Safe Recruitment

Club committees are responsible for safe recruitment.

Volunteers are the core drivers in all clubs; they are the leaders and club ethos setters. It is important fencing clubs take all reasonable steps to ensure that unsuitable people are prevented from working with children and or protected adults in fencing. The guidance below shows the steps in an ideal recruitment and selection process. The checklist below gives essential steps to make sure Scottish Fencing clubs meet their duty.

Clubs should adopt a safe recruitment policy - a sample recruitment policy is here. The policy should include as a minimum:

• ID Check (for all roles)

• References (for all roles)

• PVG (for regulated roles only)

• Interview (as considered appropriate)

References are a key part to identifying if an individual meets a fencing club’s ethos. It will show concerns that a PVG check would not such as low level concerns or poor practice.

Recruiting Ex-Offenders

Clubs should also have a policy on Recruiting ex-offenders. Having a criminal record should not necessarily debar someone from working within clubs however please note:

•           It is an offence for an individual who is barred to undertake the type of regulated work from which they are barred,

•           It is an offence for clubs to offer regulated work to someone who is barred or fail to remove a person from regulated work if Scottish Fencing notifies the club the indivdiual is barred,

•           It is an offence for not to refer an individual to Disclosure Scotland where the grounds for referral have been met. (See Making Referrals).

Under Consideration for Listing

Scottish Fencing will notify the club’s Welfare Officer if someone at their club is under consideration for listing. In those circumstances clubs must suspend the individual until the outcome of the case is determined. This suspension does not involve pre-judgement. In all cases of suspension the welfare of children and/ or protected adults is the paramount concern.