- based on how to use the consent form and general safeguarding information.
Q. When should a consent form be signed? A. A consent form should be signed for any Ramblers activity where children or vulnerable adults are involved.
Q. Why does a parent(s), legal guardian(s) or carer(s)/support worker attending a session with their child or vulnerable adult need to sign a consent form; surely this is not giving consent?
A. A parent, legal guardian or carer should sign the form to agree that they are responsible for supervising and direct care for the child(ren)or vulnerable adult(s) during a Ramblers activity. At the same time they are agreeing with the paragraph that states ‘our staff and volunteers responsible for organising/leading activities hold no specific knowledge or qualifications for working with children or vulnerable adults’. And to provide the walk leader with an emergency contact number and any medical requirements, in case an accident may occur, so this infomation can be passed on to ambulance medics or the authorities.
This is the only safeguard that the Ramblers currently have in place for vulnerable groups, which is based on guidance from best practice . Many organisations who deal with children and vulnerable adults on a regular basis have robust safeguards in place, such as CRB checks or volunteer recruitment procedures, application forms and reference checks. However, these are mainly organisations who are directly responsible for supervision.
The consent form is a safeguard, which raises the awareness to the parent, legal guardian or carer, so they understand that they are responsible for supervision. The more parents, legal guardians and carers are made aware about thier responsibilities, the lower the risk of an incident occurring. If a staff member or volunteer is asked to keep an eye on/or feel they are left alone with a child or vulnerable adult, and/or placed in an awkward position, such as asked to take a child to the toilet, tie a shoe lace up or zip up a coat, they can refer the parent, legal guardian or carer to the information on the consent form. It is important to remember that parents, legal guardians and carers are used to completing forms, in this respect.
Q. Why does the consent form have 4 signing options on page 2?
A. The consent form has been condensed from a multiple range of forms to just 1 form, to make it much more user friendly and reduce the paper work. The form is a general tool for the organisation, so it applies to Ramblers projects such as Get Walking and Family pilot schemes, as well as Area and Group activities. Some of the projects have support workers supervising vulnerable groups or children rather than parents, legal guardians or carers, so extra options need to be included to accommodate the organisation as a whole.
On the consent form, we provide information to parents, legal guardians and carers about our volunteers not being qualified to directly care for or supervise children or vulnerable adults. The form then breaks off into 4 options;
Option 1 - to be signed by a parent or legal guardian/carer to agree that they will supervise their child(ren) or vulnerable adult(s) during a Ramblers activity at all times.
Option 2 - for a parent, legal guardian to sign the form to agree that their child aged 15, 16 or 17 can participate unaccompanied.
Option 3 - for a parent or legal guardian or carer to sign the form to say they are happy for another adult to accompany/supervise their child(ren) or vulnerable adult(s), such as a support worker, friend or grandparent etc, or somebody who is not the legal guardian.
Option 4, is for a support worker or authorised adult (not the parent or legal guardian) to sign to agree that they have been authorised by the parent, legal guardian or carer to accompany the child(ren) or vulnerable adult(s) and will supervise them at all times.
Q. If this is a public event (not a specific family activity), where children or vulnerable adults are the minority and the activity occurs once every month, does a consent form need to be signed?
A. This is the only safeguard we have in place to protect children, vulnerable adults and volunteers.
Q. Who signs the form if a child wants to walk unaccompanied?
A. If the child is aged 15, 16 or 17 years old and wants to walk unaccompanied, they must have their parents’, legal guardian or carer’s consent (they are classed a child until they are 18 years of age - Children's Act 1989). If the need did arise to administer emergency first aid and/or other medical treatment, we must have the parents consent
A child can only walk unaccompanied it they are aged 15, 16 or 17 years old. If the child is 14 years of age or under, then they must be accompanied by an adult with responsibility for them, such as a parent or legal guardian.
The consent form should be handed to the group secretary or walk leader prior to an activity taking place. If they do not have their parents’, legal guardian or carer’s consent, they should not take part in the activity. This is for their and the volunteers safety. (The volunteer should provide an apology, explain the reason and invite them to attend another activity, once a form is complete).
It is good practice for volunteers to place links on their information pages or leaflets, which signposts people to the policy pages, consent forms and safeguarding information and thus remind them to complete a consent form prior to an activity taking place. If you are unsure of a child/persons age, you can always ask for some form of ID. Q. Who should sign the form if the child(ren) or vulnerable adult(s) is accompanied by their parent, legal guardian or carer?
A. The parent, legal guardian or carer signs a consent form to accept their responsibilities (as stated above).
Q. What happens if we do not use the consent form?
A. The risk of an incident occurring is much higher. If an incident did occur and an allegation towards a volunteer was made, then we have not followed our duty of care/responsibility by being pro-active in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. If treated as a legal case, the evidence would show that we have not followed our duty of care / policy and procedures, as laid out by the organisation, to safeguard vulnerable people.
Q. Should we ask for a consent form to be completed in advance of an activity taking place?
A. Where possible please ask for a consent form to be completed in advance of an activity taking place. Adding links to your walks programmes and walking information directing people to the safeguarding policy and consent form will raise their awareness.
Q. Do we need to keep a consent form on file?
A. Keeping a consent form on file acts as an important record. If any allegations were made, the infomation held on the consent form, would be requested.
Q. Walk leaders currently don’t have CRB checks. Due to new legislation will the organisation require volunteers to have checks in the future?
A. CRB check provides a significant safeguard, but does not remove the need for employers to have robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place, which are based on guidance from best practice. If we start to run activities which are specifically targeted at children and vulnerable adults on a regular, weekly basis, regardless of whether we directly supervise children or vulnerable adults, volunteers will be required to have an enhanced CRB check. For further information, please refer to the ISA Vetting and Barring information link, which is listed at the end of the previous page. Please note, CRB checks are not a 100% safeguard, so the consent forms should be signed.
Q.When the new ISA legislation comes into force in November 2010, will walk leaders need to register on the vetting and barring list to be able to work with children or vulnerable adults?
A. In November 2010, it will be a legal requirement for all new volunteers to register on the vetting and barring register, called the ISA list (where 2 new barred lists replace the POCH, POVA and List 99). However, this will only apply to volunteers who work with specific targeted groups of children or vulnerable adults and who run these activities on a regular weekly basis. Any existing volunteers who joined the Ramblers as a volunteer prior to November 2010 and work with specifically targeted children or vulnerable groups on a regular, weekly basis, have until 2015 (5 years) to register on the list.
Q.How do volunteers register on the barring and vetting list and get a CRB check?
A. Volunteers can register on the vetting and barring list and apply for a CRB check together, on the same form. When the new process is in place, central office will provide guidance directly to the volunteers involved, and place relevant information on the volunteers website/volunteers news. If a volunteer is already registered on the vetting and barred list via volunteer work with another organisation, they do not need to register again. However, the volunteer will need to provide us with their registration ID number, so we can check their status on the list.
Q. Do other organisations that lead similar activities have these systems in place?
A. All organisations are required to follow best practice and legislation that is put in place by the government. Some organisations that directly supervise or care for children or vulnerable adults, without the presence of the parent or carer, have stronger safeguards in place. We have found when working closely with schools and other charities with our funded project work that they will only participate in our activities if we have strong safeguards in place.
It is more attractive to an offender to target volunteer roles where they have little safeguards in place. And offenders can come accross to be the most trustworthy people, so it is very important to follow the policy and procedures that organisaition have in place, to enable us to keep vulnerable people safe from harm.
