Recruitment and vetting procedure

Who’s this procedure for?

This procedure has information for:

• Enquirers (someone who has registered their interest to volunteer with Girlguiding and is going through the recruitment and vetting process).
• Returning volunteers.
• Commissioners and other volunteers who have responsibilities throughout the process.
• Young members moving into an adult volunteering role.

It includes what they need to do and what to expect. There’s also information for young members moving into an adult volunteering role.

Please see the procedure for Scotland.

Commissioners, other volunteers involved in recruitment, and ID verifiers need to follow this procedure to make sure we provide a safe space for our members.

We have specific guidance for ID verifiers.

Commissioners may need to provide support if we open a compliance case to address any concerns raised during the recruitment and vetting process.

Full guidance and further details will be provided in these instances.

Find more details about the timelines for completing the recruitment and vetting checks on our website.

County commissioners are ultimately responsible for making sure that counties, divisions and districts ensure all enquirers complete their recruitment and vetting. It must be completed in line with the recruitment and vetting policy and procedure and within 40 days of the role being added on GO.

They also make sure that existing volunteers meet their deadlines to renew their disclosure checks and training. This includes having the appropriate references, and where appropriate, training and criminal record disclosure checks in place and in date, in line with our recruitment and vetting policy.

This involves making sure that:

• Existing volunteers undergo disclosure re-checks as required.
• Volunteers starting an additional volunteer role that requires disclosure checks, where their current role did not, start and complete these checks. Similarly, volunteers moving to a different disclosure area (for example moving from Scotland to England), start and complete disclosure checks appropriate for their new area.
• Young members under 18 aren’t left alone or in charge of a unit. This includes young volunteers. Find out more about working with young volunteers.
• No volunteers are left unsupervised until all disclosure checks have been completed, including when a current volunteer’s check needs to be renewed.

Our HQ disclosures team ([email protected])  processes disclosure check applications and references. If there are any concerns about someone’s suitability to volunteer, our HQ complaints and compliance team will open a case and manage this process. There’s more information about criminal record disclosure checks (referred to as disclosure checks), and references on this page.

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I’m applying to be a Girlguiding volunteer. What do I need to do?

You must complete our recruitment and vetting checks, so we can check your suitability to volunteer with us.

You’ll have to:

• Provide 2 satisfactory references.
• Complete a criminal record disclosure check, if it’s required for the role.
• As well as these checks, for most roles you must complete our safer guiding training. Safer guiding training makes sure volunteers offer girls a safe space where they can have fun, learn and grow. Find out how to use our learning platform to do the training.

You'll have 40 days to start each of these from the day your role is added on GO.

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I’m coming back to Girlguiding. What do I need to do?

If you’ve previously stopped all volunteering in Girlguiding and have now returned after 12 months or more, you’ll need to renew your checks. This is to make sure there’s no reason you can’t volunteer for us again.

You’ll need to:

• Provide 2 satisfactory references.
• Complete a disclosure re-check.
• If it has been more than 3 years, or if it has expired, you’ll also need to redo safer guiding training if your role requires it.

Regardless of the length of time away from Girlguiding, you may also need to complete a new disclosure check if you’ve moved to an area that requires a different type of disclosure check, for example from England to Scotland.

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Trying out units before checks

To give you a chance to try out your new role and make sure it’s right for you, you can visit a unit up to 4 times under supervision before you start your checks. But only under the following conditions:

• You’ve read and agreed to follow our unit safeguarding guidelines.
• In England, Wales, Northern Ireland and British Overseas Territories, you can join in with the unit meeting but you must be supervised by a leader at all times. The supervising leader must've completed their recruitment and vetting process and have an up-to-date disclosure check with Girlguiding, and completed their safer guiding training. You mustn’t be left alone with young members until your checks are complete.

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Attending units once you’ve started recruitment and vetting checks

Your role will be marked as active pending on GO whilst the reference and disclosure checks are ongoing. You must start this process within 40 days and follow all instructions to ensure these are completed as soon as possible. You can continue attending your chosen unit but you must be supervised. If there are any concerns during this process you may be asked to stop until checks are fully completed.

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What’s the reference process?

All enquirers and volunteers returning to Girlguiding after more than 12 months need 2 suitable character references.

A character reference is about whether the person has the qualities we look for in our volunteers. It’s different to an employment reference, which confirms where someone worked and for how long. A character reference could be provided by an employer or colleague, or a neighbour or friend, as long as they know the person well enough to comment on their qualities.

The person who gives the reference is called a referee.

