The Safeguarding Blind Spot: The Safer Recruitment Gap in Unregistered Alternative Provision

Описание: Join us for a full length recorded session delivered to the National Association of Academy Safeguarding Advisors (NAASA) on 13 November 2025. This conference speech explores a growing and urgent safeguarding risk: unregistered alternative provision settings and the gaps in safer recruitment.

We begin by examining why unregistered providers operate in a regulatory grey area that places vulnerable children at increased risk. Schools Week highlighted the lack of clarity, the absence of consistent oversight, and the growing dependence on these settings for some of the most complex pupils.
The session then looks at the practical challenges of safer recruitment in unregistered provision. This includes the lack of access to the Department for Education’s teacher prohibition checks portal, inconsistent DBS and Section 128 processes, and the difficulty of verifying information when providers are outside recognised regulatory systems. These concerns have been raised repeatedly in Schools Week’s reporting.

We also discuss the accountability gap faced by referring schools. Although schools remain responsible for safeguarding, they often have limited visibility of how recruitment, vetting and supervision are managed by external, unregistered providers. Again, Schools Week has called for urgent attention to this issue.

The session offers practical steps for governance, compliance and school leaders to close the gap. These include ensuring access to compliant recruitment routes, strengthening due diligence, vetting unregistered providers more rigorously, and driving transparent accountability across all placements.

Finally, we consider the policy changes required to formalise regulation of unregistered alternative provision and ensure that safer recruitment standards apply universally, as recommended in recent Schools Week analysis.

Whether you lead governance, safeguarding, alternative provision or school compliance, this recorded session provides the insight and tools you need to identify, challenge and address the safeguarding blind spot within your provision landscape.