Key contacts 

District Tuition Business and Safeguarding LeadDesmond Gallagher
d.gallagher@districttuition.com
+44 (0) 7784976383
External SupportNSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000
Childline: 0800 1111
Education Support Helpline: 0800 562561

Purpose and Scope of Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

The Safeguarding and Child Protection policy is based on legislation, statutory guidance and policies that seek to protect learners and vulnerable adults. It outlines our position and clarifies the action to ensure that we meet our duties relating to protecting the safety and promoting the well-being of learners. We believe everyone is responsible for promoting the welfare of learners and young people, keeping them safe and practising in a way that protects them.

The welfare of our learners is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we make. Therefore, all learners, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation, have an equal right to protection from all types of harm and abuse.

Some learners are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.

This policy applies to all Learners. In addition, it applies to anyone working for or on behalf of District Tuition.

This Policy relates to all situations in both the UK and Internationally. We commit that even where English law and regulation do not apply, we shall operate as if the laws and limitations apply.

Our learners live in various jurisdictions governed by laws and cultural expectations that differ from country to country. Therefore, we welcome the chance to forge an international community and champion the diversity of our learners and tutors.

We expect the behaviour of tutors and learners within our community to be governed by the expectations laid out in our policies, which are informed by British Values and English law.

The term ‘online’ in this document refers to someone using a device to gain access to the internet.

The term ‘parent’ refers to birth parents and other adults in a parenting role, such as stepparents, guardians, carers and adoptive parents.

Our Beliefs

We aim for all learners to have the same opportunity to use and engage with us; therefore, all should have equal protection when doing so. We aim to do all we can to ensure that learners are not at risk of harm. However, we will recognise and take appropriate action when any learner may be at risk of injury.

How We Keep Learners Safe

Online Safety

We take a robust approach to online safety to protect and educate learners in the responsible use of technology and establish mechanisms to identify, intervene and escalate any safeguarding concerns. The four primary areas of risk online are content, contact, conduct and commerce.

Content (Learner as a recipient)

Content (Learner as a participant)

Content (Learner as an actor)

Content (Learner as a consumer)

Equality of Safeguarding Provision

Some learners may be at an increased risk of abuse or face additional barriers which make them less likely to disclose abuse. However, we are committed to ensuring that all learners receive equal protection regardless of their circumstances or obstacles. We, therefore, give special consideration to a learner who:

Definitions

Abuse

Physical Abuse

Emotional Abuse

Sexual Abuse

Neglect

Child on Child Abuse

Child on Child abuse may take different forms, such as:

All concerns relating to Child on Child abuse must be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, who will liaise with internal and external parties to ensure that both the instigator of the abuse and the subject of the abuse are supported.

Children who abuse others may be abuse victims themselves, and the learner protection procedures will be followed for victims and perpetrators. In addition, we will work with others to ensure that victims and perpetrators are supported and protected, especially from bullying and harassment.

We have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, and it should never be passed off as “banter”, “just laughing”, or “part of growing up”, as this can lead to a culture of unacceptable behaviours and an unsafe environment for learners.

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)

Both CSE and CCE are forms of abuse that occur where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance in power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child into taking part in sexual or criminal activity in exchange for something the victim needs or wants and for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator and through violence or the threat of violence. CSE and CCE can affect children regardless of gender and include children who have been moved (commonly referred to as trafficking) for exploitation.

Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)

Child Criminal Exploitation of children is a form of harm which:

CCE is typified by some power imbalance favouring those perpetrating the exploitation. Whilst age may be the most obvious, this power imbalance can also be due to a range of other factors, including:

It is important to note that the experience of criminally exploited girls can differ greatly from that of boys. It is also important to note that boys and girls being criminally exploited may be at higher risk of sexual exploitation.

Child Sexual Exploitation

Domestic Abuse

Domestic abuse can encompass many behaviours and maybe a single incident or pattern. That abuse can be, but is not limited to:

Children can be victims of domestic abuse. They may see, hear, or experience the effects of abuse at home and suffer domestic abuse in their intimate relationships (teenage relationship abuse). All of this can have a detrimental and long-term impact on their health, well-being, development, and learning ability.

