Guidance notes for leaders
Thank you so much for applying to be a volunteer on a CPAS Venture or Falcon holiday.
The information that you have entered on your online leader application is strictly confidential and, except under compulsion of law, will only be seen by relevant Overall Leaders, CPAS staff or trustees. The information provided will be used for recruitment decisions and to enable CPAS to demonstrate commitment to safeguarding children, as part of the Safeguarding Policy of CPAS. That policy is based on guidelines from the Church of England, the Home Office and thirtyone:eight (our Safeguarding Consultant).
Self-declarations
In the application process you will be asked to make declarations concerning any history of concerns about your involvement with children, and any cautions or convictions you may have. If you answer 'yes' to any of these questions, you will be asked to give details in the box provided. We will follow these up with you as appropriate.
Because of the nature of the work for which you are applying, this position is exempt from the provision of section 4(ii) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exemptions Order 1975, as amended), and you are not entitled to withhold information about convictions which for other purposes are 'spent' under the provisions of the Act, except if they are ‘protected’ such as spent youth reprimands, warnings and cautions. You must therefore declare all convictions whenever they occurred, except those that are ‘protected’. In the event of appointment, any failure to disclose such convictions could result in the withdrawal of approval to work with children and/or young people on a Venture or Falcon holiday. Please see the DBS filtering guide for more information about what will appear on your DBS.
DBS check
As your post may involve substantial, unsupervised contact with children, you will also be asked for a police check before the position can be confirmed. You will be asked to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure through the Disclosure and Barring Service with child barred list check. If we already have a record of a DBS check for you from a previous year, we will normally treat that as valid for a period of three years from the date of its issue. If you need a new check, we will contact you.
For further information, see here.
References
We require at least one church and one personal reference for new leaders, and one church reference for leaders returning the following year. References cannot be provided by a spouse or family member, and your referee will ideally need to know you outside of the holiday’s context. Please be aware that, concerns regarding your conduct may be shared with your referee(s), home church/diocese, or others as applicable, for the purpose of safeguarding.
Blemished Records
A criminal record will not necessarily prohibit the appointment of an individual as a volunteer. However, CPAS will not accept anyone who is known to have harmed children or who is listed as barred from such work by DBS. You may be asked to provide additional information and CPAS may construct a risk assessment to help inform a decision. Please contact your Overall Leader or the Ventures and Falcons Office if unsure about starting an application.
Live(d) or stay(ed) outside the UK?
If you have or will have lived or stayed outside the UK in the past 5 years by the start of your Venture/Falcon, we may need to obtain additional checks before you are able to volunteer. For applicants who have lived overseas, a UK DBS check does not capture overseas cautions and convictions. We therefore require additional reassurance/checks from you to attend as a Leader on a Venture or Falcon holiday.
During the application you will be asked if you will or have lived or stayed outside the UK in any one country for longer than 12 months in the past 5 years by the start date of the Venture/Falcon for which you are applying.
Below is further guidance to help you answer this question:
If, during that 5-year period, you have lived in several different countries but not in any single country for a total of 12 months or more (e.g. 7 months in France and 6 months in Spain), please answer No.
If you have spent one or multiple periods in the same country that together add up to more than 12 months in that 5-year interval (e.g. three separate stays of 5 months in France), please answer Yes.
If you have never lived in the UK, or by the start of your holiday will not yet have lived in the UK for 5 years, please answer Yes.