Guidance on managing child protection allegations made against a worker

It is recommended that allegations made against workers are managed according to the following procedure:

1. The allegation must be reported immediately to the designated person for child protection or other individual within the organisation who has responsibility for managing workers.

2. On receiving the concerns, the designated person/manager should contact immediately Social Work and/or the Police and act on any advice given. In particular, Social Work and/or Police should be asked whether or not it is appropriate for the organisation to approach the worker implicated in the allegation as part of the organisation’s internal enquiry.

3. The individual who first received/witnessed the concern should make a full written record of what was seen, heard and/or told as soon as possible after observing the incident/receiving the report. It is important that the report is an accurate description. The designated person/manager can support the worker during this process but must not complete the report for the worker.

4. The designated person should add any steps that s/he has also undertaken (e.g. contact with Social Work/and or Police) and summarise any advice given by the child protection agencies.

5. The individual worker and the designated person/manager should sign and date the report.

6. A copy of the record should be passed to Social Work and/or Police. The original record should be stored in a secure place such as a locked cabinet.

7. Where the Police have advised that it is appropriate to inform the worker that an allegation has been made against them, the worker should be told this and the organisation should consider suspending the worker whilst an internal review is carried out.

8. It is important that any internal review carried out by the organisation does not compromise the work of the child protection agencies or involve questioning the child or young person about the nature of the abuse that is being alleged. This is always the concern of the child protection agencies.

9. Where the organisation’s own internal review suggests that the worker’s actions have breached the Code of Conduct it should follow the disciplinary procedure. Sanctions may involve dismissal or removing the worker from access to children and young people where his/her actions are considered to be a serious breach of the Code of Conduct.

10. Where the organisation’s internal review indicates that the worker harmed or placed a child at risk of harm and should be removed from access to children, a referral to the List should be made.

The worker’s behaviour flow chart gives a summary of the steps suggested for managing different levels of concerns.

worker’s behaviour flow