Safer Recruitment Policies and References in Early Years
The Department for Education (DfE) recently wrapped up its consultation on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) safeguarding reforms. With the big changes in government funding from September 2024, the demand for more childcare places and staff is growing at an incredible rate.
To keep up with this growth while maintaining high-quality care and safety for children, the government is taking action. Their priority is clear: expanding early years provision while ensuring children remain safe and well cared for.
The DfE is always reviewing and refining safeguarding requirements to make sure they’re as strong as possible. This latest consultation focused on strengthening EYFS safeguarding policies, and providers across the sector were invited to share their views.
What were the proposed safeguarding changes?
The proposals were shaped by conversations with providers, health professionals, and safeguarding experts, as well as lessons learned from past incidents. Here’s a breakdown of the key areas they covered:
- Safer recruitment: new rules requiring settings to obtain references before hiring staff and ensuring safeguarding policies include clear procedures for vetting candidates.
- Attendance monitoring: a requirement for providers to follow up if a child is absent for a long period and to keep extra emergency contact details on file.
- Safer eating practices: introducing new procedures to ensure mealtime safety.
- Safeguarding training: a new annex outlining training criteria, plus a requirement for settings to document how training is delivered and how staff are supported in applying it.
- First aid training for trainees: making sure early years students and trainees have paediatric first aid (PFA) training so they can be included in staff ratios at the level below their qualification.
- Privacy considerations: ensuring children’s dignity during nappy changing and toileting, while keeping safeguarding top of mind.
- Other small clarifications: minor tweaks to improve the clarity of safeguarding policies.
The consultation ran for eight weeks (22nd of April – 17th of June 2024), and the feedback gathered will help shape the future of safeguarding in early years settings.
What’s changing in safer recruitment?
One of the biggest takeaways from the consultation is the new expectation that settings must obtain references before employing new staff. This aims to support early years settings in making well-informed, safer hiring decisions.
But, why does this matter?
When parents leave their children in an early years setting, they trust the staff to keep them safe and provide quality care. Recruitment plays a huge role in this.
Currently, the EYFS requires criminal record and suitability checks through Ofsted and Childminder Agencies. However, there has been no specific requirement to collect references before hiring or to outline safer recruitment procedures in safeguarding policies. The consultation sought to change that, ensuring every provider follows a robust and consistent process when hiring new staff.
The response from the sector was overwhelmingly positive. Most agreed that requiring references will improve safety and align with what many settings already do. Many also felt that this change would help them find and employ the best candidates.
To address concerns about delays in recruitment, the government has adjusted its stance slightly: settings won’t have to collect references before interviews, but they must have them before employment begins. This creates a balance between ensuring safe recruitment and avoiding unnecessary hiring delays.
What does this mean for nursery managers?
If you’re responsible for recruitment in your setting, it’s time to review your hiring processes and policies. Here are some key steps you can take:
- Update your safeguarding policy: ensure it includes clear procedures for obtaining references and vetting new staff.
- Plan ahead: since references must now be secured before a new hire starts, factor this into your hiring timelines.
- Standardise reference requests: have a template ready to ensure you’re gathering consistent and meaningful information.
- Be clear with candidates: let potential hires know early on that references will be required before they can start work.
- Work collaboratively: if a reference is delayed, communicate with the previous employer to avoid unnecessary hold-ups.
Safer recruitment is about more than just ticking boxes—it’s about creating a strong, reliable team that families can trust. Please let us know how you plan to recruit and gather references moving forward by emailing us at marketing@connectchildcare.com. We’d love to showcase real-life examples in our blog!
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About the Author
Content Marketing Executive at Connect Childcare