Mental Health

Serious Violence

The following indicators may signal children are at risk from or are involved with, serious violent crime. These may include:

Honour Based Violence

So-called ‘honour-based’ violence encompasses crimes committed to protect and defend the honour of the family and the community. These crimes should be handled as part of existing safeguarding/child protection structures, policies and procedures. The following practices are illegal in England:

Private Fostering

Private fostering is when a parent decides for their child (under 16 or 18 if they are disabled) to live with someone who isn’t an aunt/uncle, grandparent, brother/ sister or stepparent for longer than 28 days. The person asked to look after the learner is a private foster carer. Education providers have a legal duty to tell the relevant Local Authority if it becomes aware of any private fostering arrangement in the UK or suspects that a child is subject to a private fostering arrangement in the UK. The Local Authority can then check that the child is safe and well looked after and that the accommodation and care are satisfactory.

Looked After child

A looked-after child is a child who is looked after by a local authority, subject to a care order or which is voluntarily accommodated by a local authority, commonly due to abuse or neglect. All tutors should understand how to keep a child looked after safely. When a tutor member is responsible for a looked-after child, they will be provided with the information they need about the learner’s legal status, care arrangements and the level of authority delegated to the cases by the local authority looking after him. The Designated Safeguarding Lead takes the lead on all looked-after learners and, in the UK, will hold details of and liaise with the learner’s social worker.

Signs and Indicators

All tutors should be aware of indicators of abuse and neglect (see below), understanding that learners can be at risk of harm inside and outside of education, inside and outside of the home and online. Exercising professional curiosity and knowing what to look for is vital for the early identification of abuse and neglect so that tutors can identify cases of learners needing help or protection. In addition, all tutors should be aware that abuse, neglect, and safeguarding issues are rarely standalone events and cannot be covered by one definition or label alone. In most cases, multiple issues will overlap with one another.

When identifying abuse, tutors should be mindful of the need to consider the context of the culture, law and guidance of the relevant jurisdiction of the learner. It is essential to consider whether the learner, their family and their society view the behaviour as unacceptable, as this will determine whether the learner views the behaviour as abusive. Tutors should report the behaviour in line with expectations of conduct in the UK. In determining the following steps, the cultural context of the learner or learners involved will always be considered. For situations outside the UK, we bring expert advice to ascertain what is and is not acceptable in the specific country and will consider the potential impact of reporting such concerns concerning the learner and their family.

The tutors are responsible for reporting all worries or concerns over safeguarding and welfare. They are not responsible for investigating or deciding whether a learner has been abused. A learner who is being used or neglected may:

Tutors or volunteers may also see or hear something in the background when interacting online, which raises concerns. Any concerns should be reported even if there is no conclusive evidence of abuse.

Legal Framework and Related Policies and Procedures

This policy is complementary to several existing policies and practices mentioned below. In general, where any reference is made to the physical world in these documents, this will apply in the same way in the online world or as near to it as is reasonably foreseeable and possible.

Review Dates

We review our Policy at least every year to ensure that our commitments remain relevant to the nature of operations and practices.

Signature:

Desmond Gallagher, District Tuition Safeguarding Lead        

Date: 1 March 2023

Procedures

Responding to Concerns

We track any concerns reported and use these to help build up a better understanding of learner welfare. We act on identified problems and provide early help to prevent situations from escalating.

SERIOUS INCIDENTSAFEGUARDING CONCERNWELFARE CONCERN
OVERVIEW
An incident which either took place as part of a District Tuition service we deliver online or face to face or in the community, or the family
• A learner is at risk of or has experienced significant harm
• A crime has been committed
• May result in reputational risk to the organisation
OVERVIEW
A concern which:
• requires learners’ welfare to be monitored
• Has been raised by the third party asking District Tuition to be mindful of needs and provide support
OVERVIEW
A concern which:
• Can be actioned immediately and requires no ongoing actions
• A historic safeguarding concern which has come to our attention through a third-party
STEPS TO TAKE

