The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Safer recruitment and employment
Making sure everyone who works in your organisation, including employees, trustees and volunteers, have the right support and knowledge on safeguarding is key. In this section we cover:
Safer recruitment
Whether it’s staff, trustees or volunteers, anyone joining your organisation should be suitable for their role. A strong and safe recruitment process for every role, whether paid or voluntary, helps deter those intending to cause harm from applying or successfully joining your team.
You could:
- Provide a clear role description, describing the responsibilities involved and the knowledge and skills needed. This will help you assess the level of risk involved and the processes you need to take.
- Advertise widely and with clarity on your commitment to safeguarding and undertaking background checks if needed.
- Review your application forms and identification checks.
- If your organisation has paid staff or volunteers carrying out regulated work, you need to check their criminal history. Assess whether the role requires a Disclosure check through the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme. Volunteer Scotland are funded by Disclosure Scotland to support the voluntary sector with their disclosure checks and also have a sample Child/Adult Protection Policy.
- Consider your interview process and how to discuss your organisation’s values and commitment to safeguarding. Seek evidence that people applying for a role have the right experience, knowledge or skills proportionate to the risks they will face. Check that they show commitment to your values and to keeping people safe
- Clarify any gaps in employment or volunteering history
- Seek and take up references. For roles working in higher-risk contexts, such as those directly working with children, young people, or adults at risk of harm, always seek references from a recent and relevant employer or volunteer provider.
Effective recruitment should always be fair and without discrimination. There may be many people who have been involved with the criminal justice system who can play a positive role in your organisation.
Learn more
- Scotland Works for You is a group that aims to improve employment opportunities for people with convictions. Its guidance helps organisations consider conviction information fairly and safely.
- Disclosure Scotland helps organisations make safer decisions when recruiting. It also ensures that unsuitable people do not work with vulnerable groups, including children.
Managing your team
Safeguarding is not a one-off event or activity. You need to embed it into the organisation's daily work and culture. Build an organisation that proactively reduces risks of harm and promotes everyone's feeling of being listened to and supported should they raise concerns.
Practical ways to support a positive safeguarding culture include embedding it within induction, training and your team's ongoing support and supervision.
Ensure anyone joining your organisation gets a good induction. They should be provided with your policies, procedures, and code of conduct and know how to report and record any safeguarding concerns. They should understand what you have identified as key risks and how you expect them to manage them. Allow them to ask questions about the expectations and what they might mean for their role.
Training helps people gain the knowledge and skills to meet their safeguarding responsibilities. The level of training needed will depend on the nature of the role and who the person works with.
You might need:
- Introductory training that explains the basics of safeguarding
- More in-depth training for those working with children or adults at risk of harm or about a specific form of harm that is most relevant to your work or prevalent amongst the groups you work with
- More advanced training for those in specific roles, such as the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
SCVO run a regular Introduction to Safeguarding training course. Check our calendar to find out when the next one is. Remember, SCVO members get early access to our training courses and discounted prices.
Your team needs appropriate support and supervision. There must be sufficient people to manage any events or activities. Consider adopting minimum ratios of team members for the number of people engaged. These ratios might differ depending on the support needs of the groups you work with. Have clear rules for lone working which reflect the risks in your work.
Learn more
- NSPCC offers guidance on supervision levels when working with children and young people
- The Health and Safety Executive provides guidance on lone working.
Build safeguarding into your supervision and support of your team.
You could:
- Ensure everyone gets regular supervision. This should include space for them to consider how they are helping to keep people safe and any worries they might have not previously mentioned.
- Offer regular updates or additional training. For example, looking at the specific types of harm or updates on new legal obligations
- Ask for regular feedback of how well safeguarding is being managed or their ideas for improvement. Some organisations include questions about safeguarding within annual appraisal processes.
- Individuals should be regularly re-checked through the PVG scheme by requesting a Scheme Record update.
A positive safeguarding culture needs everyone involved. Consider how everyone affected by your work — staff, volunteers, and those you work with — can influence and provide feedback on your approach to safeguarding.
You could:
- Regularly remind people of the organisation’s values and discuss how they contribute towards them.
- Encourage suggestions and feedback on key policies, procedures and ways of working so you know they work well
- Have clear and easy ways for people to complain, including about the behaviour of others
- Ensure leaders do not allow anyone to be victimised for raising a safeguarding concern
Oversight and assurance
Track the organisation's progress on safeguarding and identify lessons learned.
Your Board of Trustees (or equivalent) should receive and scrutinise progress on your safeguarding activities. The designated safeguarding lead could produce this, with the lead trustee overseeing it.
You could:
- Keep clear records and share data. Track both actions to prevent harm—like the proportion of staff trained—and the number of safeguarding concerns. The regularity, length, and level of detail of the data shared with the Board will depend on your organisation's safeguarding risk.
- Keep safeguarding on your Board agenda, with space for people to check on progress. At least once a year, have a deeper discussion on progress, emerging trends or actions you need to take.
- Consider arrangements for performance management, including senior leaders. Ensure that trustees have assurance that leaders' behaviour, attitudes and values align with the commitment to safeguarding. Seek feedback from a wide range of staff and volunteers.
- Include details on your approach to managing safeguarding risks in your trustee annual report. Larger organisations may also be under legal obligations to include details on how they are tackling modern slavery.
- Every 3-5 years, undertake a deeper review of your safeguarding activity. You might want independent scrutiny to help check how well things are going and give fresh perspectives for change.
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