HR software for education providers who deliver through freelancers
Tutors, coaches, artists and musicians working across dozens of schools. The compliance problem is that almost none of them are on your payroll.
The data protection point, at source
Holding DBS certificates and safeguarding records for a pool of freelancers is processing personal data, and one principle does most of the work here.
Storage limitation and data minimisation. Personal data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary, and kept in a form which permits identification for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed (source: UK GDPR, Article 5). Checked 2 September 2026.
In practice that means recording the fact and date of a check, rather than hoarding certificate scans indefinitely because nobody decided when to delete them. What you retain, and for how long, is a decision for your organisation and your safeguarding lead.
Right to work checks, for the staff you actually employ. Keep the copy for the whole of the person's employment and for two years after they leave, make a copy that cannot be changed, and record the date the check was made (source: GOV.UK — Check a job applicant's right to work). Checked 2 September 2026. This applies to your employed core, not to genuinely self-employed freelancers.
The pool changes faster than the paperwork
The people delivering your sessions are largely self-employed. They work for you on Tuesdays and for somebody else on Wednesdays, they come and go between terms, and they have no particular reason to tell you when a certificate lapses.
Meanwhile the schools you work in will ask - reasonably - for evidence before letting somebody through the door. A DBS certificate, public liability insurance, sometimes a qualification or a safeguarding certificate.
So you end up as the middle party in a documentation chain you do not control at either end. You cannot compel a freelancer to send you an updated certificate, and you cannot send somebody into a school without one.
This is the actual job, and it is worth naming plainly: chasing documents from people who do not work for you, and being able to produce them for people who are not your customer either.
Newave Music and Arts, who deliver creative workshops in schools using subcontracted artists, musicians and educators, describe exactly this as the problem HR Henry solved for them.
A portal they fill in themselves
The freelancer portal exists so the chasing stops being your job.
Each freelancer gets their own login and uploads their own documents. DBS certificates, insurance, qualification certificates and training certificates, each stored with an expiry date where one applies.
DBS certificates get structured fields rather than being a scan with a filename: the DBS number, the date of issue and the issuing organisation are captured as data, and all three are required before the record will save. That is deliberate - a DBS certificate that has been filed without its issue date is not much use when a school asks how recent the check is.
You can also send a document request through the system. Rather than a text message that gets read and forgotten, the freelancer sees an outstanding request against their own record, and you see who has not responded.
Freelancers submit invoices through the same portal, which for most providers means the compliance chase and the payment chase stop being two separate conversations.
Individual portal logins so freelancers upload their own documents.
DBS number, date of issue and issuing organisation held as structured, required fields.
Insurance, qualification and training certificates with expiry dates.
Document requests recorded against the person, so you can see who has not responded.
Invoices submitted through the same portal.
Knowing what has lapsed before a school does
Every document with an expiry date feeds an expiring records view, which is the part that changes how the term runs.
The uncomfortable version of this problem is not that somebody's insurance expired. It is that you found out when a school administrator emailed to ask, two days before a session, with no cover available.
A list of what lapses in the next month turns that into a scheduling problem in advance rather than a cancellation on the day.
It also makes the annual conversation with a school straightforward. When somebody asks what you hold on the person you are sending, the answer is a record with dates on it rather than a search through an inbox.
Safeguarding and the training you can evidence
The course catalogue includes Safeguarding Children and Prevent Duty, both CPD accredited, along with Children and Young People's Mental Health, Autism Awareness, ADHD Awareness, Becoming a Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Early Years Foundation Stage and Emergency First Aid at Work.
Courses are assigned, completed and recorded against the individual with certificates, and where a renewal period applies the record carries an expiry so it appears in the same expiring list as everything else.
The limit is worth stating clearly. HR Henry does not certify that any course satisfies a particular school's safeguarding policy, a local authority requirement, or statutory guidance. It holds what people have completed and when. Whether that is sufficient for the settings you work in is a judgement for you and your safeguarding lead.
Employed staff sit alongside, not instead
Most providers are a mix. A small permanent core - coordinators, a director, perhaps an administrator - and a much larger freelance pool around it.
Employed staff are held as normal employee records with contracts, right to work copies, qualifications and certificates attached and typed, holiday and absence tracked, and training recorded the same way.
One difference is worth knowing before you decide anything, because it is the sort of thing suppliers gloss over. The structured DBS fields described above sit on the freelancer side. For an employed member of staff you can file a DBS certificate as a document with an expiry date, but without the dedicated number, issue date and issuing organisation fields.
For most providers in this sector that is the right way round, because the freelance pool is where the DBS volume actually is. If your model is mostly employed staff, it is worth raising with us rather than assuming.
Frequently asked questions
Can freelancers upload their own DBS and insurance documents?
Yes. Each freelancer gets a portal login and uploads their own DBS certificates, insurance, qualifications and training certificates. DBS records capture the DBS number, date of issue and issuing organisation as required fields rather than as a scan with a filename.
How do I chase a missing certificate?
You send a document request through the system. It sits against the freelancer's own record as an outstanding item, so they can see what is missing and you can see who has not responded - rather than tracking it through text messages.
Will it tell me what is about to expire?
Yes. Every document with an expiry date feeds an expiring records view listing what lapses across the whole pool, so a certificate running out becomes a scheduling question in advance rather than a cancellation on the day.
Does it handle employed staff as well as freelancers?
Yes, as separate record types. Employed staff have contracts, right to work copies, holiday, absence and training. Note that the structured DBS fields sit on the freelancer side - for an employee you file the certificate as a document with an expiry date.
Do you provide safeguarding training?
The catalogue includes Safeguarding Children and Prevent Duty, both CPD accredited, plus Children and Young People's Mental Health, Autism Awareness and Emergency First Aid at Work. We do not certify that any of them satisfies a particular school or local authority requirement.
Can freelancers invoice through the system?
Yes. Invoices are submitted through the same portal the documents go through, so compliance and payment are not two separate conversations with the same person.
