Safe Practice.

A DBS check is a criminal record check that all regular Girlguiding Volunteers are required to complete, to ensure we are a safe space for all young members. You must hold a valid disclosure check, as without it you cannot volunteer.

You’ll need to complete a DBS check within your first 40 days of having an active volunteer role. If your check has not been started within 80 days, you risk losing your membership. If you are having issues with completing a DBS check please contact your local commissioner, or the HQ disclosures team at disclosures@girlguiding.org.uk. They are there to support you and can apply for an extension if needed.

Girlguiding does not accept disclosure checks from other organisations.

We carry out our own checks so our approach is consistent, and we can be confident the check is valid for the purposes of volunteering with Girlguiding.

Safer Guiding is Girlguiding’s new safeguarding training, replacing the previous A Safe Space levels 1, 2, and 3. It is compulsory to complete. New volunteers must complete Safer Guiding within 40 days of beginning their role, and current volunteers must complete safer guiding before their highest level of Safe Space training expires. Current volunteers will be contacted 40 days before their Safe Space expiration date to remind them to complete safer guiding.

If you have any questions about safer guiding please email saferguiding@girlguidingnortheast.org.uk.

Safer Guiding can be completed as an eLearning on the Learning Platform. This takes approximately 3 hours to complete but does not have to be completed in one go.

You can also attend a webinar or in-person training to complete Safer Guiding. Webinar sessions can also be booked through the learning platform. Head to learning.girlguiding.org.uk, click on ‘Find Learning’, and search ‘Safer Guiding Webinar’.

If there isn’t a course available when you first look, please do check back as we add new course dates when they’re available.

You must have either valid A Safe Space or Safer Guiding training, as without it you cannot volunteer, and you risk your Girlguiding membership being withdrawn.

If you can’t do the training in time, for example because of technical difficulties or challenging personal circumstances, please speak to your local commissioner as soon as possible. They are there to help you and can apply for an extension if you need it.

Safer Guiding contains four quizzes, and you must pass all the quizzes in order to pass the training. If you fail one or more of the quizzes please get in contact with your local commissioner or contact us directly at saferguiding@girlguidingnortheast.org.uk, so we can support you in completing this training.

Please also note, that if you fail Safer Guiding, as long as we are aware and are in the process of helping you to complete this, you won’t face any consequences for not having completed this.

Safe Space Level 4 still exists independently of Safer Guiding, however this training will now only need to be completed once, and will no longer need to be renewed.

Safe Space Level 4 trainings can still be booked through the learning platform. If there isn’t a course available when you first look, please do check back as we add new course dates when they’re available.

Face-to-face training is organised at county level. Please refer to your county communications, such as, Facebook, website or newsletter, or contact your County Administrator.