• A person identifying incident reports to emergency service if concerned someone is at immediate risk of harm
• The incident was reported to the Global safeguarding team immediately
• Concern recorded on the Safeguarding form
• Global Safeguarding team screens the form to ensure the correct category of concern.
• Global Safeguarding team organises internal strategy meetings on the same day as the report made (per profound incident guidance) to collate all information and agree on the next steps, including referrals to external agencies/organisations.
• Safeguarding Lead completes Risk Assessment and/or support plan if required.
• If an allegation is made against a tutor, the Global safeguarding team coordinates the response.
• Global Safeguarding Lead records on incident reporting platforms (for example, CPOMS, PRISM, CONNEXUS) and ensures all fields are complete, actions agreed noted, and all related communication/documents uploaded.
• Global Safeguarding Lead instructs on actions required
• Record actions are taken, and all related documents are uploaded
• The safeguarding team ensures that all follow-up actions completed
STEPS TO TAKE

• Concern recorded on Safeguarding report form or ticket
• Safeguarding Lead screens form to ensure correct category of concern, ensure no further information required
• Safeguarding Lead records on incident reporting platform (for example, CPOMS, PRISM, CONNEXUS) and ensuring all fields are complete and actions agreed noted, and all related communication/documents uploaded
• Safeguarding Lead instructs on measures required
• Safeguarding Lead completes Risk Assessment and/ or support plan if required.
• Incident recording platform is updated to record actions taken, adds any additional communication/ documents.
• Safeguarding Lead closes case when concern no longer exists and all actions complete
STEPS TO TAKE

• Concern recorded on Safeguarding report form or ticket
• Safeguarding Lead screens form to ensure correct category of concern, ensure no further information required
• Safeguarding Lead records on incident reporting platform (for example, CPOMS, PRISM, CONNEXUS) and ensures all fields complete and actions agreed noted, and all related communication/documents uploaded
• Safeguarding Lead instructs on actions required
• Incident recording platform updated to record actions taken, adds any additional communication/ documents
• Safeguarding Lead closes case when all actions complete
EXAMPLE INCIDENTS

• Death of a Learner, including suicide
• Where a learner is alleged to have seriously harmed themselves or another person
• Serious concerns that a learner is engaged in extremist behaviour • Serious or protracted bullying
• Serious sexual abuse or harassment
• District Tuition tutors, associate or person acting on behalf of District Tuition is alleged to have caused harm, sexual or otherwise to a District Tuition learner/child/ vulnerable adult
EXAMPLE INCIDENTS

• Low level mental health (self-managed)
• Concerns around changes in appearance
• Concerns around changes in and/or inappropriate behaviour
• Concerns around changes in communication and/or inappropriate verbal comments
• Concerns around digital footprint
• Accumulation of low-level concerns
EXAMPLE INCIDENTS

• Learner conduct/low level behaviour concerns
• Relationship issues with peers
• Challenging behaviours with tutors
• Concerns around learner which are inconclusive

**Your responde, such as age and of concern, should depend on the learner’s vulnerability, such as age and additional support needs.

If you suspect that a learner may be at risk but have no ‘real’ evidence, where possible you should allow the learner to talk. It is fine to ask the learner if he or she is okay, or if you can help in any way. Following an initial conversation with the learner, if you remain concerned, you should discuss your concerns with the DSL.

Responding to Immediate Danger

If you believe a learner is in immediate danger or is at risk of harm, you must take appropriate action to address this. This could include:

When reporting any such concern, you should ensure that the external parties, including parents, police, or emergency service agencies, give you feedback on what actions they will take.

After taking initial action, speak to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. A written record of concern should be completed and submitted to the Safeguarding Lead. Any verbal contact with external parties should be followed up in writing within 24 hours; the Safeguarding Lead will liaise with you on this.

Responding to Crimes

If you believe a crime has been committed, you should report this to the Safeguarding Lead, who will escalate further.

Recording Concerns

All concerns and correspondence will be kept in a secure, confidential safeguarding case management system. The learner’s circumstances will be reviewed, and external organisations will be made aware again if in the learner’s best interest. All concerns, discussions, decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions are recorded in writing. We use PRISM online system to keep safeguarding and pastoral records.

Records should include the following:

Tutors should only record the facts as the learner presents them; the notes should not reflect the opinion of the note-taker. Tutors should be aware that notes of such reports could become part of an assessment by social care and a criminal investigation.

