Reference Request Forms – Follow My Link

General Guidance

The application form should request both professional and character references, one of which should be from the applicant’s current or most recent employer.

Additional references may be asked for where appropriate. For example, where the applicant is not currently working with children, but has done so in the past, a reference from that employer should be asked for in addition to that from the current or most recent employer if this is different.

Wherever possible references should be obtained prior to the interview so that any issues of concern raised by the reference can be explored further with the referee and taken up with the candidate during interview.

References should contain objective verifiable information and in order to achieve this, a reference pro-forma with questions relating to the candidate’s suitability to work with children should be provided.

The referee should be asked to confirm whether the applicant has been the subject of any disciplinary sanctions and whether the applicant has had any allegations made against him / her or concerns raised which relate to either the safety or welfare of children and young people or about the applicant’s behaviour towards children or young people.

Details about the outcome of any concerns or allegations should be sought.

The identity of the referee should also be checked (e.g. by phoning a listed land-line for the organisation / person giving the reference).

Example Reference Request Form:

Our Candidate Name:

Position Applied For:

Your Name:

How long have you known our candidate:

What is your relationship to our candidate:

If our candidate worked for (or with) you, please give the date their employment began:

Note: please use DD.MM.YY format

If our candidate has left work with your organisation, please give the date on which their employment ended:

Note: please use DD.MM.YY format

Please say what our candidate's job title is (or was):

Please list our candidate's main duties and responsibilities:

If our candidate has left employment with your organisation (or has given or received notice of termination) what was the reason for this?

Is our candidate able to work well in a challenging work environment?

Are our candidate's communication skills good in these areas:

oral communication skills
written communication skills

Did our candidate perform his/her duties satisfactorily?

If you answered 'no' above, please provide details of any area/s that required improvement:

Please review the job description / person specification for our vacancy; in your view is our candidate suitable for this position?

{Provide link to JD & PS here}

Has our candidate been subject to any formal or informal disciplinary or capability warnings (or is any such process pending)?

Note: only include details of warnings that remain 'live' unless the issue related to the safety and welfare of children or young people and was not based on an allegation that was found to be malicious.

If you answered 'yes' above, please provide details of any area/s that required improvement:

Would you re-employ our candidate if you had a vacancy similar to the position we are recruiting to?

Have any allegations been made against our candidate, or have any concerns been raised, which relate to either the safety or welfare of children and young people or about our candidate's behaviour towards children or young people?

If you answered 'yes' above, please provide full details of the outcome of the concern/s or allegation/s:

Are you aware of anything that may affect our candidate's suitability to work with children or young people?

If you answered 'yes' above, please provide full details of the basis of your concern/s:

Phone