Category: DBS News and Advice

Concerns around safeguarding surfaced recently after it was revealed that someone who had served 15 months in prison for possessing images of child sex abuse was appointed Chair of Pride in Wiltshire. Swindon and Wiltshire Pride, a registered charity, has been criticised by the Charity Commission, and asked to re-evaluate their safeguarding and recruitment policies.

Despite extensive vetting carried out when they were recruited, two men working at a care home have been jailed for theft. The two men stole several valuable items including an OBE medal and jewellery from patients at a home in Reading in Berkshire. The exact number of thefts is unknown, with police indicating that at least ten elderly people had been victims of the pair.

Recent cyber attacks on organisations as diverse as the NHS and EasyJet have shown just how vulnerable businesses are to attacks from organised hackers. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that companies across the world have been ploughing money into addressing the external threat. However, new research appears to prove that perhaps this investment is misguided, and that a greater threat is posed by the company’s own workers and management.

Lockdown hasn’t just affected those of us who have legal occupations. Police in the South-West of England have highlighted that the drugs trade has been affected too, with drug dealers having to become increasingly creative to move illegal drugs around and get them to users. Police in Plymouth tweeted a photograph of an evidence sack of envelopes, all addressed to individuals around the city who had ordered their illegal drugs to be delivered through the post, at a time where social distancing means that visiting people at home or meeting in the street attracts far more attention. The Police also pointed out that the penalties for receiving drugs in this way are exactly the same for being caught possessing drugs under other circumstances.

At the start of the Covid19 pandemic, there was endless press coverage about the army of volunteers who were stepping up to help the NHS. The idea was that they would carry out routine tasks, freeing up doctors, nurses and other health professionals to deal with patients. However, as restrictions begin to ease, all indications are that in pharmacies, volunteers have not been having the impact initially hoped for.

The launch of a new recruitment platform is set to revolutionise the way workers are recruited for key social care roles. The online platform is a joint venture between the UK government and a care recruitment portal and is called Join Social Care. Candidates interested in working in this field can register with the site, upload all of their information into the system and even upload a video interview which can be accessed by potential employees. The platform is also supported by Skills for Care and allows carers to access free training online to increase their chances of landing a job quickly.

A recent inspection of a care home in the north east of England saw the facility branded “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission. The inspection, which took place before the current coronavirus pandemic, highlighted several serious failings at Burbank Mews care home in Hartlepool. The facility cares for adults with learning disabilities and autism and was previously rated as a “good” in a previous inspection.

There are around 2,600 independent schools in the UK, providing education for 615,000 children. The sector is however coming under increasing financial pressure, partly due to schools closing through the Covid19 pandemic, and partly down to changes in government rules around tax breaks and charitable status for private schooling. One way of keeping revenue flowing could be widening access to sporting facilities, but this might not be as straightforward as it sounds.

Details are still beginning to emerge about the ongoing economic impact of the coronavirus. Despite the government’s furlough scheme providing a basic income for many, thousands of others have found that they don’t qualify for government support. It’s perhaps therefore no surprise that food banks in some parts of London are reporting that traffic through their doors has tripled since the start of the Covid19 outbreak.

As the UK starts to emerge from the coronavirus lockdown, focus is being directed towards the government’s strategy to test people to see who has the virus, and then track who they’ve been in contact with. A smartphone app will help with this process in some areas. In other parts of the UK, the system depends on contact tracers, whose job it is to speak to or email people who might be at risk. There’s a huge recruitment drive to get as many people as possible trained up. Here’s what you need to know if you think you’d be good at the job.