Pillar Kincardine Policy  -   Recruitment of Ex-Offenders   -  Revised version adopted 24 April 2011

Recruitment of Ex-Offenders

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that consistent and fair practices are implemented for the recruitment of staff or volunteers who have a criminal record to paid/unpaid posts with Vulnerable Groups within Pillar Kincardine

Pillar Kincardine undertakes to treat all applicants for positions within the organisation fairly and not to discriminate unfairly against the subject of disclosure on the basis of conviction information revealed.  Having a criminal record will not necessarily debar an individual from working/volunteering in positions with Vulnerable Groups within the organisation.  Only convictions or conviction information that is deemed relevant to the position applied for will result in the applicant not being granted the position.

This organisation will implement a fair recruitment policy that ensures individuals have the opportunity to disclose any convictions or conviction information in a way that allows for a clear risk assessment to be carried out.  This will determine whether or not the conviction or conviction information is relevant to the position applied for by taking account of:

• the seriousness of the offence revealed
• the length of time since the offence took place
• whether the applicant has a pattern of offending behaviour
• whether the applicant’s circumstances have changed since the offence took place.

To ensure the correct applicant is appointed and to enable Pillar Kincardine to determine the relevance of any convictions or conviction to positions applied for, Pillar Kincardine will use the following recruitment tools:

• Application Form
• Self Declaration Form
• References
• Interviews
• Disclosure Certificate

As part of Pillar Kincardine's recruitment policy, we shall request the appropriate level of disclosure certificate at the final part of the recruitment stage, when a position has been offered.  Enhanced disclosures will only be sought for positions that are deemed exempted posts.  An exempted post is one, which is detailed in the Exclusions and Exceptions (Scotland) Order 2003.  Where a position requires an Enhanced disclosure we will make this clear on the information provided about the post.

Should the organisation decide that the information disclosed is relevant to the post applied for, the applicant will be deemed to be unsuccessful and this information will be fed back to the applicant by letter.

Note: This policy should be read in conjunction with our policy on Disclosure Protection.

Pillar Kincardine Policy  -   Recruitment of Ex-Offenders   -  Revised version adopted 24 April 2011