Social Work Suitability Pack Final 22-24

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Confidential: Declaration of Suitability for Social Work (2023/4)

NAME: Aayishath Ishal Subair


KU number (if known)

This pack contains a number of declarations which you need to complete before you
can enrol on the course. This is a very important document and some of the
declarations are quite complicated and detailed. Please allow yourself sufficient time
to read the pack carefully and to answer the questions honestly and fully.

When you have completed the declarations, please check your responses, and email
to healthinterviews@kingston.ac.uk

We are required by Social Work England (SWE) to assess that all social work
students are suitable to:
 train in social work;
 engage with service users and carers during practice placements, and;
 be registered by Social Work England upon successful completion of the
course.

Please note that SWE will make their own assessment before you can be registered
as a social worker, and approval by the university at this stage is not a guarantee of
registration by SWE.

Enrolment on the course is conditional upon a satisfactory outcome to this


suitability process.

This pack covers the following Declarations:


1. Criminal convictions, and legal records
2. Disciplinary record and unprofessional conduct
3. Personal involvement with social services
4. Health

The Department of Social Work and Social Care at Kingston University is part of a
wider Teaching Partnership which includes 14 agencies which deliver social work and
social care services in the south and west of London and Surrey. You can find more
information concerning the Developing Together Social Work Teaching Partnership
at https://www.developingtogetherswtp.org.uk/

The Department of Social Work and Social Care also works closely with employers in
London and Surrey in the provision of the social work integrated degree
apprenticeship course.

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Please note: declaring any issue(s) here does not automatically mean that you will
not
be allowed to enrol on the course: all issues are considered carefully on their
individual details. Some issues will be considered by social work lecturing staff alone.
In line with our agreed protocols, other issues will also be considered by social work
colleagues in our Teaching Partnership, or for the apprenticeship course, with London
and Surrey employers.

If you declare an issue or issues then we will let you know our decision as quickly as
we can, and our aim is to do this within 10 working days of receiving your completed
form. However, please note that this is an aim, not a commitment. For example, our
partners are front-line providers of social work and social care services who have to
prioritise their statutory duties and may therefore be unable to meet this aim on all
occasions. Also, some of the matters covered by this declaration will require us to
seek information from other agencies, and whilst we will use our best endeavours to
obtain speedy responses, ultimately we have no control over the speed with which the
other agencies will consider our requests.

The information you provide will be treated as confidential within the organisational
boundaries of the BA (Hons) Social Work/ MSW programmes/ BA (Hons) Social Work
Integrated Degree Apprenticeship and our professional partners. This means that we
may share information with relevant bodies such as our Teaching Partnership,
employers, other placement providers and SWE or other regulatory bodies - for
example, to obtain practice placements or as a matter of public protection.

Please note that if you are accepted onto a social work course, you will also be
required to update academic staff and the placements team if there are subsequent
changes to your status regarding any of the four declarations: Criminal
convictions/cautions; Disciplinary record; Personal involvement with social services;
Health status.

Please note: failure to disclose information here which is subsequently discovered,


could lead to a suitability investigation and your exclusion from training.

Please ensure that you complete all 8 pages of this pack, including name, signature
and date fields.

If you have any queries relating to this form, please contact the Admissions Office on
020 8417 5732.

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1) CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS AND LEGAL RECORDS

Social work is exempt from certain provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders


Act 1974. We do not automatically exclude applicants who have a criminal
record. If you declare matters here, we will ask you for further information about
the circumstances so we can make an informed and considered judgement
about your suitability.

We will act consistently with SWE guidance which says that we should consider
whether the applicant’s declarations “might affect their suitability to work with
people with lived experience of social work and/or affect the public’s confidence
in the profession.”

In line with this, we will consider: the number, nature and seriousness of any
offence(s) or other conduct and any punishment(s) or sanction(s) imposed;
when and where the offence(s) or conduct took place; the time period which
has elapsed since the offence(s) or conduct; your conduct since the offence(s)
or conduct; your age at the time of the offence(s) or conduct; any information
given to help explain the circumstances surrounding the offence(s) or conduct.

In a small number of cases, the nature, gravity and/ or recency of a person’s


past conduct may mean that enrolment on our programme will not be possible,
and in this event the applicant will be informed of the reason(s) within the
timescale outlined above.