An enquirer or volunteer going through the recruitment and vetting process must make sure:

• Their referees understand what they need to do.
• Their referees are aged 18 or over.
• Their referees have known them for at least 1 year.
• Their referees can’t be a relative or partner. This includes being related to someone through a spouse or partner.
• The enquirer or volunteer should have their referees’ permission to give their contact details to Girlguiding.
• Only 1 of the 2 referees can know the enquirer or volunteer through Girlguiding.

The enquirer or volunteer will receive an email asking them to add their referees' details through GO. There’s a help file available on the page and more information on using GO on our website. Once they’ve done this, their referees will be sent the reference request.

They’ll have 40 days to add the details of 2 referees, and the referees will have 40 days to submit their reference. If any of the references are unsuitable or referees don’t respond to the reference request, the enquirer or volunteer will have another 40 days to add another referee.

Girlguiding HQ will send the referees a questionnaire by email for them to fill in. We can also send it by post if the enquirer or volunteer doesn’t know their referee’s email address. Referees must respond using the questionnaire. If this is a problem for a referee we can look at other options.

The referee must:

• Answer every question in the questionnaire.
• Return the questionnaire within 40 days of Girlguiding HQ sending it. If not, the reference will be declined. We’ll send a reminder after 20 days if we haven’t had a response. An enquirer or volunteer can resend the reference request before this through GO.

If the referee doesn’t receive their questionnaire, it may be in their email junk folder. This is most common with work email accounts. An enquirer or volunteer can update the email address for the referee through GO, or change it to a postal address.

The questionnaire will ask the referee:

• How well they know the enquirer or volunteer.
• If they are responsible, honest, respectful of others and able to work as part of a team. 
• If they’re suitable to work with young people.
• If they’re suitable to handle finances and money.
• If there’s any reason why Girlguiding shouldn’t allow them to volunteer with us.
• To confirm that the information they’ve given is true to the best of their knowledge.

Our HQ complaints and compliance team may contact a referee if we need more details from them about their answers.

What happens if a reference isn’t accepted?

Sometimes references aren’t accepted. This might be because the referee didn’t meet the requirements listed above, or they didn’t respond within 40 days. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t allow the enquirer to join Girlguiding.

If a reference is marked as unsuitable because it didn’t meet the reference criteria, the enquirer or volunteer will be given the opportunity to add another referee and the process will begin again.

If a reference we receive contains information we need to look into, then our complaints and compliance team will contact the referee to gather more information. If the enquirer or volunteer receives 3 or more unsuitable references, the HQ complaints and compliance team will contact them.

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What’s the process for criminal record disclosure checks?

Girlguiding’s disclosure check process is triggered when:

• A role needing a disclosure check is added to an enquirer or volunteer’s record on GO, unless they already have a valid check for the relevant area.
• A volunteer needs to renew their disclosure check.

If your role requires a disclosure check you must let the Girlguiding HQ complaints and compliance team know about all unspent convictions and cautions. If you have adult spent convictions and cautions that aren't protected or ‘filtered’, you must tell us about those too. Check if this applies to you.

It’s important to make a start as soon as possible, as there can be delays while the local police force reviews the disclosure check application. The process must be started within 40 days of the volunteer role being added to GO.

Part of the process is verifying the enquirer or volunteer’s identity. This can be done digitally (volunteers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or by meeting with an ID verifier (volunteers in England, Wales and Scotland), who'll check their identity documents. In British Overseas Territories, their identity will be checked as part of the police check application process in their island.

ID verifiers must check our guidance on the role, including what documents can be accepted. Contact our HQ disclosures team ([email protected])  for advice if someone is having difficulty providing identity documents.

Timeline for disclosure checks

If an enquirer or volunteer needs a disclosure check or re-check they’ll receive communications to inform and remind them to complete this.

New enquirers must start their disclosure check within 40 days, and existing volunteers must start their disclosure re-check within 40 days of its expiry.

If a volunteer’s disclosure expires before their re-check has been fully completed (not just submitted), their role will become active-pending and they’ll need to be supervised whilst volunteering with young members. If they haven't started the disclosure check by the 80th day, their membership will be withdrawn or refused. Check the full timeline.

Commissioners will receive messages from GO asking them to support the disclosure check process. District, division and county users with commissioner or level support access on GO can see a list of all the disclosure checks which need to be started. A volunteer should contact their commissioner if they need extra time to complete the check.

Disclosure re-checks

Adult volunteers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must complete a new disclosure check (a re-check):

• Every 3 years if they’re still active in a role that requires a disclosure check.
• They’ve returned to guiding after leaving for 12 months or more.
• They’ve returned to guiding within 12 months but their original disclosure check has expired.
• Our HQ safeguarding or complaints and compliance team asks them to complete one.

