Volunteers and Student Placements

1. Purpose

Volunteers and students bring skills, energy and community links, and include the teachers, social workers and counsellors of the future. Our learners are also among the most vulnerable young people in Sheffield. This policy makes sure everyone who gives us their time is safely recruited, prepared, supervised and valued, and adds to the work of our paid staff without replacing it.

2. Scope

This policy covers:

• volunteers: anyone who gives time to Care Cove Alternative Provision without pay, including community volunteers and coaches from the Dreams Are Real CIC network;

• placement students: people on a college, university or professional training placement, such as trainee teachers and social work, counselling or youth work students;

• unpaid placements for young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training) through Dreams Are Real CIC (section 15).

It applies whoever commissions the learners' places. Learners on work experience follow the Work Experience and Vocational Placements policy. Care Cove Short Breaks and Dreams Are Real CIC have their own arrangements for their own volunteers.

3. Law and guidance

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 (KCSIE), Part Three.

• Crime and Policing Act 2026, which removed the supervision exemption: a volunteer in regulated activity needs an Enhanced DBS check with children's barred list check whether or not they are supervised.

• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006: regulated activity, the barred list, and our duty to refer to the DBS anyone we remove from regulated activity (or who leaves) because they harmed or posed a risk of harm to a child.

• Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. Children under 16 cannot have a DBS check.

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, applied to volunteers and students as to staff.

• UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025; Equality Act 2010.

• Our commitments to commissioning local authorities: volunteers never count towards ratios and never work unsupervised; misconduct allegations affecting a learner go to the commissioning local authority's contract manager.

4. Roles and responsibilities

5. Our principles

• Volunteers and students never count towards ratios and never work unsupervised with learners.

• They have the same checks and before-contact training as staff, and a written role, a signed agreement and a named supervisor.

• Knowing someone, including through Dreams Are Real CIC, is never a substitute for a check.

6. Volunteer roles

Before we recruit, the Head of AP writes a role description (Appendix A) and the Director approves it. Examples include supporting a basketball or fitness session, helping with art, music or cooking alongside a member of staff, supporting reading in a group, and office tasks away from learners. Roles are regular commitments, so they can be supervised and reviewed properly.

7. Recruitment and checks

Volunteers go through the same safer recruitment as staff, under the Safer Recruitment policy:

1. our application form and a criminal record self-declaration;

2. an online search;

3. two references, taken before interview and verified by phone;

4. an interview with safeguarding and boundaries questions;

5. identity seen in person, and overseas checks where relevant;

6. an Enhanced DBS certificate with children's barred list check for anyone in regulated activity, whether or not they will be supervised;

7. a prohibition check for anyone doing teaching work, including trainee teachers;

8. a health self-declaration.

Almost every role with learner contact here is regulated activity. Where a proposed role involves only occasional contact that may fall outside regulated activity, the Director takes advice, obtains the highest level of check the law allows, and records the decision and a risk assessment on the SCR.

Nobody has any contact with learners until we have seen the original DBS certificate, or completed a DBS Update Service status check with the person's written consent. We do not use KCSIE's supervised start option. If a certificate contains information, the Director discusses it with the person and records a written risk assessment and decision.

Under-16s cannot get a DBS check. Placing an under-16 with our secondary-age learners is rarely appropriate and needs the Director's written approval and a risk assessment; the young person is directly supervised at all times, never alone with a learner and has no access to learner records. Volunteers and students aged 16 or 17 who are not in regulated activity follow the same rules.

8. Student placements

• Before the placement starts, the Director signs an agreement with the student's college, university or training provider, setting out dates, hours, learning aims, the Care Cove supervisor, the provider's tutor, insurance and how concerns are raised.

• The provider confirms its checks in writing: identity, Enhanced DBS with children's barred list where the placement is regulated activity, and suitability or fitness to practise. We also see the DBS certificate or complete an Update Service status check ourselves, check ID on arrival and record everything on the SCR.

• Students never replace qualified staff. A trainee teacher teaches only under the supervision of a teacher with QTS, who keeps responsibility for the lesson. A counselling student never delivers the individual therapy in a learner's plan, which is always given by a BACP or UKCP registered counsellor.

• No information that identifies a learner leaves Care Cove in coursework or presentations. Any case study is anonymised and agreed with the DSL first.

9. The volunteer agreement

Every volunteer signs an agreement with the Head of AP before starting. It is not a contract of employment. It sets out the role, the supervisor, what each side can expect, expenses and how either side can end it (Appendix A). A student's placement agreement does the same job.

10. Induction and training before contact

Before any contact with learners, every volunteer and student completes, with sign-off on Connect:

• Care Cove induction with the Head of AP, including the Respect Code, the zoning plan, emergencies and a first-day health and safety induction;

• KCSIE safeguarding training and Part One, and who the DSL and Deputy DSL are;

• Prevent levels 1 to 3;

• professional boundaries, low-level concerns and whistleblowing;

• GDPR and Care Cove Connect, at the access level their role needs;

• the Staff Code of Conduct declaration and the acceptable use agreement, including the rule that personal phones are not used in front of learners;

• Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for anyone who will handle food.

The Head of AP may accept evidence of equivalent training from a student's provider, but still gives our own induction.

11. Supervision

• The named supervisor, or another cleared, employed member of staff, is always in the same room or group whenever a volunteer or student is with learners. The supervisor briefs them before each session and checks in at the end.

• Volunteers are reviewed after four weeks and then every half term; students at least at the mid-point of their placement. Reviews are recorded on Connect.

