sectors

Background checks enable education institutions to conduct due diligence while hiring academics, administrators, and support staff. The goal being to preserve the safety of the students and reputation of the organisation. The educational industry has a duty of care towards students, faculty, and staff. This sector is expected to promote a safe working environment which can be ensured with quality hires. The checks mandatory for this sector includes educational verification, criminal record checks and previous employment checks (including uncovering any safeguarding issues).

Implementing a thorough screening programme is important for a regulated sector like financial services. Employers need to conduct a comprehensive background check due to the sensitivity and responsibilities given to employees in this industry, industry related background checks should also be conducted. Whether regulated by the FCA or PRA there are different requirement depending on the role the applicant will be undertaking, this ranges from unregulated roles, certified roles up to roles under the SMCR (Senior Managers and Certification Regime).

IT is one of the fastest moving industries in the UK. Employees working in this industry have access to intellectual property and sensitive client information. It is important to conduct thorough pre-employment screening on all employees in this sector. Checks recommended for this sector include BPSS checks, internet mining, educational and professional verification, and employment gap analysis.

The Legal sector is categorised to be one of the most regulated sectors. Lawyers are stakeholders of law firms, and the reputation of business is based on their conduct. It is mandatory to validate background of every new hire to ensure business safety. Background checks designed for legal sector enable you to stay compliant with regulatory standards. For every law firm findings of background checks are based on the results of criminal records, education and employment history, civil records, personal and professional references, and credit checks. Background checks will vary dependent on the role within the firm.

Recruitment industry has grown by 27% since 2008. Companies operating in this sector face challenges to stay compliant and deliver the best talent to their clients. Conducting background checks is mandatory for this sector and often mandated by their clients as it mitigates the risk of bad hire. Checks that are important for this sector include identity confirmation, reference checks, credit checks, right to work check, criminal record checks and education verification.

Employers need to verify the authenticity of job seekers for all levels of positions in government, this can be from BPSS level to higher level clearances depending on the nature of the job and access to information. Background checks are conducted on all candidates to verify details and identify potential hiring risks. When it comes to hiring for governmental positions, no other industry requires such careful, diligent review in the screening process. Whether government officials providing state services or support staff/contractors dealing with sensitive information, it is important to carefully review their application ahead of time. The recommended checks for government sector include identity verification, 3 years employment tracking, right to work check and criminal record check.

In the pharmaceutical industry the threat of bad hire is significantly high. Employees within this sector have a high duty of care. A bad hire can be direct risk to the company reputation and all the stakeholders. Any prospect candidates and existing staff must be screened effectively to reduce risk. Checks mandatory for this sector include identity and document verification, credit checks, regulatory checks, DVLA checks, drug and alcohol checks, employment history and criminal record checks.

It can be challenging for any organisation to be 100% sure that their screening process is always compliant. If the HR department are responsible, often the pressure of work means that certain elements of the screening may not always be followed up - who wants to be chasing references all day when other tasks are mounting up? Or, if it’s a devolved responsibility, such as line managers, then it’s even harder to be sure everyone is following the same processes. Outsourcing means that an agreed process is always followed, and all candidates are screened to the appropriate level, your provider will have robust audit trails and reporting in place to give confidence that you are compliant in each and every case.