Student Vetting Policy and Procedure

Version Number: 2024_01

Review Date: 06 June 2024

Policy Owner: Director of Recruitment and Admissions

Approved by: Academic Board 06 June 2024

New Review: Within 3 years subject to national and/or EU developments

Purpose
Scope
Definitions
Roles and Responsibilities
Vetting Process
Joint Agreements
Appeals
Re-vetting
Revisiting a Vetting Decision
Related documents and links
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Purpose

University College Cork (“the University and/or UCC) offers a number of programmes, volunteer opportunities and other University activities to students which involves an activity and/or work placement (either within UCC or external to the University with another organisation) which will bring them into contact with children and/or vulnerable persons, and in which they may assume positions of public trust.

The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016 (“the Acts”) makes it a legal requirement for the vetting of persons who wish to carry out relevant work with children or vulnerable persons.

Any student at undergraduate or postgraduate level, completing a taught or research programme, will be subject to Garda Vetting if carrying out relevant work. Relevant Work is defined as any work or activities, carried out by a person, a necessary and regular part of which consists mainly of the person having access to or contact with children or vulnerable persons.

Vetting of students is conducted by the National Vetting Bureau in An Garda Síochána. Students who have resided outside of the Republic of Ireland for a period of 6 months or more (from the age of 16 years) shall also be required to furnish a Police Clearance Certificate from their country or countries of residence.

To ensure compliance with the Acts, and to promote the protection of the public, UCC is committed to ensuring that these students (including prospective students/applicants) are vetted and only suitable candidates are allowed to continue in their programme of study, to participate in their placement or to engage in the activity that necessitates vetting/police clearance. The Acts also create offences and penalties for persons who fail to comply with its provisions.

Students (future references for which will include current students and prospective students/applicants in receipt of an offer) who fail to engage with the Vetting Process as required by UCC and/or give information in an incomplete or inaccurate form and/or who fail to adhere to this Policy and Procedure may have their registration cancelled by UCC and/or may not participate in the activity for which vetting is deemed necessary.

Scope

UCC offers a number of programmes that require students to undertake placements with external agencies, which will bring them into contact with children and/or vulnerable adults and in which they will assume positions of public trust.In accordance with the Acts, UCC requires students (or prospective students) for relevant programmes to be vetted. Registration on these programmes is provisional, pending the outcome of the Vetting process.

There are two main categories of students to be vetted, those involved in programmes requiring vetting and those students involved in other related activities within or connected with the University.

1. Programme Related Vetting

In accordance with the Acts, UCC requires Students for relevant programmes to be vetted. Registration on these programmes is provisional, pending the outcome of the Vetting Process.

Students, or applicants in receipt of an offer, on these courses will be subject to Garda Vetting.

Students who engage in university activities that may involve unsupervised access to children and/or vulnerable adults will also be subject to UCC’s Vetting processes. This includes, but is not limited to students participating in:

Peer Support Leaders programme
Relevant Societies
Relevant Summer Camps
Relevant Work Placements
Students undertaking a residential period in the Gaeltacht as part of their studies

Definitions

Vetting Liaison Person: The nominated individual carrying out the vetting process on behalf of UCC.

Disclosure: Document returned from NVB on completion of the vetting process.

Joint Agreement: Signed agreement between two organisations where one carries out vetting on the others behalf.

Relevant work: Any work or activities, carried out by a person, a necessary and regular part of which consists mainly of the person having access to or contact with children or vulnerable persons.

Roles & Responsibilities

Admissions Office: The Admissions Office processes all Student Garda Vetting for UCC. The Vetting Liaison Person is situated in the Admissions Office.

Programme Coordinator / Placement Coordinator: In the event of a serious conviction being returned with respect to a student who is subject to Garda Vetting, the Vetting Liaison Person will liaise with either the Programme Coordinator or Placement Coordinator (as relevant) for the programme.

Placement Organisation: The placement organisation agrees, via a signed Joint Agreement, that the UCC Admissions Office will process all Garda Vetting with respect to students that it employs on relevant placements / placements subject to the Act.

