The single central record (sometimes called the SCR) is a key requirement for all schools and colleges.It plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of your students. You must record all DBS checks, qualifications, and other essential staff information in your single central record.

In this post, we'll cover:

• What is a single central record?
• The key legislation behind the single central record
• The importance of the single central record
• What to record on the single central record
• Who to include on your single central record
• Who not to include on your single central record
• Tips for managing your single central record
• Single central record tracker software

What is a Single Central Record?

The single central record is a record of all the recruitment, identity, and vetting checks conducted on your staff. This includes teachers, support staff, volunteers, Governors, and anyone else who has access to children.

There isn’t a mandated format that the single central record must follow. Traditionally, schools have used spreadsheets to maintain their single central record.

Increasingly, schools are turning toward software solutions to more effectively manage their Single Central Record. As the range of checks has increased and there is now a requirement to maintain an audit trail on the staff who carried out those checks.

The Key Legislation Behind the Single Central Record

There are a range of legal frameworks and regulations that schools and colleges must follow. These include:

• Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) – DfE Statutory Guidance
• The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014
• The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

It is best practice to read over the ones that are relevant to your school in order to ensure you're fully compliant.

The Importance of the Single Central Record

Child Safeguarding

The Single Central Record is a key tool in safeguarding children and young people in your school. The SCR acts as the first line of defence as it is the central record where you will record all identify and vetting checks. It should be quick and easy to spot gaps in your record keeping for this reason.

Legal Compliance and Accountability

Schools and colleges are legally required to maintain a Single Central Record. If you are a Multi-Academy Trust, KCSIE legislation recommends that you support your Academies to maintain compliance.

Ofsted Requirements

Ofsted are responsible for reviewing school Single Central Records. One of the first things they will audit when they visit your school is the SCR. As safeguarding is a key focus for Ofsted, failing to maintain your SCR is a serious issue. Ofsted have the power to grade a school inadequate solely on Single Central Record failures.

Quick Reference

Your Single Central Record will help you verify that all required staff checks have been carried out.

What to record on the Single Central Record

The Single Central Record acts as a record for a range of essential vetting and personnel checks. It must include:

• 1. Identity Checks

  • Purpose: To ensure that the person is who they say they are.

  • Importance: Verifying true identities ensures that individuals cannot bypass the vetting system using false identification.

  A valid passport or driver's license is required for an identify check. This should be presented in-person by an applicant. The school should take a photo or digital copy of this. It is also best practice to verify the applicant's address.

• 2. Qualification Checks

  • Purpose: o validate that the person holds the required qualifications for the job. This includes Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a Teacher Reference Number (TRN).

  • Importance: In state funded schools, it is a legal requirement for teachers to hold a relevant qualification.

• 3. Enhanced DBS Checks

  • Purpose: To uncover any cautions, warnings, reprimands, and relevant information from police records, beyond just convictions.

  • Importance: The Police Act 1997 mandates Enhanced DBS checks for roles involving unsupervised and regular contact with children.

• 4. Barred List Checks

  • Purpose: To verify that the person isn't on the Children's Barred List, preventing them from working with children.

  • Importance: This check originates from the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

  The Children's Barred List was previously known as List 99.

• 5. Prohibition Checks

  • Purpose: This is to verify that the person hasn't been banned from teaching.

  • Importance: The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) maintains a database of individuals barred from teaching.

• 6. Section 128 Checks

  The Section 128 Check applies to school leadership positions, governors, and trustees.

  • Purpose: To verify that the person hasn't been barred from school management roles.

  • Importance: Section 128 (Education and Skills Act 2008) grants the Secretary of State the power to ban an individual from school management. There are a variety of reasons this may occur and this ban will not show up on an Enhanced DBS check. That is why it's vital to always complete a Section 128 check for management and governance applicants.

• 7. Right to Work Checks

  • Purpose: To verify that the person has the legal right to work in the UK through documentation such as their passport or visa.

  • Importance: It is a universally required check for all UK employers (Immigration, Asylum, and Nationality Act 2006).

• 8. Overseas Checks

  This is only required when a person has worked abroad.

  • Purpose: To verify that the person has no foreign convictions or teaching prohibitions.

  • Importance: The applicant is should provide you with a Certificate of Good Character. This is an official document from their country of residence to prove they have no convictions. The format varies by country. The UK Government website has further guidance on this.

Who to Include on your Single Central Record

Teaching Staff

You must include every member of your teaching staff on the SCR. This means all teachers and school leadership.

Support Staff

These are the non-teaching staff members who work within the school or college. It encompasses roles like teaching assistants, librarians, lab technicians, counsellors, and administrative staff.

Supply Staff

You must record supply teachers and temporary teaching staff on your Single Central Record. What you record is dependent on who employs the supply teacher. When supply teachers are employed by the school, they should be treated as Teaching Staff on the SCR.

When supply teachers are employed by an agency, you must obtain written confirmation from the agency that necessary checks have been carried out. This includes their identify checks, teaching qualifications and enhanced DBS.

Trainee / Student Teachers

When trainee teachers are salaried by the school they should be recorded on the Single Central Record.

When trainees are on placement (and not paid by the school) you should obtain written confirmation from the training provider. This should state that the necessary checks have been carried out.

Governors / Trustees

In academies and free schools, it's a requirement to include members of your governing body on your SCR. This is not the case for maintained schools and has caused confusion.

