A Guide to Obtaining References- In Early Years Education Settings by Claire Betts

In England we are preparing for safeguarding reforms from September 2025 in the area of safer recruitment.  The aim of Safer Recruitment is to deter, reject, or identify people who might pose a risk or are unsuited to work with children. Ofsted expect robust safer recruitment practices, including thorough checks of employment history and qualifications. When you are inspected, they will ask you to take the inspector through a recent hiring experience.

So why the emphasis on references?

A person’s past behaviour is the most reliable way of predicting future behaviour. The information that you obtain from referees is very important. People lie. People especially lie on CVs.  Many people lie if the truth will make them look bad!

Safeguarding and Compliance

Without references, an employer may unknowingly hire someone with a history of misconduct or safeguarding concerns, potentially putting children at risk.

Verifying Experience and Qualifications

Allows you as an employer to be able to ensure that the potential candidate has the skills, experience, and qualifications they claim to have. Fake qualifications or fabricated experience could put children at risk.

People will lie about their level of qualifications, and it is increasingly common that we hear that individuals are misled by training providers as the full and relevance of the qualification they are taking. Being able to confirm previous job roles, responsibilities, and length of service is vital in ensuring that candidates have the necessary background and no safeguarding concerns.

You may have someone with 3-months childcare experience who tells you they have 6-months. Just imagine you have hired them with a plan for them to go through the Experience Based Route (EBR) in the next 6 months. At the end of the time being assessed they still will not have the 12 month’s minimum experience in Early Years required to be eligible under the EBR.    

Assessing Character and Work Ethic

Obtaining references provides an insight into an individual’s reliability, professionalism, and conduct in previous roles. This can help you understand how the candidate interacts with colleagues, parents and management and highlight concerns such as poor performance, disciplinary issues, or frequent unexplained absences. You ask them for their reason for leaving their past employment and they tell you a different reason than the referee.

Reducing Hiring Risks

Poor hiring decisions can be costly in terms of time, resources, and potential legal implications, therefore gaining references provide an additional layer of due diligence, helping you make informed decisions. Delaying collecting references can mean staff shortages, affecting child-staff ratios and therefore a robust referencing process speeds up recruitment and gets new hires working sooner.

Enhancing Workplace Culture and Team Fit

Collecting references will help you assess whether the candidate aligns with your company’s values and workplace culture. It helps you reduce the risk of hiring someone who may disrupt your team dynamics. It ensures that all candidates are treated fairly and without bias. This builds trust and Integrity within your team, knowing colleagues are qualified and experienced.

What can you do before these reforms come in?

Audit your own practice. Do you take references before a candidate starts? Do you have permission from your candidate to approach their referees? When an employee leaves do you establish whether you have permission to respond to requests for references?

Here at Redwing we recognise how stressful it is complying with more stringent safeguarding requirements. If we can assist with this aspect of HR admin, please give us a call on 01527 909436 or drop us an email.