This matters because a good deal of training is sold to agencies on the claim that KCSiE requires it. It does not, and a compliance manager who checks will find that out. Here is what is actually there.
Who KCSiE is addressed to
KCSiE is issued under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 and related regulations. Schools and colleges in England must have regard to it. An employment agency is not a duty holder under it. The training paragraphs, 153 and 154, begin “governing bodies and proprietors should ensure”, and that is who they bind.
The must and should distinction
What KCSiE does put on the agency
| Paragraph | What it says | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| 364 | Schools must obtain written notification from the agency that it has carried out the same checks the school would otherwise perform, including confirmation that the enhanced DBS certificate was obtained | Legal duty, on the school, discharged through you |
| 365 | Where a DBS certificate disclosed any matter, the school must obtain a copy of it from the agency | Legal duty |
| 366 | Where a barred list check is required, it must be obtained by the agency before the individual is appointed | Legal duty |
| 348, 349 | The single central record must cover agency staff even for one day, and record the written confirmation and its date | Legal duty |
| 455 to 458 | On an allegation about a supply teacher, schools “share safeguarding responsibilities with the employment agency or business”. The agency usually leads on disciplinary action and must co-operate with the LADO | Statutory guidance |
| 458 | Refers to "the duty placed on agencies to refer to the DBS as personnel suppliers" | Points at a real legal duty on you |
Read that list again and notice what is not in it. Checks, records, confirmations, co-operation on allegations. Not training.
So where does the training expectation come from?
Three places, none of them KCSiE.
- Regulation 19 of the Conduct Regulations 2003, which makes it a legal duty for an employment business to confirm a work-seeker has the training the hirer considers necessary. The trigger is the school’s requirement, not a training mandate.
- APSCo Compliance+ requirement 26A, a voluntary membership standard asking for safeguarding training within the last 12 months before placement, evidenced by the certificate.
- What schools ask for, which is increasingly a dated certificate before they will accept the booking.
Does the school have to induct a supply teacher?
Paragraph 124 says safeguarding policies, Part One and the identity of the DSL should be provided to all staff on induction. Paragraph 125 then says governing bodies "should take a proportionate risk-based approach to the level of information that is provided to temporary staff, volunteers and contractors". So there is an induction expectation, and there is express latitude about how much of it a one-day supply teacher gets. Anyone claiming KCSiE mandates a full safeguarding induction for every supply teacher has not read paragraph 125.
What this means for you, practically
Do not buy training because someone told you KCSiE requires it. Buy it because reg 19 makes confirming it your legal duty, because APSCo audits it, because schools ask for it, and because a supply teacher who knows what to do on a Tuesday morning in an unfamiliar building is worth having. Those reasons are all true, and they survive scrutiny.