DBS Policy Statement v0.3 200921

DBS POLICY STATEMENT SIGN SOLUTIONS POLICY ON THE RECRUITMENT OF EX-OFFENDERS Sign Solutions is an organisation using the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) to assess L a n g u a g e S e r v i c e P r o f e s s i o n a l s ’ ( “LSP”) s u i t a b i l i t y f o r t h e undertaking of interpreting assignments. As such, Sign Solutions complies fully with the DBS code of practice and undertakes to treat all applicants for positions of trust fairly. It undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a Disclosure on the basis of a conviction or other information revealed. Sign Solutions is committed to the fair treatment of its staff, potential staff or users of its services, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, responsibilities for dependents, age, physical/mental disability or offending background. As such, we undertake not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a Disclosure on the basis of a conviction or other information revealed. Sign Solutions’ complies fully with the DBS Code of Practice and undertakes to treat all LSPs fairly. We actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential and welcome applications from a wide range of candidates, including those with criminal records. We select all candidates based on their skills, qualifications and experience; having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This will depend on the nature and background of your offence(s). We undertake not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a Disclosure on the basis of a con v iction or other i n f orma tio n re veale d . We gua ran tee th a t a l l information derived from DBS Disclosure will only be seen by those Sign Solutions’ Senior Managers who need to see it and such personnel will have been suitably trained to identify and assess the relevance and circumstances of offences. We also ensure that they have received appropriate guidance in the relevant legislation relating to the employment of ex-offenders, e.g. the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. We will only seek a Disclosure after a thorough risk assessment has indicated that one is both proportionate and relevant to the position concerned; all Language V0.3 20/09/21

DBS POLICY STATEMENT SIGN SOLUTIONS POLICY ON THE RECRUITMENT OF EX-OFFENDERS Service Professional roles require an Enhanced DBS Disclosure. For these positions, all application forms, job adverts and recruitment briefs will contain a statement that a Disclosure will be requested in the event of the individual being offered the position. Where a Disclosure forms part of the recruitment process, we encourage all applicants called for interview to provide details of their criminal record at an early stage in the application process. We request that this information is sent to the person within Sign Solutions conducting the recruitment process and we guarantee that this information will only be seen by those who need to see it as part of the recruitment process. As LSP roles allow Sign Solutions to ask questions about your entire criminal record, we will ask about spent/unspent convictions as defined in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. We ensure that all those in Sign Solutions who are involved in the recruitment process have been suitably trained to identify and assess the relevance and circumstance of the offences. We also ensure that they have received appropriate guidance and training in the relevant legislation relating to the employment of ex- offenders, e.g. the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. We will ensure that an open and measured discussion takes place on the subject of any offences or other matter that might be relevant to the LSP position applied for, which could lead to withdrawal of an offer of employment. We make every subject of a DBS Disclosure aware of existence of the DBS Code of Practice and make a copy available on request. We undertake to discuss any matter revealed in a Disclosure with the person seeking the position before withdrawing a conditional offer of employment. Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This depends on the nature of the position and background of your offences. Actions taken to process DBS checks: V0.3 20/09/21

DBS POLICY STATEMENT SIGN SOLUTIONS POLICY ON THE RECRUITMENT OF EX-OFFENDERS When we register our staff and freelance staff on our portal and contract specific databases, we request to see a current DBS dated within the last 3 years. When this is received it is checked, verified and recorded on our Interpreter Intelligence portal and a notify date is entered, which is set for 12 months’ time, so reviews can take place annually. We request an Enhanced DBS for all our Healthcare Contracts. Three months before the notify date/expiry date of the DBS, our Interpreter Intelligence system emails our Bookings team that the interpreters DBS is due to expire on a set date. The Booking Administrator will contact the interpreter to request their current DBS, once this has been checked and received we update our records. For those on the DBS update service we will check this to ensure it remains current and update our database. If the interpreter does not provide a new DBS their eligibility criteria becomes inactive on our database which prevents our bookings team assigning the interpreter to any future bookings until their records have been checked and updated. We offer to renew interpreters DBS, if they wish to use our agency to process this, we use uCheck to process these on behalf of our interpreters. Once the DBS has been returned we update our Interpreter Intelligence portal. Actions taken if the DBS check reveals Criminal Convictions: On receipt of the DBS, if any criminal convictions are detailed, we will invite the Interpreter to an initial discussion, whereby we can better understand the nature of the conviction, the reasons that it occurred etc. We will gather as much information as we need to make an informed further assessment about their suitability to work with us as an Interpreter. We will then use this information to answer the following detailed risk assessment questions: · Is the offence relevant to the specific role? · Are we satisfied with the explanation of the circumstances of the offence? · How serious do you consider the offence to be? Major | Moderate | Minor V0.3 20/09/21

DBS POLICY STATEMENT SIGN SOLUTIONS POLICY ON THE RECRUITMENT OF EX-OFFENDERS · Have the circumstances that contributed to the individual committing the offence changed for the better? · Do the responsibilities involved in the role link closely to the applicant’s offending background? · Do the responsibilities involved in the role present any opportunities for the individual to re-offend? Trained and authorised personnel will then fairly assess to level of risk with regards to the information and answers provided, and seek guidance from senior management as required. The Interpreter will then be advised of the outcome regarding engagement as an Interpreter and given full feedback as to why the decision has been made. They have the right to appeal to senior management. Interpreters who we choose not to engage and work with will be removed from all the systems and their DBS destroyed securely. Interpreters who we choose to work with will have their certificate numbers and expiry filed electronically on their portal profile with us and will be checked/reviewed annually via reference to the barred list or the DBS online checker tool. How do we ensure and maintain annual checks of Interpreters: Our online portal automatically reminds us of any expiring criteria such as DBS. The Interpreter will also receive an email reminder of the same approaching expiry date. In the case of a DBS, we will check annually against the DBS update service or if the Interpreter is not registered with the online service we will instead check against the barred list. Any Interpreter with failing criteria will be marked as DO NOT USE and RED on the system with a RED exclamation mark and they cannot be physically allocated to bookings with this status. They will also be removed from all future assignments until they have produced evidence of renewal/re-accreditation. All vetted and accredited, ready to utilise interpreters will be marked as a Thumbs up symbol on the portal. V0.3 20/09/21

DBS POLICY STATEMENT SIGN SOLUTIONS POLICY ON THE RECRUITMENT OF EX- OFFENDERS V0.3 20/09/21