Explainer: What employers need to know about the placements forms

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Forms on the Unifrog Placements tool 

The placements tool is a series of forms that help schools and colleges manage the admin for work experience. There are seven forms in total:

• Student initial form
• Employer initial form
• Parent/caregiver agreement
• Permission
• Check-in
• Employer review
• Student reflection

Once one person completes their form, the next person in the process is automatically notified by email.

How the process starts

The student begins by arranging their own placement with you. Once you agree to host them, they log the placement on Unifrog by filling in the Student initial form.

After this, you’ll receive an email from Unifrog asking you to complete the Employer initial form. The email includes a direct link to the form.

The Employer initial form

The Employer initial form is based on Health and Safety Executive guidance and Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. It helps make sure placements are safe and legally compliant.

You’ll need to provide information about the placement and confirm details such as:

• whether your organisation has employers' liability insurance
• whether you have a risk assessment and health and safety policy

If you have employers' liability insurance, you’ll need to upload a copy of the certificate. If it expires before the placement ends, the platform will ask you to upload the new one. If your organisation is exempt (for example, the NHS), you can confirm this instead.

If the student has shared that they have special needs, or if you’ve said your workplace has higher risks, or if you’ve never hosted a placement before, you’ll also need to upload your health and safety policy and risk assessment.

If your organisation has fewer than five employees, you don’t usually need written versions of these documents. However, you should still think about risks in your workplace and confirm that you have a policy in place.

If you have problems uploading documents, you can use the ‘Problem uploading’ option to explain why.

For more information on safeguarding and the legals behind placements, see our guide Placements: the legals explained. 

What happens next

Once you submit the Employer initial form, the parent/caregiver and school or college will complete their sections. When all forms are finished, you’ll receive an email confirming that the placement can go ahead.

After the placement ends, you’ll receive another email asking you to complete the Employer review form. This lets you share feedback about the placement and confirm if you’d like to host another student.

You’ll also be asked if you’d like to join the Placements contacts database so that teachers can get in touch with you in the future about work experience and other opportunities.