Tutors can escalate a concern by reporting it directly to the District Tuition’s Director of Safeguarding or the Safeguarding Manager. If, after escalation, they remain concerned, they should inform their concern via one of the following means:

If a Learner Makes a Disclosure

It takes courage for someone to disclose that they are being or have been abused. However, all victims must be reassured that they are being taken seriously, regardless of how long it has taken them to come forward and that they will be supported and kept safe.

If a learner talks to you about any risks to their safety or well-being, you should:

After a disclosure, seek support if distressed. The learner should never be given the impression that they are creating a problem by reporting abuse. Nor should a learner ever feel ashamed for making a report. Abuse that occurs online or outside of education should not be downplayed and should be treated equally seriously.

Securing Evidence

If an incident takes place, you have a concern, or disclosure is made, the following files should be secured:

These files should be passed to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, who will ensure they are copied onto the learner’s child protection file, separate from their academic record.

Supporting our Learners

We recognise that learners who have experienced trauma, have a mental illness or have experienced or are at risk of abuse or neglect can find it challenging to develop a sense of self-worth and may feel helplessness, humiliation, and self-blame. Therefore, our culture, ethos and policies are designed to provide an environment supporting our learners.

Missing Learners

We recognise that a learner going missing from education could indicate abuse or neglect, including sexual and sexual exploitation. Therefore, tutors will respond promptly to absences. Missing is defined as anyone whose whereabouts cannot be established will be considered missing until located and their well-being or otherwise confirmed. Any concerns that a learner needs to be included should be reported to the Safeguarding Lead, who will inform all relevant parties.

Prevent and Radicalisation

We recognise our duty to help prevent young people from being drawn into extremist viewpoints and radicalisation. In the UK, the Prevent Duty is the duty in the Counterterrorism and Security Act 2015 on specified authorities, including providers, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.

There is no single way of identifying an individual susceptible to radicalisation. Still, there are several early indicators of radicalisation or extremism, which may include:

Tutors with concerns about a learner will inform the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) at the earliest opportunity. The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) will then judge the most appropriate action.

For learners in the UK, the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) may make a referral to the Channel programme, which is a programme that focuses on providing support at an early stage to people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. For learners overseas, an equivalent organisation may be recognised. We will work more generally to ensure the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance are celebrated and not undermined.

Non-emergency advice for tutors is available via the DfE’s helpline at +44 (0)20 7340 7264 and by email at counter-extremism@education.gsi.gov.uk

Online Safety

Considering the 4Cs (content, contact, conduct and commerce), we provide a range of interventions to keep learners safe online. For example, we think many learners have unlimited and unrestricted access to the internet via mobile phone networks. This access means some learners could be at risk of sexual harassment and bullying and can control others via their mobile and innovative technology, share indecent images consensually and non-consensually (including via large chat groups) and view and share pornography and other harmful content.

Anti-Bullying

We will make sure our response to incidents of bullying considers the following:

We seek to prevent bullying through the following:

Recruiting the Right People

District Tuition is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment.

When undertaking any recruitment process, District Tuition will take the following steps:

District Tuition will ensure that:

An individual will not be recruited to be our tutors where they are named on any of the following lists:

An individual appointed and subsequently found to be named on any of these lists will be removed from the position.

An individual will be referred to the appropriate List where the grounds for referral under the Acts are met.

A disclosure check will be carried out on all new employees, and further disclosure checks will be carried out periodically during their tenure (disclosure checks being conducted by the relevant legislation in force from time to time; currently via the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and by Disclosure Scotland in Scotland).

District Tuition will obtain a DBS check for all teachers, tutors, assistants or other staff before employment (if not employed elsewhere with a current statement) or during the first month of their engagement if they are already used and hold a DBS check elsewhere.

Confidentiality and Data Sharing

We recognise that all matters relating to child protection are sensitive and confidential. Information is shared only on a ‘need to know, what and when’ basis. Concerns about individuals should never be discussed elsewhere, inside or outside the educational provision, unless in confidential meetings to safeguard. This is to respect any individuals involved and ensure that information released into the public domain does not compromise evidence.

