Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022: Online searches for shortlisted candidates

• One area of the KCSIE 2022 guidance that is raising questions is the new requirement that “as part of the shortlisting process schools and colleges should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on the shortlisted candidates.”  The reason being that this may “help identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which the school or college might want to explore with the applicant at interview”.   

• Essentially, is there anything that would make the candidate unsuitable to work with children?

What is the extent of this duty?

• It is not a legal requirement that “must” be done. The Guidance only says that you “should consider” doing this. This means that you should consider doing it, unless there is good reason not to. So, for example, you could “consider” doing it, but choose to search just the preferred candidate, rather than all shortlisted candidates, provided you have a good reason to do so. You should record such reasons (e.g., cost and/or time) in case, for example, Ofsted wanted to check you have properly considered this.

Is it worth carrying them out?

• Overall, the checks are helpful, as they are designed to ensure the candidate’s suitability to work with children and can also ensure that there are no issues that could cause reputational damage. So, it is recommended to carry them out at least on the preferred candidate, and preferably on the other shortlisted candidates unless you decide, with good reason, not to.

• The checks may help identify relevant information such as extremist views, violence, discriminatory or offensive behaviour, inappropriate photos, or drug/alcohol misuse that your recruitment panel will want to know about.

• You will need to add details of this step into any recruitment policy and checklist that you have.

Should social media be searched?

• Yes, as well as a more general Google search, it is recommended to search back a few years on the main social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

• However, checks do need to be put in place to minimise the risk of bias or discrimination as between, for example, those candidates who may have little online presence (yet may still have, for example, extremist views) and those who have a high online/social media presence, who have their lives on display, and who may, for example, have a protected characteristic.

How should we reduce the risk of bias or discrimination?

• You should either ensure that an internal person unconnected with the recruitment process undertakes the searches or use an external provider. This independent person can ensure that only a report of relevant information is passed to the recruitment panel.

• For an internal person, this person would need training to ensure they can identify relevant information and produce a useful report in a consistent format as between candidates.

What should we be telling candidates?

• Recruitment information will need updating to inform candidates that checks will be carried out, and that they may be asked to comment on any concerns at interview. You could consider asking for candidates’ social media handles to enable an easier search.

• If only the preferred candidate is to be searched, then a further discussion/interview may need to be undertaken with them, should anything concerning be found. If this led to an offer being withdrawn, this could delay the recruitment process, as checks would then need to be made on the next candidate. While this may be an unlikely scenario, you may wish to avoid this risk by checking all shortlisted candidates. This may be feasible if an external provider can be found to do the checks at a reasonable cost if it is too time-consuming to do it in-house.

How can Just People help?

• While this article is designed as a starting point, we can provide you with additional guidance and assistance to enable you fulfil your duties as necessary and can help you with any more detailed individual queries you may have on this issue.