If their disclosure is being re-checked because it expired they’ll need to be supervised in their role until the re-check or training is complete.

Paper DBS applications

Completing a DBS application online is fast and secure, but if this isn’t possible due to having insufficient ID documents, a paper application will need to be submitted. To request a paper DBS application, an enquirer or volunteer should contact their ID verifier.

For paper DBS applications, Girlguiding doesn't receive a notification of the result, so when the enquirer receives their certificate in the post they must send the original to the Girlguiding HQ for the attention of the disclosures team for review. We recommend sending certificates by recorded delivery, which can be reimbursed by your local area with receipts.

Our HQ disclosures team needs to review the certificate before the disclosure check can be marked as completed.

What happens when a disclosure check is complete?

For online DBS and AccessNI checks, Girlguiding receives a notification of the result of the check.

We’ll either accept the enquirer or volunteer, or refuse or withdraw their role.

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When recruitment and vetting checks are complete

Becoming a Girlguiding volunteer

When an enquirer or volunteer’s relevant checks are complete, Girlguiding HQ will confirm their role is active. On GO their role will change from active-pending to active, they can then access role relevant areas of Girlguiding’s membership systems and receive role relevant newsletters. They’ll now be able to fully start their volunteering role, take part in meetings, and attend residentials.

Current volunteers

Once a volunteer’s re-check is complete, they can continue in their role as before the re-check.

If necessary, the relevant HQ team will communicate separately about any conditions, such as a restriction on their role. This is to keep information about the reasons for the restriction confidential.

What happens if you don’t complete the recruitment and vetting process

If the recruitment and vetting process isn’t completed, or checks aren’t satisfactory, our HQ complaints and compliance team will let the enquirer or volunteer know in writing that their application to become a Girlguiding volunteer has been refused.

If they’re already a volunteer, their role will be withdrawn. The letter or email will explain the reasons for this, and the team will let their county commissioner know. The country or region chief commissioner will also check and approve any decision to withdraw an existing volunteer.

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Other types of involvement

Helpers at residentials

Any adult volunteer staying overnight with young members must be in a role requiring a disclosure check and have completed the recruitment and vetting process. They can be registered on GO as a unit, district, division or county helper.

In exceptional circumstances, the chief commissioner and HQ complaints and compliance team may allow a volunteer to attend a residential event without having a current Girlguiding disclosure check. For further information please contact [email protected].

Volunteers under 18

Volunteers under the age of 18, like young leaders and young external volunteers, don’t need to have references or a disclosure check. This is because they are still young members.

But young volunteers do need to be registered as volunteers on GO. And young volunteers should complete the a safe space training for their age group as part of their induction to volunteering. Find out more about our a safe space training for under 18s and working with young volunteers.

Working with other organisations

Organisations we work with may have different approaches to recruitment and vetting. When working with other organisations, like the Trefoil Guild, or hiring external activity providers, you must make sure their vetting processes are in line with Girlguiding’s.

If you have any concerns, speak to your commissioner or contact our HQ complaints and compliance team ([email protected]). And don’t forget to follow our guidance on visitors at unit meetings and events.

Visitors to your meetings

For information on external visitors to your meeting, see our visitors to your meetings page.

Parent and carer helpers

For information on including parents and carers as helpers in the unit, see our involving parents page.

External carers

For information on external carers (for example an allocated support worker or carer for a young member residing in a residential care home), see our how we keep your child safe page.

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Change log

• January 2026 – updated version published. Clarified when volunteers must renew their disclosure checks, and introduced a flowchart for young members becoming adult volunteers. There is also a new version of the procedure specific to volunteers who carry out their role in Scotland.
• August 2025 - updated to clarify when young leaders automatically move into the unit helper role, updated to say young members in Scotland can apply for their disclosure check 3 months before their 18th birthday, and information added about sharing PVG scheme disclosure with Girlguiding.
• June 2025 – new PVG rules mean that volunteers and enquirers in Scotland must not actively take part in unit meetings until their disclosure check is complete and confirmed by Girlguiding as satisfactory.
• June 2025 - updated with new process for enquirers and returning volunteers adding their own referee details.
• March 2025 – updated information on the referencing process, including the new timeline for referencing checks, changes to the criteria, and a new process for young leaders moving into adult volunteering roles.  
• January 2025 - corrected timeline for when checks need to be started by.
• November 2024 - added reference to recruitment of ex-offenders policy.
• September 2024 – added that ID verification can be done digitally (England and Wales only), and updated the process for those in British Overseas Territories.

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