National Vetting Bureau (NVB): The NVB is the single point of contact in An Garda Síochána to conduct Garda Vetting. Its primary objective is to provide an accurate and responsible vetting service which enhances the protection of children and vulnerable persons through enabling safer recruitment decisions. The UCC Admissions Office liaises directly with the National Vetting Bureau to safely and securely transfer relevant data between the two organisations.

Student: It is each student's responsibility to respond to the vetting communications received from both the UCC Admissions Office and the NVB, and to submit complete and accurate responses as soon as possible. Students should self-disclose any convictions in advance of such convictions being returned to the Admissions Office from the NVB.
Students on any programmes subject to this policy and who acquire a charge/prosecution and/or conviction during the course of their studies are required to immediately notify UCC’s Liaison Person, and additionally will need to declare same through the Fitness to Practice process.

Vetting Process

The conduct of the vetting process shall at all times be carried out in accordance with the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016, the General Data Protection Guidelines and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Stage 1. Completion of Vetting Invitation

Students (or prospective students) are sent a Vetting invitation link by email from the Admissions Office, together with the instructions for its completion and a list of required documentation. Students are required to fully complete the form and upload relevant documents as per the instructions, as soon as possible.

A student who is under 18 years of age must have a parent/guardian complete the relevant details on their behalf.

The documentation provided for vetting purposes will be securely retained electronically for the duration of the student’s studies on the relevant course, and up to one year afterwards.

Stage 2. Completion of NVB form online

The Admissions Office enters the student details from the completed Vetting Invitation form and accompanying documentation into the NVB database. The NVB emails the student (or prospective student) with further instruction to complete the next stages of the process online. This invitation expires after 30 days, at which stage, the link is no longer valid. Once the student (or prospective student) has completed the online form, the NVB requests that the Liaison Person confirms that the application is complete and correct. When the Liaison Person is satisfied that the application is completed, the application is forwarded to the next stage of processing.

Stage 3. Form processed by the NVB

The NVB processes the application in accordance with its own procedures, searching against their databases for convictions, pending prosecutions, application of the Probation Act, non-convictions and specified information. For each application they will return a disclosure to the Liaison Person.

Specified information (also known as “soft” information) is information other than criminal convictions where such information leads to a bona-fide belief that a person poses a threat to children or vulnerable people.

Stage 4. Verification of Information Disclosed

If the NVB have no information to disclose, the disclosure will specify “Nil” under Criminal Record and Specified Information. If a conviction/pending prosecution/specified information is disclosed, the Liaison Person will verify with the student that the information disclosed is correct. A copy of the vetting disclosure is downloaded from the NVB database and is securely retained electronically for the duration of the student’s studies on the relevant course, and up to one year afterwards. While the student is informed of their Garda Vetting disclosure being sent to the UCC Liaison Person, UCC does not automatically issue disclosures to students. If a student wishes for a digital copy of their disclosure they must email requesting so with identity confirming information (DOB and address).

Stage 5. Evaluation of Vetting Disclosures

The Liaison person will classify disclosures as follows:

No information disclosed
Minor disclosure that does not affect a student’s suitability for placement
Serious disclosure that may affect a student’s suitability for placement

If no information of concern is disclosed, the student record will be updated to reflect same.

If information is disclosed, following verification of its validity with the student, the student record will be updated reflecting that information was disclosed; the nature or details of the offence are not documented on the student record system. The Liaison Person will evaluate the seriousness and relevance of the offence in an unbiased and unprejudiced manner, and categorise same as minor or serious. As a general guideline, the Liaison Person will consider if the conviction(s) or pending prosecution would be sufficient to be potentially construed as professional misconduct, in the event that the student was registered in a relevant profession. The Liaison Person will have regard to the requirements under law to protect special categories of people such as children and vulnerable adults.

Stage 6. Assessment of convictions and pending prosecutions to determine suitability for relevant work placements

Any conviction or pending prosecution is assessed in order to determine the suitability of the student for completing the relevant work placement as per the 2012 Act. Following the assessment procedure outlined below, if a student is deemed unsuitable for work placement, registration on the programme may be cancelled.

