About this guidance
This guidance fulfils the duty in legislation that the Secretary of State must publish statutory guidance on supervision of activity by workers and volunteers with children, which when unsupervised is regulated activity.
Expiry/review date
This is new guidance published on 10 Sept 2012.
What legislation does this guidance relate to?
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, amended by Protection of Freedoms Act 2012; and
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007, Schedule 2, paragraph 5A.
Who is this guidance for?
This guidance is for settings including but not limited to schools, childcare establishments, FE colleges, youth groups and sports clubs.
Key points
This guidance applies when an organisation decides to supervise with the aim that the supervised work will not be regulated activity (when it would be, if not so supervised). In such a case, the law makes three main points:
- there must be supervision by a person who is in regulated activity;
- the supervision must be regular and day to day; and
- the supervision must be 'reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure the protection of children'.
The organisation must have regard to this guidance. That gives local managers the flexibility to determine what is reasonable for their circumstances.