Child protection information will be stored and handled per the Data Protection Act 2018 principles. Information is processed for limited purposes; it is adequate, relevant, and not excessive. It is accurate; kept no longer than necessary; processed by the data subject’s rights; and secure. Learner protection records will be stored securely online in a partitioned limited access area of the network and only made available to relevant individuals. Learner protection records are generally exempt from the disclosure provisions of the Data Protection Act. This means that learners and parents do not have an automatic right to see them. If a tutor receives a request from a learner or parent to see learner protection records, they will refer the request to the DSL, who will be guided by advice from the Data Privacy Officer.

Whistleblowing

Tutors can raise concerns when they suspect past, present, or imminent wrongdoing or an attempt to conceal misconduct. Officially this is called ‘disclosing the public interest’. We encourage all tutors who have concerns about wrongdoing or malpractice involving any aspect of our work to feel able to come forward and voice these without fear and in confidence. Considerations must be raised as soon as possible to allow the opportunity to address and resolve any problems quickly.

The concern should, in most instances, be raised with the tutors’ line manager though the problem must be presented with the person best placed to deal with the matter and with whom the employee feels most comfortable. There may be certain rare occasions, however, when it would be inappropriate to raise the concern with the line manager because, for example, the concern:

Once a tutor meeting has been raised, a concern may be arranged with them to determine how the situation should be resolved. Under this procedure, all investigations will be conducted sensitively and quickly. The study should be concluded within three months of the matter being raised, though some scenarios may result in a longer timeframe.

Concerns or Allegations Relating to Tutors

When an allegation is made against a tutor working for or on behalf of District Tuition or a concern is expressed about their conduct relating to learners, set procedures must be followed. It is rare for a learner to make an entirely false or malicious allegation. However, misunderstandings and misinterpretations of events can happen, and a learner may make an allegation against an innocent party because they are too afraid to name the perpetrator.

Reporting concerns

A tutor concerned about a colleague’s conduct towards a learner must remember that the learner’s welfare is paramount. No member of the tutors will suffer a detriment for raising a genuine concern.

Allegations or concerns against members of tutors, including the DSL, should be reported directly to the District Tuition Global Director of Safeguarding or a Global Safeguarding Manager. Tutors may also report any allegations or concerns directly to the police if they believe direct reporting is necessary to secure action and they feel a crime has been committed. Tutors may additionally use the NSPCC whistleblowing helpline number, 0800 028 0285, if they think that tutors’ conduct may not have passed the threshold for a criminal offence but raise concerns which are not being addressed within the internal reporting mechanisms. Allegations against a former tutor no longer working for us should be referred to the police.

Reports can be made verbally but should be supported by a dated and timed note of what has been disclosed or noticed, said or done.

The case manager in Global Safeguarding must log the incident before the end of the day. It is vital that expressions of concern that do not necessarily amount to ‘allegations’ are reported, mainly if there are repeated reports of such problems and questionable conduct.

It may be that the concern expressed has been raised by another party. If there are repeated reports of such problems and questionable conduct, a pattern of unacceptable behaviour may be identified.

Threshold for concerns

We accept that some professionals can pose a severe risk to learners, and we will act on every allegation or concern that a person working with or who is in contact with learners may have:

Responding to low-level concerns

A low-level concern is when behaviour is inconsistent with the tutor’s code of conduct, including inappropriate behaviour outside of work, but when this behaviour does not meet the harm threshold set out above.

Examples of such behaviour could include, but are not limited to:

Sharing low-level concerns is vital to create and embedding a culture of openness, trust and transparency in which our values and expected behaviour, as set out in the tutor’s code of conduct, are constantly lived, monitored and reinforced by all tutors. Sharing concerns includes self-referral, where, for example, a tutor member may have found themselves in a situation that could be misinterpreted, might appear compromising to others, and/or, on reflection, believe they have behaved in such a way they consider falls below the expected professional standards.

Where a low-level concern is raised, this will be dealt with promptly and appropriately. A record of the problem will be kept allowing any patterns of unacceptable behaviour to be identified. To address low-level concerns, we will:

Responding to crimes that reach the threshold

Suppose an allegation meets the abovementioned criteria under the ‘Threshold for Concerns’ section. In that case, it will be dealt with according to the statutory guidance in Keeping Learners Safe in Education (DfE, September 2022).