Minor charge(s)/prosecution(s)/conviction(s)/specified information

In the event the Liaison Person considers a disclosure to be minor, which within the absolute discretion of the Liaison Person, are those cases that are not considered to pose any risk to children, vulnerable adults or the wider community, they will be discussed with the student by the Liaison Person. Following the discussion, as relevant, the student record will reflect that the student has cleared the vetting process.

Serious charge(s)/prosecution(s)/conviction(s)/specified information

In the event the Liaison Person considers a disclosure to be serious, the nature of which could indicate a potential risk to children, vulnerable adults or the wider community, normally, at least two members of relevant UCC staff, including the UCC Liaison Person and Programme Coordinator (or nominee), will seek to meet with the student to discuss the circumstances of the disclosure. The purpose of this meeting will be to assess whether or not there is a concern in relation to the student’s suitability to undertake a relevant work placement. In the case of joint programmes , a representative from the other HEI may also be required to attend this meeting.

In assessing the student’s suitability for the work placement a range of factors will be considered including, the nature and seriousness of the offence, the penalty imposed, the pattern of recidivism, the circumstances of the applicant at the time of the offence, the time elapsed since the offence, the extent to which the student has rehabilitated himself or herself, and the insight and reflection shown.

Following the formal meeting, the Liaison Person and Programme Coordinator will determine if the student has cleared the vetting process or if the case needs to be escalated for further review. If the student has been cleared at this point, the Liaison Person will provide a written report summarising the details and outcome of the meeting to the Programme Coordinator. The Programme Coordinator will be tasked with providing assurance to the work placement organisations that the student has been subject to and cleared the National Vetting Bureau and the University vetting process.

If clearance has not been obtained, the case will be considered by a UCC Student Vetting Review Committee which shall normally comprise at least three members of UCC staff, to include UCC’s Liaison Person, the Programme Coordinator, the relevant Head of School (or nominee) together with the Programme Director (or nominee) and/or the relevant Head of College (or nominee). A further meeting with the student may be requested and the student should make a written submission for consideration by the Review Committee. An evaluation will be made on the student’s suitability to continue in the programme. If the outcome of the evaluation is that the student is not suitable to continue in the programme, their registration on the programme may be cancelled, or suspended for an imposed period of time (where continuance of registration at a future time is conditional on specified criteria).

The student will be advised in writing of the decision of the Student Garda Vetting Review Committee.

Stage 7. Communication of the outcome of student Garda vetting

The student record system is updated to reflect the outcome of the vetting process. Programme Directors/Coordinators will access this information directly from the student records system and shall not allow students to engage in a relevant work placement unless the vetting process has been cleared. In the case of joint programmes, where the Programme Coordinator is not a member of UCC staff, the Admissions Office will provide the relevant and required information to the Programme Coordinator. Programme Directors/Coordinators are responsible for informing the work placement organisation that students have cleared the vetting process. In the event that a work placement organisation requests a copy of a student’s vetting disclosure, this request will be referred to the Liaison Person. The Liaison Person will obtain the student’s consent before providing a copy of the student’s vetting disclosure to the work placement organisation.

Students who have resided outside of the Republic of Ireland for a period of 6 months or more (from the age of 16 years) shall also be required to furnish a Police Clearance Certificate from their country or countries of residence. This Certificate should confirm if a student has any convictions recorded against him or her while residing there. If a student is unable to obtain a Police Clearance Certificate, they will be required to obtain a legal declaration (Affidavit) in the presence of a Commissioner of Oaths or a Solicitor confirming that they have no criminal convictions, current or pending.

Where students do not meet UCC’s Vetting requirements, UCC reserves the right to reject their application and, where applicable, withdraw the course offer and/or cancel their registration.

Factors considered in assessing convictions/pending prosecutions/specified information

Full account will be taken of all relevant information revealed in the vetting disclosure and in the discussion with the student. This information will be considered in a proportionate way, having due regard to the public interest, including the protection of students, university staff and members of the public; the maintenance of public confidence in the associated profession and the importance of upholding proper standards of student conduct on a work placement.

