether they have a criminal record or are banned from working with vulnerable groups.
While designed to enhance child protection, the changes have stalled preparations for work experience placements in the current academic year as employers say they are seeking legal advice and schools are hesitating over their additional responsibilities in how to interpret the tougher requirements on safeguarding.
Alex Kelly, co-founder of Unifrog, a platform for schools to organise work experience, said placements tracked by his system had slumped to the lowest level in three years.
“Small employers might be unable to continue offering work experience [and] schools are extremely worried about the additional admin burden they now face,” he added.
The Careers & Enterprise Company, the independent national body for careers education, said it was in “urgent contact” with the government over the changes, and that removing a previous exemption from DBS checks for staff who are supervising children “raises important questions about the implications for current and future work experience and volunteering activities”.
Jo Saward at the Creative Education Trust, a multi-academy trust, said enhanced DBS checks “will put some employers off hosting students”, adding that it had “come at a time when we are asking for more placements”.
The changes risk undermining Burnham’s pledge to “close the gap between the classroom and the workplace” and appear to ignore comments in the government’s own consultation document in February seeking to allay “unnecessary DBS checks for those on work experience”.
They were introduced despite repeated warnings to government officials, including a report in June from Education and Employers, a charity that helps prepare young people for work, cautioning that they “would add considerable barriers and uncertainty to employers from hosting placements”.
The new requirements cover employees coming into contact with children aged under 16 for more than three days in a month or overnight. While independent volunteers offering work experience are exempt from fees for DBS checks, employers typically pay about £90 per staff member.
One company offering multiple work experience places to schoolchildren told the FT that the additional DBS costs imposed by the guidelines had come too late to include in its current annual budgeting cycle, which meant it would need to defer an expansion in its programme for another year.
Suzanne Pickerill, head of social value at Wates, the construction company, said: “We have a dedicated team, so we’ll make it work, but there’s a risk that the goodwill of some employers will be lost, particularly with opportunities for under-16s, because it’s just too difficult to do the right thing.”
The Department for Education said DBS checks were not mandatory under the new guidelines and responsibility remained with employers to decide whether they were needed.
It added: “Safeguarding children must be the ultimate priority. These changes make sure individuals who regularly work with children can be subject to checks, where appropriate.”