RecruitSafe is purpose-built to help schools, trusts, and education settings meet the safer recruitment requirements set out in Part 3 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) statutory guidance.
Built for Compliance, Designed for Simplicity — Every feature in RecruitSafe maps directly to a KCSiE requirement. Rather than retrofitting compliance onto a generic HR tool, we built each workflow from the ground up around the statutory guidance — so your team can focus on safeguarding, not paperwork.
Statutory Requirement: Schools must obtain an enhanced DBS certificate, including barred list information, for anyone working in regulated activity with children (Part 3, paras 247-254).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Full DBS tracking with certificate number, issue date, status management, and barred list confirmation. The system tracks completion across all candidates and flags outstanding checks in the Case Assistant.
Statutory Requirement: References should be obtained before interview where possible. At least two references must be taken, one of which should be from the candidate's current or most recent employer (Part 3, paras 224-228).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Unlimited dynamic references per candidate with a minimum of two enforced. Each reference tracks contact details, verification status, and supporting documents. Reference 1 is labelled as the most recent employer to guide users.
Statutory Requirement: Schools should carry out an online search as part of their due diligence on shortlisted candidates. This is a mandatory step introduced to identify any incidents or issues that have happened and are publicly available online (Part 3, para 221).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Dedicated online search section with confirmation checkbox, verified-by tracking, notes for recording findings, and automatic compliance checklist integration. The Case Assistant prompts users when this step is outstanding.
Statutory Requirement: Schools must verify a candidate's right to work in the UK before employment begins. Documentation requirements vary by nationality and immigration status (Part 3, paras 255-257).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Intelligent right-to-work workflow with three conditional paths based on nationality status: UK/Irish citizens (passport verification), birth certificate + National Insurance route, and share code verification for settled/pre-settled status holders. Document upload and date-seen tracking included.
Statutory Requirement: Schools must verify that candidates have the qualifications claimed, particularly where these are a legal requirement for the role — for example, QTS (Part 3, para 260).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Qualification verification with evidence document uploads, each requiring a description. The system tracks verification status and integrates with the compliance checklist automatically.
Statutory Requirement: Schools must check whether a candidate is subject to a prohibition order issued by the Secretary of State, preventing them from carrying out teaching work (Part 3, paras 261-263).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Prohibition check tracking with date performed, outcome recording (No Match / Match Found), notes, and evidence upload. Results feed directly into the compliance checklist and SCR.
Statutory Requirement: For management positions, schools must check whether a candidate is subject to a section 128 direction barring them from taking part in the management of an independent school (Part 3, para 264).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Section 128 check with status options (Does Not Appear / Appears / Not Applicable), notes field, and a direct link to the GOV.UK Teacher Services portal for performing the check.
Statutory Requirement: For candidates who have lived or worked outside the UK, schools should make further checks as they consider appropriate. This includes obtaining a certificate of good conduct or equivalent from the relevant country (Part 3, paras 265-268).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Overseas check section with required/not required toggle, date tracking, notes, evidence upload, and built-in guidance on obtaining overseas criminal record checks.
Statutory Requirement: At least one person on any appointment panel must have completed safer recruitment training. This is a statutory requirement for schools (Part 3, paras 212-213).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Staff member management with per-person safer recruitment training status, SRT certificate uploads with expiry date tracking and visual warnings for expiring certificates. Training status is shown on shortlisting and interview panels, and auto-checks the compliance checklist.
Statutory Requirement: Shortlisted candidates should be asked to complete a self-declaration of their criminal record or information that would make them unsuitable to work with children, prior to interview (Part 3, para 220).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Self-declaration tracking integrated into the candidate workflow with completion status feeding into the compliance checklist automatically.
Statutory Requirement: Schools must maintain a single central record of pre-appointment and identity checks on all staff. The record must cover all required checks and confirm when they were completed (Part 3, paras 274-280).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: A live, always-current Single Central Record with active and archived tabs. Visual tick/cross indicators for every check category, detailed drill-down dialogs showing evidence and audit attribution, pre-appointee visibility toggle, and one-click CSV export for inspections.
Statutory Requirement: Schools should maintain records of all recruitment decisions and the evidence behind them. Data should be retained in accordance with data protection legislation and statutory guidance.
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Comprehensive audit logging tracks every action by every user across the system — from check updates to document uploads to hiring decisions. Per-candidate audit trails, configurable retention periods by recruitment stage, and Subject Access Request (SAR) export that generates a complete ZIP file with PDF report and all evidence documents.
Statutory Requirement: Job advertisements and application packs should include a safeguarding commitment, state that the role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and set out the safeguarding responsibilities of the role (Part 3, paras 214-215).
How RecruitSafe Delivers: Job post management with advert compliance confirmation, document links for job adverts and person specifications, and automatic compliance checklist integration. The system ensures application forms are used rather than CVs alone, in line with safer recruitment best practice.
RecruitSafe covers every pre-appointment check required by Part 3 of KCSiE, bringing them together in a single platform with a 13-point compliance checklist that auto-populates based on actual check data — not manual tick boxes. Combined with the digital Case Assistant that guides users through outstanding actions, your recruitment team can be confident that nothing is missed.