Failing to add governors to the Single Central Record is one of the most common mistakes that academies and free schools make.

Academies and free schools have greater financial freedom than maintained schools. Governors must be added to the SCR in order to evidence that robust vetting has taken place.

Contractors and Third-party Employees

If contractors or third-party employees will have regular contact with students, they should be included on your SCR.

This typically covers roles like bus drivers, catering staff, and maintenance workers. It's crucial to get written assurances from third-party companies that their staff have undergone appropriate checks.

Whether or not to add contractors to the single central record causes confusion for many schools. Schools sometimes maintain a separate log for these individuals. However, if in doubt, it is best to record the contractor in your Single Central Record.

Who not to include on your Single Central Record

In essence, the single central record's primary focus is on individuals who have regular, potentially unsupervised access to students. There are 2 groups of visitors that can cause confusion:

Casual Visitors

Individuals such as guest speakers, workshop facilitators, and parents don't need to be added to the single central record. The exception to this is if they have unsupervised access to students.

One-off Contractors

Contractors who visit the school on a short term basis do not need to be added to the single central record. The exception to this is if they have unsupervised access to students but this should not be the case.

Tips for Managing your Single Central Record

Here are 6 tips to help you keep your single central record in top condition:

• 1. Regular Updates

  The single central record acts as a live record of your school's compliance. Regularly update it to reflect any changes in staff or their circumstances.

• 2. Relevant Training

  Always ensure that the staff members responsible for managing your SCR have had up to date safeguarding training.

• 3. Team Effort

  The SCR is your first line of defence for a school and if only 1 person is responsible for the SCR, it creates risk. The SCR could end up neglected if that person suddenly leaves the school or is off sick. It is best practice to have multiple staff responsible for the SCR.

• 4. Secure Storage

  The SCR holds confidential and sensitive information and it must be securely protected. If you are using an online spreadsheet SCR tracker (such as Office 365 or Google Sheets), it's best practice to password protect the file. Access to your SCR tracker is best limited to only the staff members who need it. It's also worth considering how your SCR is backed up to ensure you always have a copy.

• 5. Regular Reviews

  Conduct regular reviews of your single central record to ensure accuracy and completeness. It's best practice to carry out a review at the end of each term. Your governing body should review your SCR at least 3 times per year to provide additional oversight.

• 6. Audit Trail

  It's becoming increasingly common to record the dates at which checks wherewere carried out and who they were carried out by. This ensures that you have a comprehensive audit trail should Ofsted request it.

Single Central Record Tracker Software

Schools are increasingly adopting software to improve how they manage their SCR. Let's look at the benefits this can bring to your school:

Streamlines compliance management

By ensuring that all mandatory data and checks are accurately maintained and easily accessible, single central record tracker software significantly improves compliance.

By automating updates and alerts, software reduces the administrative burden on staff and minimises the risk of human error.

Overall this makes it easier for schools to maintain a safe environment for students.

Saves time through automations

Single central record software typically allows you to order vetting checks through the platform. This helps automate the entry, collection, and verification of staff data.

In addition, SCR software can automatically undertake compliance audits, highlighting any issues the moment they occur.

Together this minimises many of the manual tasks involved in managing the SCR. This can free up significant time for staff to focus on other important duties.

Improves Reporting

SCR software has the ability to generate reports, making it easier to demonstrate compliance at a moment's notice.

This is particularly useful for reporting to governors and Ofsted.

Improves data security

Good quality single central record software should use advanced encryption and secure access protocols to bolster your data security. At School SCR we use 256-bit 'bank grade' encryption to do this.

It's best to look for software that can regularly back up your data to prevent loss in case of hardware failures or cyber attacks.

This comprehensive approach to data security helps schools safeguard personal and sensitive information. This maintains trust and compliance with data protection regulations such as the Data Protection Act 2018.

Inbuilt vetting checks

Having the ability to order DBS and personnel vetting checks from within your SCR tracker is a huge time saver.

This feature automates the verification of background checks, qualifications, and other critical data against official databases and records.

This not only speeds up the vetting process but also reinforces the accuracy and reliability of the vetting procedures.

More cost effective

Single central record tracker software can significantly reduce the administrative work associated with a manual SCR spreadsheet.

Automations, compliance reviews and inbuilt vetting checks can save hours for staff members every week.

Even though software comes at a price, the efficiencies you can gain make it a wise investment for any school.

Greater oversight for Multi-Academy Trusts

Maintaining compliance across multiple schools can be difficult when using manual SCR spreadsheets.

School SCR's unified MAT system allows trust staff to view all school data from a single dashboard. This facilitates consistent standards across the Trust making it easier to manage compliance.

With real-time data access and reporting features, MAT leaders can make informed decisions more quickly. This ensures that all academies adhere to the highest levels of safety and regulatory compliance.

Taking a centralised approach to Trust SCR management enhances transparency and accountability, making it easier to identify discrepancies and enforce compliance uniformly.

Continual explore ways to improve safeguarding at your school

School safeguarding is an ever-evolving area and what's considered best practice changes with each passing year.

As school staff find themselves stretched, mistakes are more likely to occur. The complexity of vetting checks is increasing. Audit trails are becoming more commonplace. Multi-Academy Trusts require additional reports.

It is possible to get by relying on a manual SCR spreadsheet but it is getting harder. Your single central record is your first line of defence in your school safeguarding toolkit.

Exploring how single central record tracker software can improve your existing practices is something every school should be encouraged to do.