The information provided on this application form will remain private and confidential and will only be used for recruitment and selection purposes. The processing of all information will be in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. Our privacy notice for volunteer applicants can be found on here: https://www.chscotland.gov.uk/privacy-information/. All information will be retained in line with the CHS Retention and Disposal Schedule (chscotland.gov.uk)

Before you begin

The form should take approx. 30 minutes.

There are several sections asking you to provide:

• Contact details
• Your own community knowledge
• Your own experience
• About you
• Your availability
• Checks
  • Any conflicts of interest
  • Safeguarding and PVG
  • References

You may prefer a desktop screen rather than a mobile device to complete the form.

If you have any questions, please contact: chsrecruit@chs.gov.scot

Equalities Monitoring: 

To meet our ambition of being an inclusive organisation, we aim to collect data from applicants which helps us monitor the diversity of our volunteers.  To do so, please do complete our short survey which will be made available to you once you have submitted your application.

The training for Panel Members is a over a number of days to ensure our volunteers are competent and confident to make the best decisions for and with children and young people. Children’s Hearings Scotland provides in person training opportunities across Scotland.

Those who are progressed to become trainees are expected to be able to access online learning material, join virtual meetings and attend in-person events to support the upskilling of our volunteers.

If you have any questions about the training please contact chsrecruit@chs.gov.scot

Please visit the website for further information or click on our training programme - and the hearing schedule in your local area to ensure your availability matches when hearings are held.

As CHS provides a critical statutory service, Panel Members are expected to be able to commit to two hearing sessions per month which often last 2-4 hours per session. 

Availability for volunteering
Please indicate when, in a typical week, you are available to volunteer with CHS.  

Note: typically, morning sessions occur from 0900 hours until 1230 hours and afternoon sessions occur from 1300 - 1700 hours.

Please visit the website for information by clicking here: when children's hearings are held in your area.

Please select as many options as possible - you will be required to do no more than two hearing sessions per month based on your own availability.

A conflict of interest is any situation where personal interests, relationships or employment  could, or could be seen to, influence decision-making, responsibilities or actions as a Panel Member, who makes impartial decisions. Conflicts of interests will not automatically stop anyone from becoming a volunteer, but they are important for Children’s Hearings Scotland to be aware of and manage accordingly, if possible.

Please contact: chsrecruit@chs.gov.scot to discuss in more detail.

Legally, Children’s Hearings Scotland requires a Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) satisfactory check before becoming a Panel Member to ensure you are eligible to work with children under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

We will start this process as soon as possible for those who are progressed to become a trainee.  We ask for your co-operation in completing the sections you will be required to as quickly as possible to ensure the PVG process is complete before Pre Service Training commences.

Please contact: chsrecruit@chs.gov.scot if you wish to discuss.

If you are selected for Pre Service Training, we will be in contact with you to start the application for a PVG on your behalf at no cost to you. This is a legal requirement for the Children's Panel Member role.

To ensure that our selection process is accessible to everyone, we want to make sure we can provide any resources or reasonable adjustments to accommodate candidates.

For those progressed to the next stage we will be in contact with you for information on how to best support you.  

Information provided is confidential and shared only with relevant staff members of CHS who provide support, such as our Well Being Co-ordinators.

Please add below two referees that can be contacted and are available to respond promptly. 

Referees should know you for more than two years, must not be family members or partners and can be from any volunteering or employment experiences, school or further/higher education, religious workers or neighbours (ideally from two different aspects of your life).