Many Halton schools and colleges offer their students aged 14-18 (Years 10-13) the opportunity to gain real life work experience. Your help in giving Halton young people that extra head start in life is invaluable.  Work experience can:

• Help students make more informed decisions about their future
• Boost a student’s motivation to work hard in school
• Instil a sense of responsibility and hard work in students
• Make students stand out to future employers or universities

But there are also real benefits for employers, including:

• Demonstrating your commitment to corporate responsibility and community engagement
• Opportunity for your staff to develop their supervisory and communication skills
• Preparing your future workforce
• Excellent recruitment tool for trainee positions
• Employees share a 'feel good factor' for doing something worthwhile

There are two ways to offer work experience: A student might approach you directly and ask if they can do work experience with your organisation.  They will have a 'self placement form' with the requested dates on.  If you are happy to offer the student a placement, please complete this form with your details and hand it back to the student who will hand it in at their school or college.  Remember to make a note of the student's name and when they're starting - we will write to you several weeks before the placement is due to start as a reminder. You can also contact u directly to offer work experience.  We can add you to our mailing list and will periodically send you a 'job book form' which includes the dates local schools will be doing work experience.  You can complete this form and return it offering as many or as few placements as you like. These placements are made available in school for students to select with the guidance of their teacher.  We'll write to you several weeks before the placement is due to start to let you know which student has asked to do work experience with you.

No, not if you already have Employers' Liability Insurance. Work experience students are classed as employees for health and safety purposes and are automatically covered under your Employers' Liability Insurance policy. You only need to notify your insurance provider if the placement will last longer than two weeks or if the student will be doing different work to your normal business activities. If you would like more information on work experience and insurance, the Association of British Insurers has a helpful guide.

Work experience students are treated as employees for the purposes of health and safety, therefore you must have employers' liability insurance. The only exemptions to this are for sole traders and family businesses (unless the business is incorporated as a limited company) where the young person is a close relative. However, if a sole trader or a family business offers work experience to a student who is not closely related to the employer, then you must have employers' liability insurance.  If this is the case and you don't already have employers' liability insurance, you should talk to your insurer about temporary cover for the duration of the placement.

Some workplaces are higher risk than others, but provided the right control measures are in place young people can do work experience in every industry, including manufacturing, construction and laboratories. You will already have risk assessments in place for your other employees.  These also apply to work experience students but you should review them to take into account the student's inexperience and immaturity. If you are in any doubt what work students are able to do on work experience, please get in touch and we will be happy to help.

You don't need to get your staff DBS (formerly CRB) checked in order to supervise or work with a young person on work experience. The only exception to this is when working with children is part of an employee's job description.  In most organisations, however, supervising children is not part of an employee's job description so they don't need a DBS check. If you're in any doubt, however, please get in touch and we'll be happy to help.

Every business has information and data which is confidential or industry sensitive. Every student on work experience organised by us signs a Placement Agreement Form which states: "I will keep confidential any information I gain about the employer’s lawful activities and will not disclose it to anyone without the employer’s permission." Understanding the importance of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act is an important part of work experience.  Students are briefed beforehand and you may also wish to stress this during the student's induction.

Work experience students typically do not need to be DBS checked, even when working with children or vulnerable adults. Children under 16 cannot be DBS checked by law, whatever their role. Students over 16 may be DBS checked but it is not a requirement because students should not be working unsupervised at any time.  Care Quality Commission guidance states; "Students under 18 years of age on placements such as work experience do not require a CRB check on the basis that the role will not be taking the place of an existing care worker and will be supervised." However, it is always sensible to put sensible control measures in place to minimise risk e.g. in a residential care home, students should not go into to residents' bedrooms unsupervised. Similarly, sensible control measures should be put in place for work experience students who will be working with children e.g. students should not be allowed to bathe or toilet children. But although it is not a requirement, it is always for the employer to make a judgement on whether to DBS check a work experience student who is over 16 years of age.

Students are briefed before work experience on the high standards they are expected to meet.  If the student continually misbehaves even after being spoken to, you should inform school or get in touch.

Visit the safeguarding website»