Safeguard-Me Blog 2026

Recruiting Summer Staff Without Compromising Safeguarding

2025-12-17 11:47

Quick summary

Summer term recruitment is often high-volume and high-risk: seasonal staff, volunteers, multiple sites, and tight start dates. And if you look at the calendar, it's a lot closer than you realise.

So, what are the practical recruitment and onboarding systems that protect children while keeping pace with planning timelines, role design, DBS check status visibility, verifying references/qualifications, and creating consistent induction? How can safeguarding software and digital safeguarding records help you manage seasonal hiring at scale with stronger evidence, faster onboarding, and fewer gaps?
Here's your quick checklist
  • Roles defined with clear supervision levels
  • Recruitment timeline planned backwards from start date
  • Checks standardised and centrally tracked (including DBS check status)
  • Volunteers included in the same system
  • Induction covers real scenarios and reporting routes
  • All actions recorded in digital safeguarding records

Why summer recruitment creates safeguarding pressure

Summer camps, sports programmes, HAF provision, and wraparound care often recruit quickly and in bulk. The risk isn't just who you hireit's whether your process can keep up.
Common failure points include:
  • Checks scattered across emails and spreadsheets
  • Inconsistent supervision plans for volunteers
  • Last-minute starters without a clear DBS status
  • Induction that focuses on activities, not safeguarding
A good system makes it hard to miss things.

1) Start earlier than you think: a simple timeline

If youre recruiting for JuneAugust delivery, the safest approach is to plan backwards.

A practical planning timeline

  • 8-10 weeks out: confirm staffing model, ratios, roles, and training requirements
  • 6-8 weeks out: advertise, shortlist, interview, start checks
  • 4-6 weeks out: references, qualification verification, confirm DBS check status
  • 2-4 weeks out: induction, safeguarding training, role-specific briefings
  • Week of start: final compliance check, rota sign-off, supervision plan
This reduces thepanic hire problem.

2) Design roles that are easy to vet and supervise

Seasonal roles can be vague (e.g., activity helper). Vague roles create vague checks.

Make role profiles explicit

  • Is the role regulated activity?
  • Will the person ever be 1:1 with a child?
  • Are they supervising, supporting, or observing?
  • What training is mandatory before day one?
When roles are clear, your checklists are clear.

3) High-volume recruitment: standardise your safeguarding checks

You can be fast and thoroughif you standardise.

A minimum checks framework (adapt per role)

  • Identity verification
  • Right to work
  • References (and follow-up questions where needed)
  • Qualification checks (coaching badges, first aid, food hygiene)
  • Clear DBS status visibility for managers
  • Signed code of conduct and boundaries
If you're running multiple sites, centralising this is crucial.

4) Volunteers: the most common blind spot

Volunteers are brilliantand often the least consistently processed.

Volunteer safeguarding controls

  • Define what volunteers can and cannot do
  • Set supervision levels (never assume common sense)
  • Confirm checks required for the role (including DBS status where applicable)
  • Provide a short, mandatory safeguarding briefing
The key is consistency. Volunteers should never be invisible in your system.

5) Induction that actually prevents incidents

Induction shouldn't be a PDF and a signature. It should prepare people for real scenarios.

What to include in a seasonal safeguarding induction

  • Reporting routes (who is the DSL / safeguarding lead on site)
  • Boundaries and professional conduct
  • Managing challenging behaviour safely
  • Online safety expectations (photos, phones, messaging)
  • Collection procedures and visitor management
  • What to do if a child discloses
Practical tip: include 3-5 short scenarios and ask staff to talk through what they'd do. It reveals gaps fast.

6) Keep evidence clean: your audit trail matters

When something goes wrong, you need to show what you didand when.
That means:
  • Checks completed and recorded
  • Training completed and logged
  • Incident/concern reporting consistent
  • Clear supervision arrangements for new starters
This is where digital safeguarding records are a safety net, not admin.

How safeguarding software supports seasonal recruitment

If youre hiring at scale, safeguarding software helps you:
  • Track recruitment checks in one place
  • Maintain real-time DBS status visibility
  • Standardise onboarding across multiple venues
  • Produce evidence quickly for commissioners, local authorities, or audits
  • Reduce reliance on spreadsheets and inbox searching
In short: faster onboarding, fewer gaps, stronger safeguarding.

A quick summer recruitment safeguarding checklist

  • Roles defined with clear supervision levels
  • Recruitment timeline planned backwards from start date
  • Checks standardised and centrally tracked (including DBS check status)
  • Volunteers included in the same system
  • Induction covers real scenarios and reporting routes
  • All actions recorded in digital safeguarding records
Seasonal recruitment doesn't have to mean seasonal risk. With the right system, you can move quickly and keep safeguarding standards high.