SAFEGUARDING PORTAL – WORKFORCE PERSPECTIVE SAFEGUARDING AND AGENCY WORKERS

2 APPENDIX TWO – OCTOBER 2018 SAFEGUARDING BIRTH PLAN
2017-11-01-Key-Safeguarding-Employment-Standards-v2
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This guidance relate to all agency workers supplied either through Hampshire County Council’s contract with Manpower (either directly from Manpower or indirectly by the panel agencies linked to this contract) and those agency workers supplied by other ag

Safeguarding Portal – Workforce Perspective


Safeguarding and Agency Workers



1. Introduction

The purpose of this guidance is to identify Hampshire County Council’s responsibilities when a safeguarding concern arises in relation to an agency worker working under the direction of Hampshire County Council.


1.1 There is no contract of employment between Hampshire County Council and an agency worker. It is the employment agency who supplies the agency worker who is the employer, not Hampshire County Council. As a consequence the Authority does not have the same level of responsibility and control as it would as an employer.


1.2 Therefore it is the employment agency, rather than Hampshire County Council, that is responsible for undertaking an internal employment investigation into safeguarding concerns. The employment agency has a duty to make any subsequent referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) (previously known as the Independent Safeguarding Authority) and/or a professional body. However there may still be a parallel duty on the Authority to make a referral to the DBS.


1.3 Hampshire County Council retains an overarching duty to safeguard children and vulnerable adults. Therefore Hampshire County Council must be committed to ensuring any safeguarding concerns relating to an agency worker are managed appropriately and support is provided to the employment agency to ensure they in turn meet their responsibilities as the employer.


1.4 Hampshire County Council recognise that the fluid nature of the agency workforce can lead to additional concerns and levels of complexity in relation to safeguarding of which managers and HR Operations staff must be aware.


1.5 This guidance relates to all agency workers supplied through Hampshire County Council’s contract with Matrix (who outsource to Panel Suppliers), and those agency workers supplied by other employment agencies.


1.6 This guidance has been shared and agreed with Matrix only. Matrix have obtained agreement from their panel vendors to adhere to this guidance. However the same principles should still be applied when managing a concern relating to an agency worker supplied outside of the Matrix contract.



2. When a concern arises

This section focuses on the period immediately surrounding a concern being raised. It draws together some keys steps and important principles to be aware of.


2.1 There may be up to three possible processes involved in responding to a concern which may run concurrently: a police investigation of a possible criminal offence



3. How a concern may arise

A concern may arise through a variety of channels. Initially the information may not present as a safeguarding issue so it is important to maintain a level of awareness and identify any potential safeguarding concern as early as possible. Concerns relating to conduct, both inside of and outside of work, may be relevant to a workers fitness to practice. Safeguarding concerns are not solely restricted to instances of misconduct, levels of competence including performance and ill health can also impact upon a workers fitness to practice and this in turn could present a safeguarding concern.


3.1 The following are possible channels through which a concern may be raised, though not exhaustive:



4.0 Informing Safeguarding teams

When a concern or allegation arises, the local departmental safeguarding procedures should be followed to ensure any necessary actions are taken to safeguard the child or adult. This will include the duty to notify the LADO or local safeguarding adults co-ordinator.


4.1 In situations where the hiring manager is uncertain whether there is cause for concern, advice should always be sought from the LADO or the adults safeguarding enquiry line.


4.2 The LADO should be involved in all cases where it is alleged a person who works with children has:


4.3 The LADO or local safeguarding adults co-ordinator should be involved in the management and oversight of individual cases or allegations against people who work with children or adults and will provide advice and guidance on cases in liaison with key experts in Children’s Services, the police and Social Care. The LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator will monitor the progress of cases to ensure that they are dealt with as quickly as possible, consistent with a thorough and fair process.



5. Informing HR Operations

The hiring manager will inform HR Operations of any safeguarding concern regarding an agency worker. An HR caseworker will seek to provide support as required.



6. Police

In circumstances where there has been an incident in work there may be grounds to make a referral to the police, advice can be sought from the LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator to establish the best approach. The referral will usually be made by the LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator or the hiring manager in consultation with the service user and or their family / carers.


6.1 Often a police investigation will take precedence over any internal safeguarding investigation or employment investigation undertaken by the employment agency. This advice should be shared with the employment agency to ensure they are aware of this protocol.


6.2 As such Hampshire County Council will not support the employment agency’s investigation until discussions have taken place with the police and the LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator at the safeguarding meeting. The police may request that an internal employment investigation does not commence until the police matter is concluded.


6.3 Hampshire County Council will seek to support the police with their enquiries and facilitate the collection of evidence. The presence of a police investigation will be kept confidential in the interest of fairness to the agency worker. The LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator will maintain contact with the police to keep informed of the progress of the police enquires.


6.4 Upon completion of the police investigation, the police, in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service, will decide whether any criminal action will be pursued. The CPS follow their own guidelines on whether to charge an individual following police investigation. The CPS ‘charging decision’ is based on a higher standard of evidence, public policy considerations and matters related to the police investigation. A decision of the CPS not to charge does not mean there are no grounds to proceed with an internal employment investigation. The employment agency will still have a duty to conclude its own procedures and investigations and make any necessary referrals.