• Volunteers and students are never counted towards the ratio of at least 2 adults for every group of 6 or fewer. The Head of AP checks this on the daily rota.

• Volunteers and students can raise any worry with their supervisor, the Head of AP, the Director or, outside the line, the SWMC Chair.

12. What volunteers and students may and may not do

13. Expenses and insurance

• Expenses. We reimburse agreed out-of-pocket expenses, such as public transport fares, against receipts. The Head of AP approves claims, and records are kept with our financial records for 6 years from the end of the financial year. Volunteers eat with learners at the Family Table on the days they volunteer. We pay no other money, flat-rate allowance or reward.

• Insurance. Before the first volunteer or student starts, and before any new type of activity, the Director confirms with our insurer that our employer's liability and public liability policies cover them, and records it. Student placement agreements also confirm the provider's cover. Volunteers and students never carry learners in their own vehicles.

14. Concerns, allegations and ending a placement

14.1 Concerns about a volunteer or student

Low-level concerns and allegations about a volunteer or student are handled exactly as for staff, under the Managing Allegations Against Staff and Low-Level Concerns policy: to the Director the same day (the SWMC Chair if it involves the Director), LADO contact within 1 working day, and the commissioning local authority's contract manager told. Under that policy, the person may be removed from contact meanwhile as a neutral act. For a student, the education provider is told.

14.2 Ending a placement

• Planned endings. The supervisor holds an exit conversation and offers a reference where appropriate. Learners who know the volunteer are told in advance, because endings can be hard for them.

• Early endings. A volunteer can stop at any time, with notice where possible. The Director can end any placement if the role is no longer needed, the agreement is not kept or there is a safeguarding concern, giving reasons unless that would compromise an investigation. For a student, the provider is told.

• On leaving. The same day, the Administrator removes Connect access, collects ID, lanyard and any keys, and archives the SCR entry. The Director makes any DBS referral the law requires (section 3).

15. NEET placements through Dreams Are Real CIC

We are committed to offering six unpaid placements of four weeks each for young people who are NEET, recruited through Dreams Are Real CIC's outreach work, in kitchen and catering, assistant sports coaching, administration, and with an employer partner.

• These young people are not AP learners. The placements are social value activity, separate from the AP and never counted in AP outcomes. The Head of AP leads them.

• Each placement has an induction, a named supervisor, a weekly review, a written reference and onward support towards education, training or work, plus a placement agreement and a risk assessment that takes account of the young person's age and experience. Our safeguarding duties apply to a young person under 18, with the DSL as their safeguarding route.

• Kept apart from AP learners. Placements are planned so the young person has no contact with AP learners, for example by working outside AP hours or away from AP areas under the zoning plan. The DSL first checks for known conflicts or connections with current learners. A young person who will have any contact with AP learners is treated as a volunteer under this policy: full checks before contact, never counted in ratios and never unsupervised with a learner.

• Where Dreams Are Real CIC, Dream Chasers Basketball Club or an employer partner hosts a placement, the host's safeguarding arrangements also apply and the agreement says who does what. Because the Director is also a director of the CIC, these placements are recorded under the Conflicts of Interest policy.

• The Administrator keeps agreements, timesheets and destination records.

16. Records

Every volunteer and student, and any NEET placement young person with contact with AP learners, is on the Single Central Record on Care Cove Connect, with every check, its date and who did it (including DBS number, barred list result and any Update Service check), any provider's confirmation, training and clearance status, and is included in the monthly SCR check. Agreements and reviews are kept on Connect for the same period as staff files under the Data Protection, Retention and Information Sharing policy. Volunteers and students receive a privacy notice at application.

17. Monitoring and review

The Director reports to the SWMC every term on volunteers, students, concerns, endings and the NEET placements. The SWMC audits the SCR termly and the annual external safeguarding audit reviews it. The Social Work Management Committee ratifies this policy. It is reviewed every year, or sooner after an incident, a change in law or guidance, or a contract change, and is available to the commissioning local authority on request at any time.

18. Related policies

• 01 Safeguarding and Child Protection
• 02 Safer Recruitment
• 03 Managing Allegations Against Staff and Low-Level Concerns
• 04 Whistleblowing
• 15 Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid
• 17 Data Protection, Retention and Information Sharing
• 21 Staff Code of Conduct
• 22 Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption
• 27 Work Experience and Vocational Placements
• 28 Site Security, Visitors and CCTV
• 31 Conflicts of Interest
• 33 Staff Supervision, Appraisal and Training
• 42 Lone Working

Appendix A: Volunteer role and agreement outline

A.1 Role outline

A.2 Agreement outline

Care Cove will: give you a clear role, induction and training; name a supervisor who briefs and reviews you; keep you safe and insured; reimburse agreed expenses; listen to your ideas and concerns; and give a reference on request where appropriate.

You will: follow the Staff Code of Conduct and this policy; never be alone or one-to-one with a learner; tell the DSL straight away about any worry about a learner; keep information confidential, during and after your time with us; tell the Director straight away about anything that could affect your suitability to work with children; and give notice if you cannot attend or decide to stop.

We both agree: this is a voluntary arrangement, not a contract of employment; there is no payment other than agreed out-of-pocket expenses; either side may end it at any time; and Care Cove may end it straight away if there is a safeguarding concern.

The volunteer and the Head of AP each sign and date the agreement, and a copy is kept on Connect.

Document control and ratification

This policy is signed off by the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Head of Alternative Provision, and ratified by the Social Work Management Committee. It is reviewed every year, or sooner after an incident or a change in law, statutory guidance or contract requirements, and it is available to any commissioning local authority on request.