The following factors will be considered in assessing a conviction or a pending prosecution:

Nature of the offence(s);
Seriousness of the offence(s);
Sentence imposed;
Whether there is a pattern of recidivism (tendency to reoffend);
Age and circumstances of the student at the time of the offence(s);
Time elapsed since the offence(s);
The manner in which the student dealt with the proceedings in relation to the offence(s) and in particular whether they pleaded guilty and at what point in the proceedings;
Whether the offence(s) involved a serious breach of trust;
Whether the offence(s) is one which by its nature gives rise to specific concerns in relation to the student’s suitability to undertake a programme work placement;
Extent to which the student has rehabilitated himself or herself since the commission of the offence(s);
Level of insight and reflection shown;
Whether the conviction(s) were disclosed upon completion of the Garda Vetting form.

It is important to note that whilst the factors above shall be considered, the list is not exhaustive and the assessment will take into account all relevant factors and circumstances pertaining to the particular student and their programme.

UCC reserves the right to adapt this process from time to time, in general or in particular cases, having regard to the particular circumstances of a case or cases. Where a student (including a prospective student) fails to comply with the vetting process, they are liable to have their offer withdrawn and/or registration cancelled.

Joint Agreements

In each instance where UCC undertakes to carry out the vetting process in respect of a placement, there shall be in place a signed Joint Agreement together with the placement organisation/related organisation.

In certain instances, UCC students may be vetted directly by the placement organisation or on behalf of UCC by a third party. In such instances UCC will also enter into a joint agreement with said organisation.

Appeals

In the event that the student is dissatisfied with the decision of the UCC Student Garda Vetting Review Committee, they may appeal the decision. To appeal the decision, the student should write, within 21 days of the date that the decision was issued, to the Deputy President and Registrar, requesting a review of the case. The Deputy President and Registrar will assemble an Appeal Committee on Garda Vetting to review the decision.

The UCC Appeals Committee on Vetting will comprise the Deputy President and Registrar (or nominee) (Chair) and two members appointed by Academic Council that do not have a conflict of interest. The members of the UCC Student Garda Vetting Appeals Committee will not have been involved in any prior decisions related to the case.
A student may appeal the decision of the UCC Student Garda Vetting Review Committee on the following grounds:

i. Incorrect process; there was a procedural error which gives rise to a reasonable doubt as to whether the UCC Student Garda Vetting Review Committee would have reached the same decision if it had not occurred:

ii. New evidence; which the UCC Student Garda Vetting Review Committee was unaware of when making its original decision which might reasonably have resulted in a different decision;

iii. Specified/stated grounds where the UCC Student Garda Vetting Review Committee’s decision was based on erroneous information or interpretation

The UCC Appeals Committee on Vetting shall consider each appeal on the stated grounds of its own merits. Vetting disclosures and information pertaining to the assessment of the information provided by the NVB shall be submitted by the Liaison Person to the UCC Appeals Committee on Garda Vetting for the case under review. In evaluating an appeal, the UCC Appeals Committee on student Vetting may consult with the Liaison Person, Programme Coordinator and Head of School and any other relevant persons as appropriate and may seek a written response from any such individual to the grounds on which the appeal is made. In addition, the UCC Appeals Committee on Vetting may seek further written information from the appellant (student).

The UCC Appeals Committee on Vetting may decide to uphold the decision or amend the outcome (e.g. registration status) of the Vetting Assessment, or to effect such other remedy as it considers appropriate. The Chair will communicate the outcome of the appeal in writing to the appellant, the Liaison Person and the Head of School concerned. The decision of the Appeal Committee on Student Garda Vetting will be final and binding.

Re-vetting

Students should be aware that, given the duration of certain programmes, UCC reserves the right, at its discretion, to require certain groups of students or individual students to undergo a further Vetting process during the course of their Programme.

Students with relevant placements taking place in Year 4 may be subject to re-vetting in Year 3.

In addition, a student can be vetted or re-vetted if information concerning their suitability to work with children or vulnerable adults comes to the attention of UCC.

Revisiting a Vetting Decision

Following the outcome of the Vetting Process, should new or further information come to the attention of the University that calls a vetting decision into question, a stay will be put on the student’s placement and the student shall be suspended from carrying out the work placement until such information has been considered by the Student Vetting Review Committee.

Academic Affairs and Governance Gnothaí Acadúla agus Rialú

Student Vetting Policy and Procedure