Employment checks are an important part of the recruitment process. In the UK, it’s required by law that employers run identity, right to work, criminal record, and professional reference checks.
However, companies must know what they can and cannot ask potential employees to prevent discrimination and non-compliance.
Legal Compliance
It’s illegal for businesses in the UK to hire someone who doesn’t have the right to work here, and that’s why pre-employment screening is often an essential step in a recruitment process. Without proper background checks, a company could be fined up to £20,000 per worker. But with an efficient bespoke screening solution, it’s simple to check a candidate’s credentials at the touch of a button and remove any paperwork hassle for both parties. Like with INS Global
Depending on what type of position you’re hiring for, you might need to run some additional checks beyond basic criminal record searches. For example, if the person works with children or vulnerable adults, you must run CRB/DBS checks. These will reveal any criminal convictions and conditional cautions (alternative to prosecution) that may be registered.
If you’re a government contractor, you must ensure that all contractors and third-party staffing or service providers you hire comply with NHS Employment Check Standards. This includes ensuring that they have robust processes for manual checks on original current British and Irish passports. This is even more important following the end of Covid-19 temporarily adjusted statements on 30 September 2022. Luckily, it’s easy to meet these requirements with a fully automated identity verification system that uses e-signatures and machine learning to make it as fast and seamless as possible.
Reduced Risk of Fraud
As an employer, you are legally required to run several pre employment checks in the UK before you onboard a new employee. These may include ID verification, a right-to-work check and references. You can use an efficient bespoke screening company to save time, ensure compliance with the law and reduce risk.
Employment fraud costs organizations a lot of money. It’s one of the biggest causes of internal fraud, accounting for up to 15% of all business losses1. This type of fraud can be triggered by an event or a pattern of behavior, either deliberate or accidental. It is often committed by those recruited after false representation or misreporting during the hiring process.
These types of cases don’t just result in lost revenue but can also damage a company’s reputation and customer trust. It’s, therefore, crucial to carry out the correct checks at the right time during the recruitment process.
Reduced Unwanted Turnover
The main goal of UK employment checks is to ensure the employee has the right to work in the country. This is an essential part of the hiring process because if it turns out that the company hired someone who did not have the right to work in the UK, then they may be fined up to £20,000 per worker.
Another benefit of employment screening in the UK is that it can help to reduce unwanted turnover. High turnover can be costly for a business, especially when hiring new employees to replace those who leave. In addition, it can lead to lower productivity, which can have a negative impact on customer satisfaction.
Unwanted turnover often stems from dissatisfaction with the job, not feeling valued by the company, or a lack of career advancement opportunities. It can also be caused by a misalignment between what the job description says and what candidates believe the role entails.
A background check can help prevent this by ensuring that the job description is accurate and screening out candidates who need to gain the necessary skills or experience for the role. It can also be beneficial to conduct annual employment checks for existing employees, particularly those in positions where they could be exposed to sensitive information or cause harm to customers or colleagues.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
A happy and productive team of employees is necessary for any company, and running thorough employment checks helps ensure that you only hire the best people. With a deeper insight into an applicant’s background, you can be sure that they are who they say they are, have the qualifications and skills they claim to have, and are legally allowed to work in the UK.
Employment background checks are important on a legal and regulatory level, as companies can be fined for hiring workers who aren’t permitted to work in the UK or who have criminal records. They’re also important to reduce the risk of fraud and help prevent unwanted turnover.
Employers can run several different background checks on candidates in the UK. These include DBS checks (or Disclosure and Barring Service checks) to check for convictions, cautions, warnings, or reprimands on an individual’s record; a credit history check to see their financial health; and references.
Another type of check is the BPSS clearance check, a stringent check required for people with access to sensitive government data or information, such as those working for the NHS or the Ministry of Justice. These types of checks can be conducted by a third party, such as Secure Screening Services, which has the required expertise to run these checks efficiently and securely.
