Safer Recruitment Online Searches - Lots of Questions and Still No Answers?

• Are you carrying out online searches as part of your safer recruitment practice in school?
• Have you even considered carrying out this search?
• What does the requirement really mean in practice?
• Who should this search be carried out on?
• What are the benefits of imploring online searches as part of your safe recruitment practice?
• Is this just going to be a legal headache?
• What if I find something online?

At HR Connect, we know many of you are still asking lots of questions around the statutory requirement for schools to undertake online searches of shortlisted candidates as part of your safe recruitment practice, as we are still getting many queries to our Helpdesk since online searches first appeared in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) in September 2022. Prior to this date, there had been much speculation on the impact of bringing in such a consideration particularly as little guidance was shared at the time about what this would really mean in practice for schools.

In a non-education setting, employers have been checking the online and social media presence of prospective employees for some time but, for many schools, this has or may be an entirely new exercise to undertake in your recruitment practice.

You may be asking yourself why if this was introduced 18 months ago are we still talking about this requirement? Well…. very little was amended in KCSIE September 2023 and there is still uncertainty about what are the practical, legal, and regulatory requirements.

Let’s help to answer a few of those questions here!

Are online searches compulsory?

The requirement in KCSIE is expressed as a “should” rather than a “must” (i.e. schools “should consider” carrying out an online search). KCSIE is clear that the use of the term ‘should’ in the statutory guidance means that the advice should be followed unless there is good reason not to. The specific paragraph in KCSIE actually states ‘should consider’ so the requirement is somewhat tempered to only be a consideration to carry out an online search.  However, given the premise of the online search requirement relates to a school being satisfied in terms of suitability to work with children it is hard to conceive what the justification could be for the good reason to not carry out such searches.  In light of this our advice would be where a school decides not to carry out an online search, this decision, and the reasons for it should be documented internally.

Why are they needed?

This requirement is a further step to prevent and/or deter individuals who may be unsuitable to work with children from working in a school environment. Any online searches will be used to identify “any incidents or issues” that are publicly available online.

The focus of any online search should be “incidents or issues” that may cause concern regarding a candidate’s suitability to work with children. This may include, for example, offensive or inappropriate behaviour or language, drug or alcohol misuse, inappropriate images, discriminatory behaviour, and any other information that may raise concern as to an applicant’s suitability to work with children.

When should the online search be conducted?

This is one area where the KCSIE guidance is very clear that online searches should only be carried on shortlisted applicants. It is very clear that this is not on all applicants that apply for a position.  Searches should be carried out in advance of interview so that any identified issues or incidents can be raised with the applicant during the interview, or before the interview if felt necessary.

Who should carry out the search?

The answer to this question is not set out in the guidance so we have to contemplate here, the legal considerations, to minimise the risk of discrimination and/or unconscious bias. We would therefore recommend the search is carried out by a member of staff not directly involved in the decision-making process. As a school you may be able to draw upon any internal resource to carry out the search. It is important that the individual carrying out the search understands its purpose and the associated parameters.

An alternative may be for schools to use a digital platform to carry out a search on a shortlisted candidate. Schools seeking to procure these services should ensure they are compliant with data protection law and KCSIE. We would recommend that any digital platform adheres to the KCSIE  parameters i.e. publicly available sources should be searched. Any report from such platforms will need to be reviewed so that any issues can be raised with the candidate at interview. 

HR Connect also offers a digital platform, SocialMediaCheck, to support you with this new requirement.

For further information on this platform please contact the SocialMediaCheck team here >>

Join our free Lunch & Learn webinar on Wed 24th April

We know that we haven’t answered all of your questions, so why not come and join us to find out more about online searches and hear the answers to the remaining questions on 24^th April at 12.15 p.m. for a FREE Lunch and Learn live webinar >> with Lirette Mill, Head of HR Advisory, HR Connect and our Senior Legal Advisor, Hayley Titchner of Legal Connect.

If you have any other questions, we would love to hear from you too on info@hrconnect.org.uk