Managing staff allegations
County Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Services
The County LADO Service deals with allegations against staff who work with children either in education or the wider children's workforce.
If you need to speak to the LADO Service regarding an allegation against a member of staff please contact the LADO Service or complete the referral form. Your details will be taken and passed to the LADO on duty. The same LADO will support you through the process until the matter has been resolved.
Referral Forms
Please be aware that the County LADO Service (CLS) is no longer accepting Professional referrals by email, in the form of a Word Document. All Professional referrals will need to be submitted using the Kent Integrated Children's Services Portal
Once you have completed and submitted the referral you will receive a notification stating that it has been received by the County LADO Service. If you do not receive this notification, it will mean that you have not sent the referral correctly.
Please note that key demographics are important and are a requirement. It is not appropriate to submit a referral form with incorrect details such as a false date of birth. There are three significant reasons why the CLS requests that you ensure you have completed the form correctly:
- Safeguarding and risk management - if details are incorrect or missing the LADO is unable to check if the member of staff has previously been known. Equally, when sharing details with partner agencies such as the Police, incorrect details will lead to missing key data and potential known risk factors.
- It is also not proportionate for the CLS to contact an employer for details of a member of staff. The CLS has no direct link and may not progress any subsequent referral against the harm threshold. As the referrer you will be far more likely to have a role with the employer under safeguarding duties and or a link e.g., through a child you work with.
- Incorrect or false information leads to false records being created and a vulnerability that a member of staff that may pose a safeguarding risk is overlooked.
As a result, if we now receive a referral through the portal with key information missing, we shall have to return it to the referrer, through the portal, requesting that the missing data be added. The CLS gives three working days for these to be returned with the details required, however if on the third day a response has not been received the referral will be rejected. This will mean that the referrer will be required and accountable for resubmitting it as soon as possible with the full and correct details.
The Parent and Carers referral form is not currently available through the portal, please follow the usual process of completing and sending to kentchildrenslado@kent.gov.uk.
Contact Details
County LADO Service: 03000 41 08 88
Email: kentchildrenslado@kent.gov.uk
If a call is urgent i.e. a child is in immediate danger and requires safeguarding, call 03000 41 11 11.
If a call is urgent and outside of office house call 03000 41 91 91.
LADO Feedback Form
The County LADO Service welcomes feedback to help improve our services, please complete our feedback form
Local and National guidance
KCC managing allegations against staff practice guidance
This guidance should be used in respect of all cases in connection with the person who works with children in either a paid or unpaid (volunteer) capacity where it is alleged that a person has:
- behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child
- possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child
- behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates he or she may pose a risk of harm to children
- behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to with children (includes transfer of risk, risk by association).
- Guidance for safer working practice for those working with children and young people in education settings
- Managing allegations against staff in the children's workforce (PDF, 657.9 KB)
- Guidance for investigation reports for all settings (PDF, 164.1 KB)
- County LADO Service (CLS) escalation guidance (DOCX, 54.5 KB)
- CLS privacy notice and retention policy (DOC, 111.0 KB)
Leaflets