Staff Screening: What are the Options?

Assent Tech Risk discusses the options for employers to security screen new staff.

Choosing the right people for your organisation is critical and there are many factors to consider such as experience, qualifications and personality.

Perhaps most importantly though, is to choose thew appropriate level of screening for the job role. here we look at some options.

Reference Checking Only
Most organisations request candidates to provide references but how many follow them up?

Unfortunately some employers are inclined to give factual references rather than, character references, to avoid legal complications.

A factual reference may only tell you dates of employment, job title and reason for dismissal – as required by law.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS Checks)
The Disclosure and Barring Service is similar to the previous Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) Checks.

A Standard DBS Check is available to job roles with high responsibility and will provide details of any convictions.

An Enhanced DBS Check is available for certain activities such as working with children or other vulnerable people. The Enhanced certificate includes additional information that the Police believe to be relevant.

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) 
BPSS is a set of additional pre-employment checks designed to assess the characteristics of the candidate. It is used in Government and Civil Service Settings as well as being adopted by the private sector.

Security Check (SC) 
Is a level of clearance that includes criminal, security and credit checks. The candidate will usually also need to have been a UK resident for a minimum of 5 years.

Others
Counter-Terrorist Check (CTC) and Developed Vetting (DV) are two other vetting processes that may be available depending on the job role.

More Information
National security vetting https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/united-kingdom-security-vetting.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks (previously CRB checks) https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview

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Robert Clements
Robert Clements
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