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Safeguarding and training

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding our children and young people whilst they are travelling to school is an essential part of the service we deliver. Cambridgeshire County Council expect home to school transport staff to behave professionally when carrying out our contracts. Failure to do so may lead to an allegation being made against them. This will lead to an investigation and potential suspension from our routes. Penalties may also be issued against the contract.

For more information, including our Safeguarding policy visit Safeguarding policy for education and social care transport.

Reporting safeguarding concerns

If you have a concern about a child or an adult and wish to make a safeguarding referral, use the relevant online Safeguarding Referral Form (child or adult).

Please do not refer these concerns to the Passenger Transport Service. We are not the responsible investigating team within the Council for concerns regarding children or adults.

We do investigate allegations made against our home to school transport staff.  We ask that these are referred to us via email: Education.TransportTeam@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Allegations against home to school transport staff

We take allegations made against a member of our home to school transport staff very seriously.

If an allegation is made against a member of our home to school transport staff, the process is as follows:

  1. Contact is made with Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) to advice of information in relation to allegation made or concern expressed.
  2. The Passenger Transport Service will contact the home to school transport staff’s employer to gather information about the member of staff that had the allegation or concern raised against them. Dependent on the concern or allegation made, the Passenger Transport Service may take the decision to suspend the staff member, take them off the route they were working on or take no action at that stage.
  3. LADO decides whether threshold has been met and what action is needed. They will seek information from the Passenger Transport Service with regards to, the name of the staff involved in the allegation, whether there were any witnesses, etc.
  4. The process will then differ depending on whether the LADO threshold is met by the allegation received about the member of staff.

If LADO threshold is met:

  1. LADO asks for a referral form to be completed. These will then be sent on to Cambridgeshire Constabulary for their consideration as to whether a crime has been committed.
  2. LADO Allegations Management Meetings (AMM) is held. LADO are responsible for convening the AMM, chairing the AMM and ensuring minutes are distributed following the meeting.
  3. Following the AMM, a member of the Passenger Transport Service will be in contact with the member of staff to discuss the allegation and their case.
  4. Once the Passenger Transport Service have spoken to the member of staff for whom the allegation has been made against, LADO will reconvene the concluding AMM, where an outcome is decided.

If LADO threshold is not met, they will decide that this matter can be handled internally:

  1. A member of the Passenger Transport Service will be in contact to discuss the allegation and their case.
  2. The staff member's case will be discussed by an internal panel made up of senior officers, and an outcome will be reached. 

For more information about this process visit What is the LADO? | Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership Board.

Where a member of staff has been suspended, the staff member and their employing company will receive a letter containing information. You may not be made aware of the nature of the allegation at this time. This is because we are required to notify the Local Authority Designated Officer to determine whether a referral to Police is required. Notifying the staff member and their company of the nature of the allegation may compromise the investigation.

If this is not required, a member of the Passenger Transport Service will be in contact with the member of staff who has had an allegation made against them to discuss their individual case. In the majority of cases, a formal warning will be given to the member of staff. They will be required to complete training, which is run by the Passenger Transport Service. They then will be allowed to return to work on our home to school transport routes.

The Passenger Transport Service do not compensate member of staff for loss of earnings during this time.

We expect a basic level of training for all staff working on our routes. For most staff working on our routes, this includes safeguarding and disability awareness training. This is required to provide a good quality service to the children and young people we provide transport for.

Training must include, as a minimum:

  • safeguarding;
  • the handling of emergency situations, for example what to do in a medical emergency or if there is a road accident;
  • equality, for example recognising, supporting and communicating with children with disabilities;
  • any training required to meet the specific needs of the children travelling . For example, wheelchair training or managing their behaviour.

We accept training provided by online providers, such as Spectrum or the Blue Lamp Trust. The cost of these courses will not be covered by the Council and is a requirement of the contract.

Moving forward, it will be required that all Operators confirm that they have records of their staff's training. If successful when bidding on routes, they need to provide this information no later than one week after the commencement of the Call-off Contract.

If Operators are unable to demonstrate this at the point of award of a contract, then their bid will be rejected. We will move onto the next operator who has bid for the route.

The Passenger Transport Service currently provide training for home to school transport staff who have had an allegation made against them. After an investigation into the concern has concluded, this is a requirement to return to work on our routes. A member of our Service will be in contact via email to arrangement a date and time. If we have informed you that this is a requirement and you fail to engage with our training, this could result in your being unable to return to work on our routes.

The training includes:

Mainstream home to school transport staff:

  • Safeguarding & background to the Local Authority Designated Officer
  • How to manage challenging behaviour
  • Information on our contracts, and how the service works.

Home to school transport staff that work on our SEND routes:

  • Safeguarding & background to the Local Authority Designated Officer
  • Disability Awareness training
  • Information on our contracts, and how the service works.

Once you have completed our training, you will be issued a certificate to state that you have completed the training and the date that this has taken place. If the member of staff leading the training is satisfied that you have properly engaged with the training, they will advise you when you are able to return to work on our home to school routes.