Tutors, parents, and members of the Governing Body are reminded not to investigate the matter themselves, make assumptions or offer alternative explanations for behaviours, or promise confidentiality to the alleged victim(s).

On receiving a reported concern, the case lead will proceed as follows:

The Education Act 2011 prohibits the publication of material that may lead to identifying a tutor who is the subject of an allegation. ‘Publication’ includes verbal conversations or writing, including content placed on social media sites. We will always comply with the provisions of the Act.

Managing Allegations

Upon receiving an allegation or concern about a tutor, the case manager will immediately discuss the allegation with the LADO. The purpose of an initial discussion is for the LADO and the case manager to consider the allegation’s nature, content and context and agree on a course of action.

In the process of this liaison, the case manager and LADO will:

Decisions about the course of action are taken on a case-by-case basis, bearing in mind the paramount importance of the safety of any learner(s) involved but also remembering that tutors, against whom an allegation has been made, has the right to remain anonymous and to expect any allegations to be investigated as expeditiously as possible.

Any course of action is subject to a risk assessment. Decisions would also follow the guidance of the LADO and/or police. Suppose the parties involved in these discussions consider it necessary. In that case, a Strategy Meeting is arranged, usually by Social Services, which will include representatives from the LADO, the police and the provider (e.g., the Principal, DSL or Chair of Management Board, as appropriate).

From the above discussions, there are three possible courses of action:

The following definitions will be used when determining the outcome of allegation investigations:

If Social Services and the police decide to take no action, we will still need to consider what further investigation is necessary. If there is a case to answer, a disciplinary hearing will be called, which could lead to dismissal.

Where a criminal investigation has taken place and either (i) a trial has resulted, (ii) the investigation has been closed without charge, or (iii) a decision has been taken not to prosecute a case after charge, the case manager will discuss with the LADO what, if any, further action is required as regards the tutors concerned and the sharing of information obtained by the agencies involved in assisting any further action to be taken by us.

Where a disciplinary investigation is required, the study should be conducted by our disciplinary procedure. ‘Settlement agreements’ (by which contract a person agrees to resign, we decide not to pursue disciplinary action, and both parties.

Agree on a form of words to be used in any future reference), will not be used in these cases.

Supporting those involved

Every effort will be made to maintain confidentiality and guard against publicity while an allegation is being investigated or considered. Apart from keeping the learner(s), appropriate external parties and the person about whom the allegation has been made (in cases when this would not place the learner at further risk) up to date with the progress of the case, information should be restricted to those who need to know to protect learners, facilitate enquiries or manage related disciplinary processes. As a tutor, we have a duty of care towards our tutors. District Tuition will ensure adequate support for anyone facing an allegation and provide a named contact if they are suspended.

Social contact with colleagues will only be prevented if evidence suggests that it is likely prejudicial to the gathering and presenting of evidence. The deliberations of a disciplinary hearing, and the information taken into account in reaching a decision, cannot normally be disclosed, but relevant parties will be told the outcome.

Action upon conclusion of a case

We will refer to the DBS (following consultation with the LADO) any person who has been removed from working (paid or unpaid) in regulated activity or would or might have been so removed had he/she/they not resigned or left his/her/their own accord. This is because it believes the person may have harmed, attempted to break, incited another to damage or put a learner at risk of harm or if there is reason to believe the person may have committed one of several offences listed under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups.

Act (Prescribed Criteria and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009. ‘Removal from working’ for these purposes will include dismissal, non-renewal of a fixed term contract, no longer using a supply teacher engaged directly or supplied by an agency, terminating the placement of a trainee or volunteer, no longer using tutors employed by a contractor and resignation or voluntary withdrawal from any of the above.

In cases where it is decided on the conclusion of the possibility that a person who has been suspended can return to work, we will consider how best to facilitate this. We appreciate that most people would benefit from help and support when returning to work after a stressful experience. Depending on the individual’s circumstances, a phased return and providing a mentor to aid and support in the short term may be appropriate. We will also consider how the person’s contact with the learners who made the allegation can best be managed if they still attend the educational provision.