In order to successfully complete the programme, students must pass practice


placements. These placements are provided by our Teaching Partnership, and
we need to know that partner agencies would be willing to offer you
placements. For the apprenticeship, apprentices complete on-the-job work-
based learning with their employers.

If you declare issue(s) under this section, you will be asked to write a personal
statement about the issue(s) which will then be sent – without your name – to
our Teaching Partnership which will consider the issue(s) and your statement
and come to an opinion about whether you are likely to be offered placements.

The outcome will be explained to you in writing so that you can make an
informed decision about whether to accept an offer of a place on the course,
knowing the feedback concerning placements. For the apprenticeship, we will
discuss the outcome with your employer to assess your suitability for the
course.

Please note that all students who are accepted onto one of our courses are
required to share a copy of their enhanced DBS report with placement
providers who are considering offering a placement to that student. The
placement agencies retain the right to then decide if they are willing to provide
a placement to that particular student.

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Declaration: Criminal Convictions and Legal Records

Social Work is exempt from certain provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
1974. We will organise and pay for an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service
Disclosure process (including checks for people who are barred from working with
children or vulnerable adults) for all our social work students.

If you do not disclose here offences/ matters which come to light later, then our
procedures may lead to you having to withdraw from the Programme.

The amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975
(2013 and 2020) provides that when applying for certain jobs and activities, certain
convictions and cautions are considered ‘protected’. This means that they do not need
to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them
into account. For the purpose of this application, Kingston University is treated as an
employer.

The rules about what you should disclose are complicated. You will find guidance
on the Ministry of Justice website Disclosure and Barring Service - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You can also contact the NACRO helpline on 0300 123 1999 for advice. We
encourage you to contact NACRO if you have any doubts about what to disclose.

Name: Aayoshath Ishal Subair

Declaration One
YES NO
Do you have any unspent conditional cautions or convictions under √
the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974?
Do you have any adult cautions (simple or conditional) or spent √
convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of
Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England
and Wales) Order 2020?

If you have answered “Yes” to either of the questions above, please enter
details below.

DATE COURT/POLICE STATION OFFENCE SENTENCE

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Declaration Two
YES NO
Do you have any pending prosecutions? √

Are you currently barred from working in a regulated activity with √


adults or children?
Have you lived abroad in the last 5 years? If you have, please give √
addresses below. We will explain the required process to you.

Details here please

I understand that:

 the Faculty will organise an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service process,
and that this will include checking the lists of people who are barred from
working with children or vulnerable adults;

 my signature affirms that I have made a full and accurate declaration which will
be checked against my Home Office Disclosure and Barring Criminal Records
return;

 failure to disclose relevant information is a serious matter and if any offence,


caution, reprimand, final warning or barring is discovered later, then this may
lead to me being excluded from training;

 if I write a statement concerning issues declared above, this may be passed to


the Teaching Partnership for their consideration – as explained above;

 I will be required to retain my DBS certificate and show it to agencies where I


am placed for practice placements;

 whilst I am a student, I will have to inform university staff of any pending


prosecutions and also any convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings
which will appear on an enhanced DBS Certificate.

Signed: Aayishath Ishal Subair (if completing electronically, a typed full name
will be acceptable in place of a written signature.)

Date: 16/06/2024

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2) DISCIPLINARY RECORD/ UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

Social work agencies and members of the public who receive services are
entitled to expect the highest standards of reliability and integrity from social
workers and it is imperative that the qualifying award is held only by people
whose personal and professional conduct merits this trust. The Social Work
programmes require you to make a declaration concerning this.

If you answer “yes” to any of the questions, we will talk to you about this.
University staff may reach a decision on their own, or they may wish to involve
the Teaching Partnership or other employers. The way we will consider the
issue(s) depends on the details declared, but we will discuss all this with you.
You may be asked to write a personal statement about the issue(s). The
outcome will be explained to you.

We may also ask you for your permission to make other relevant enquiries e.g.
to colleges and former employers, to enable an informed decision to be made
about your application.

