From our experience of working with clients in the Recruitment sector, we know that positions often need to be filled extremely quickly and ensuring that they have the right candidates for these roles is essential.
Conducting accurate and appropriate pre-employment checks is an important aspect in selecting the right candidate for the role and a current DBS Check is a crucial part of this process.
If you’re unsure about the level of check that your candidates need, we have put together the below blog which will hopefully help answer some of these questions for you.
What level of check do my candidates need?
Unless the role involves working with Children or Vulnerable Adults, it’s highly unlikely that the candidate will be eligible for anything other than a Basic or Standard DBS Check. There are some roles that don’t come into contact with protected groups that will require an Enhanced DBS Check but these are few and far between.
If they aren’t eligible for an Enhanced Check because they aren’t working directly with Children or Vulnerable Adults but they are coming into contact with these groups in the course of performing their duties, they may be eligible for a Standard Check. These could be Cleaners or Caterers within a Hospital or Football Stewards.
If the client is recruiting for roles that relate to a position of trust, it is likely that these will be eligible for a Standard Check. These include FCA regulated roles, Traffic Wardens and High Court Enforcement Officers.
For roles such as Barristers, Chartered Accountants and Veterinary Surgeons, they will typically have a professional regulator that will apply for a DBS Check on their behalf so it’s unlikely that you will need to complete a check for candidates applying for these roles. If you’re ever unsure about a role, please contact us for advice.
What if our candidates don’t fall into those categories above?
For the majority of industries such as Retail, IT, Manufacturing and Administration, there would be no legal eligibility for a DBS Check to be carried out so therefore a Basic DBS Check is the only option available to them.
Although a Basic DBS Check is the lowest level of Criminal Record Check, it is still valuable as it will detail any unspent convictions that an applicant has. These are typically offences that are serious or have been committed recently so we believe that having access to this information is crucial in making safer recruitment decisions.
Implementing a Basic DBS Check as part of your onboarding strategy can play a major role in safeguarding. We believe it’s important that we practice what we preach which is why we undertake regular background checks on all of our employees to ensure that we mitigate potential risk to our business, clients, staff and suppliers. We also actively encourage organisations to follow our lead whenever we’re out on the road at trade shows and exhibitions.
Where can I find out more information?
Our Resource Hub contains a wealth of information that has been put together by our incredible team here at Disclosure Services. We have dedicated hundreds of hours of our time to create content that is both interesting and informative including Video Tutorials, Infographics and Guidance Information. These cover all levels of check so be sure to check them out.
If you still require assistance, please get in touch and we will be happy to help. Even if you are not a client of ours, safeguarding is of the upmost importance to us so the more people we can help protect, the better.