Suppose an allegation is determined to be false. In that case, the manager may refer the matter to Children’s Services to determine whether the learner needs services or may have been abused by someone else. On the other hand, suppose an allegation is shown to have been deliberately invented or malicious. In that case, District Tuition will inform the leading education provider, who can consider whether any disciplinary action is appropriate against the learner who made it.

A referral will be made to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) via the GOV.UK website where a teacher has been dismissed (or might have been dismissed had they not resigned), and a prohibition order may be appropriate. The reasons such an order would be considered are ‘unacceptable professional conduct’, ‘conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute’ or a ‘conviction, at any time, for a relevant offence’.

Records

A central record of all allegations and concerns (and related documents) against tutors will be kept securely, separate from regular tutors’ and learners’ records, and with access limited to the DSL and DDSL, as well as District Tuition Human Resources representatives and officers who may be critical workers for cases.

The only exception to this requirement for permanent recording is where allegations are malicious. In such cases, all records will be removed from the tutor’s personnel files.

The record of allegations may clarify cases where a future DBS disclosure reveals information from the police about an allegation that did not result in a criminal conviction. It will also help to prevent unnecessary re-investigation if, as occasionally happens, an allegation resurfaces after a period. The record will be retained until the tutors involved have reached the average retirement age or for ten years from the allegation date if that is longer. An allegation proven false, unsubstantiated or malicious will not be included in references for tutors. However, where there have been concerns about a tutor, and they leave us to work elsewhere, the District Tuition Global Director of Safeguarding will consider passing the references to the new employer or authority. If applicable, we will pass on allegations or concerns affecting a learner to their next provider.

Learner Code of Conduct

We expect that all learners are responsible for their behaviour. We expect all learners to participate positively in their educational provision and gain from experience. All learners are expected to:

Learners should always access their educational provision in a way that shows consideration and respect. Using obscene, profane, threatening, or disrespectful language is unacceptable. These behaviours will result in sanctions, and where appropriate, Safeguarding procedures will be initiated:

Tutors Code of Conduct

We expect that all tutors are responsible for their behaviour. We hope that all tutors will always model professional behaviours. The safeguarding of Learners is paramount and takes precedence over all other considerations. All tutors are expected to:

Although this Code of Conduct gives advice and instruction on dealing with specific situations, it should differ from professional common sense and good judgement. In all matters relating to learners/tutors relationships, tutors must consider how a third party might reasonably regard an action.

Accessing, Storing, and Retaining Learner Protection Records

Child protection records refer to concerns about a learner’s safety and welfare and possible risks posed by people working with learners, young people, and vulnerable adults. These documents will be stored separately from a learner, young person and vulnerable adults’ public documents and will be up to-date and relevant to the purpose for which they are held. These will only be kept for as long as necessary and destroyed when they are no longer relevant.

The files will only be accessed by those involved in the safeguarding procedures of the organisation. However, they will be made available to safeguarding agencies/the Police and the Designated Safeguarding Lead if necessary. In England, Scotland and Wales, the file should be kept for seven years or until the learner is 25 (this is seven years after they reach the provider leaving age) (Information and Records Management Society (IRMS), 2019).

In Northern Ireland, the government recommends keeping learner protection files until the learner’s 30th birthday (Department of Education, 2016).

If concerns have been raised about an adult’s behaviour around learners, the general rule is that we keep the records in their personnel file at least until they reach their average retirement age or for ten years. We keep records simultaneously, regardless of whether the allegations were unfounded. However, if the allegations are malicious, we destroy the form immediately.

Training and Development

We consider Safeguarding training essential for ensuring all Learners are protected. As such, all tutors will:

Designated Safeguarding Leads must complete the additional training below:

Recruiting managers

Organisational Structure and Governance

We have the following roles and responsibilities regarding Safeguarding: All tutors must:

The Designated Safeguarding Lead must:

In addition to the above, all tutors can consult with District Tuition’s Safeguarding Leader and District Tuition’s UK Safeguarding Manager regarding any issue of Safeguarding.