Declarations

Three YES NO
Are you currently the subject of any disciplinary investigation? √
Have you ever had a disciplinary finding against you? √

Four YES NO
Have you ever had your employment terminated for √
unprofessional behaviour or misconduct?
Have you ever been suspended or deregistered for √
professional misconduct by any professional register?
Have you been excluded from engaging in social care or any √
similar activity by a body responsible for regulating or
otherwise controlling such practice or activity?

Five YES NO
Have you previously enrolled upon a professional social work √
training programme? (Not an Access to social work course.)
Have you ever been suspended or disqualified from any √
professional training programme?
Have you had civil proceedings (other than a divorce/ √
dissolution of marriage or civil partnership) brought against
you?
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Please ask if you need advice about answering this question.

3) PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT WITH SOCIAL SERVICES

If you become a student on a social work course at Kingston University we will


ask you to tell us about any personal or family involvement with social services
or related agencies. We do this first, to enable us to ensure that students are
provided with any support entitlements (e.g. as a care leaver) and second, so
that we can avoid placing students in organisations where they have previously
received, or are currently receiving, services.

At this application stage and in relation to suitability for social work


training, we only need to know about specific types of involvement with
agencies, and our questions are in the box below.

Declaring issues here would not automatically bar you from enrolment on the
programme, but we would need to make an informed judgement about whether
a declaration may pose risks to you or other people.

If you answer “yes” to any of the questions, we will talk to you about this.
University staff may reach a decision on their own, or they may wish to involve
the Teaching Partnership or other employers. The way we will consider the
issue(s) depends on the details declared. You may be asked to write a personal
statement about the issue(s). The outcome will be explained to you.

We may also ask you for your permission to make other relevant enquiries to
enable an informed decision to be made about your application.

NB: applicants frequently have to answer ‘yes’ to the first question for
completely reasonable reasons e.g. that their parents were foster carers
looking after children who had been on a child protection register. Please
answer the question honestly, even if this means telling us about something
completely reasonable and understandable.

Declaration Six

YES NO
Has any child in your care, or in the household in which you √
live/ have lived, been subject to a safeguarding investigation/
been placed upon a child protection register/ been subject to a
child protection plan or been looked after or placed in care?
Has any person with whom you currently have (or previously √
had) informal caring responsibilities (not paid employment) had
any listing or proceeding regarding the protection of adults at
risk?
Do you currently live, or have you previously lived, in a √
household in which there has been any listing or proceeding
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regarding the protection of adults at risk?

4) YOUR HEALTH

We have to be confident that our students will be able to study and practise
safely and effectively with vulnerable people, and so we ask you to confirm that
you are willing and able to identify and manage your own needs in a way that
avoids any risk of harm both to people receiving social work services, and to
yourself.

Everyone who accepts an offer of a place on our courses has to complete a


self-declaration concerning their health which will be considered by our
Occupational Health colleagues.

If you answer “no” to any of the questions in Seven, we will discuss this with
you.

Declaration Seven

YES NO
I am willing and able to identify and manage my health needs in √
a way that avoids any risk of harm both to people receiving
social work services, and to myself. (Health includes any
dependency needs.)
I agree to seek treatment for, or manage appropriately, any √
medical condition which is current or which develops during the
programme.
I agree to inform the University if I am not fit to undertake a √
practice placement.

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YOUR DECLARATION

I confirm that I have answered truthfully and fully all questions above.

I have read and understood the potential implications surrounding the disclosure/ non-
disclosure of health conditions and disabilities.

I agree that the information that I give may be used to assess my suitability for social
work training and that, subject to the principles outlined in the Data Protection Act
(1998) and the provisions of the Care Standards Act (2000) it may be shared with
Social Work England and other relevant bodies (e.g. placement providers) in
connection with my studies including finding practice placements, and registering as a
social worker.

I understand that failure to disclose here relevant information which is subsequently


discovered could lead to a suitability investigation and exclusion from training.

I understand that any offer of a place is conditional upon a satisfactory outcome to the
suitability process, and that whilst the University makes a decision on suitability for the
programme, approval by the University is not a guarantee of registration by SWE on
successful completion of the programme.

Signed: Aayishath Ishal Subair (if completing electronically, a


typed full name will be acceptable in place of a written signature.)

Date: 16/06/2024

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