7. Removing the agency worker / stopping the assignment

In cases of alleged misconduct or incompetency (including serious ill health), it may be appropriate to end an agency worker’s assignment early, potentially during a shift. However, doing so will inevitably alert the agency worker that something is wrong and therefore must be part of a planned approach. In very exceptional circumstances the LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator or the police may advise that it is appropriate to maintain the agency worker in the workplace to avoid alerting the worker of the concerns. Where this is the case, adjustments may be needed to minimise any risk.


7.1 The hiring manager at Hampshire County Council must always inform the employment agency that the agency worker’s assignment needs to be ended so that they can advise the agency worker accordingly. The agency worker is not to be re-assigned to work for any part of Hampshire County Council until Hampshire County Council is satisfied that any investigations have been brought to a conclusion and the safeguarding concerns addressed and resolved.


7.2 Where a worker’s assignment has been ended early, this may run parallel to the initial stages of a police investigation.




8. Informing the employment agency

Prior to informing the employment agency, as a matter of priority, agreement to do so will be obtained from the police and LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator. For children’s safeguarding, the LADO will ensure this referral has taken place as part of their role looking at the overarching management of the investigation.


8.2 The employment agency who supplied the agency worker should be informed of the concern and advised of the action undertaken by Hampshire County Council so far. In circumstances where Matrix has fulfilled the order through a panel agency, the concern will be reported to Matrix who will liaise with the panel vendor through to completion.


8.3 Concerns should be reported to Matrix via telephone with an email to confirm the details. It is not appropriate or acceptable to use the online issues log in such circumstances as doing so could result in a delayed response and due to the confidential nature of the concern.


8.4 Hampshire County Council will pass the following information to the employment agency:



9. Managing safeguarding concerns

As the employer of the agency worker it is the employment agency’s responsibility to conduct an investigation and to decide whether a formal process will be used to manage the safeguarding concern. This must only commence once agreement has been obtained from the LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator and the police (if there is a police investigation).


9.1 Often the police will only give consent for the employment agency to undertake an internal employment investigation and the internal safeguarding investigation to commence once the police matter has been concluded.


9.2 The employment agency may be invited to attend the Safeguarding meeting/s, as appropriate. The employment agency will take advice from the safeguarding board.


9.3 The employment agency is responsible for deciding whether the agency worker is to be suspended from all assignments, over and above just Hampshire County Council assignments.


9.4 Hampshire County Council will seek to facilitate the employment agency’s investigation where appropriate. In order to conduct their investigation, the employment agency may need to obtain further information from Hampshire County Council. These requests should be made through the appointed manager within Hampshire County Council who will co-ordinate the investigation from an internal perspective.


9.5 The Hampshire County Council appointed manager will provide the employment agency with relevant documentation. The manager should satisfy themselves that this information is relevant and proportional to the investigation and at all times any personal and confidential information relating to other individuals is redacted.


9.6 The employment agency may also wish to obtain further information from Hampshire County Council workers who witnessed an incident or have knowledge of a concern. In such circumstances the appointed manager will either interview Hampshire County Council workers themselves or accompany/facilitate a representative from the employment agency.


9.7 The representative from the employment agency must keep the LADO / local safeguarding adults co-ordinator informed of the investigations progress to enable them to fulfil their role.


9.8 Where necessary, the service user / parents / relatives can be informed that the matter has been referred to the employment agency who is managing the matter under their own appropriate internal policies and procedures. Reassurances may need to be offered that Hampshire County Council are supporting the agency with their investigation and will seek confirmation of its conclusion.





10. Conclusion of an investigation

An employment agency is unlikely to inform Hampshire County Council of the outcome of their investigation as this is a confidential matter between the agency worker and their employer. It is important however that Hampshire County Council is confident the matter has been concluded, rather than overlooked or dropped without full consideration.


10.1 Therefore Hampshire County Council will obtain confirmation from the employment agency that the matter has been managed through an appropriate process to a conclusion, including whether the agency has made a referral to the DBS and / or a professional body.


10.2 Where the employment agency decide a sanction of less than dismissal is appropriate, the agency worker may be re-assigned to work, however Hampshire County Council will be entitled to refuse to engage the worker if they still have concerns. In such a case, Hampshire County Council should explain why they remain concerned about the agency worker.



11. Referral to the DBS

Employment agency

The employment agency has a duty to refer the worker to the DBS either where:



11.1 Hampshire County Council

Whilst the employment agency has a duty to refer to the DBS, Hampshire County Council may still have a duty to refer, as even though it is the agency who is the employer, it is Hampshire County Council who is the Regulated Activity Provider.


11.2 Hampshire County Council has a duty to refer the worker to the DBS where;




12. Dangers specific to agency workers

The very nature of agency work means employment relationships can be short term and very fluid. An agency worker may be undertaking several assignments at any one time, through one or more employment agencies. An agency worker can therefore change ‘jobs’, potentially very easily, should a concern arise. To try to overcome these dangers, Hampshire County Council will be guided by the following principles and will encourage employment agencies to do the same:


If a manager has any questions or concerns, contact can be made with HR Operations.

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