Criminal record checks are vital in ascertaining whether the individual you’re hiring has any criminal convictions or cautions on their record. In the UK, these are known as Criminal Record Checks. Alongside background searches, they’re a central aspect of your due diligence when hiring people.
Recruiting the wrong person costs five to 27 times more than the candidate’s annual salary–so it’s important you get it right first time.
In this guide to criminal record checks and background search services in the UK, we’ll delve into the types of Criminal Record Checks and the legal framework around them, so you can make safer and better-informed hiring decisions.
Importance of these checks
Criminal record checks and background searches are a top priority in ensuring trust and safety in your organisation. Criminal record checks and background searches are particularly common in volunteer organisations, schools, not-for-profits, and social care roles. However, hiring managers may want to use Criminal Record Checks in any role or sector to really understand the background of the person they’re hiring.
Basics of criminal record checks in the UK
By providing criminal record information The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enables employers to make safer decisions in their recruitment processes.
One of the DBS’s guiding principles is to prevent unsuitable individuals from working with vulnerable people through its barring functions. The service was established in 2012, replacing the previous CRB check, which it’s often still colloquially referred to as.
Here’s a breakdown of the different types of Criminal Record Checks available.
- Basic check: Shares information with employers about unspent convictions or conditional cautions. This is suitable for any position, but in particular, those not involving direct contact with vulnerable groups.
- Standard check: This includes spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands, and warnings. It provides a more comprehensive history, and is commonly used for functions in security, financial services, and legal professions.
- Enhanced check: An enhanced check provides all of the information in the Standard Check plus any information held by local police. This is a requisite for roles requiring work with children or vulnerable adults, such as teaching and healthcare.
- Enhanced with barred lists check: Includes all of the information in the Enhanced Check, plus a check of the DBS barred lists (lists of individuals barred from working with children or vulnerable adults). This is mandatory for positions where the candidate operates with high levels of responsibility, like policing, or has regular, unsupervised contact with vulnerable people, such as care work.
Criminal record checks in the UK are governed by several laws designed to protect people’s data, avoid discrimination and to safeguard vulnerable people in society.
- Data Protection Act 2018: Ensures that personal data is processed lawfully and transparently. It provides individuals with rights over their data, including access and correction.
- Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974: Allows certain convictions to be considered 'spent' after a rehabilitation period. Once a conviction is spent, it does not need to be disclosed in most circumstances, protecting individuals from discrimination in the workplace based on their past..
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006: This the legal framework for vetting people who work with vulnerable groups and maintaining the barred lists.
Exploring background search services
Background checks operate differently to Criminal Record Checks. Instead, they look at a candidate’s history through a more holistic set of criteria, such as:
- Employment history: Background searches can verify the accuracy of a candidate's job history.
- Educational qualification: They can also check academic history and professional qualifications against the candidate’s information provided.
- Credit checks: By assessing candidate’s financial history, hirers can get a better idea of how responsible they are with money. This is most often used for roles with large financial responsibilities.
Background searches involve highly personal information. This means employers can often stumble into legal and ethical issues without meaning to.
When carrying out background checks, be sure to gather explicit consent from the candidate before it’s conducted. Also, be transparent about the scope of the checks, and ensure all information is handled safely and in accordance with data protection laws. The bottom line is that any hiring decisions informed by background checks are fair, secure and nondiscrimanatory.
Your goal is to create an equitable working environment. If biases interfere with your decision making, you could be leaving yourself open to cases of unfair dismissal. For instance, if a candidate failed to disclose a spent conviction in the interview, and were later dismissed for failing to disclose this, they’d have legitimate reasons to bring a case against you for unfair dismissal.
Navigating the Process
Here’s a step-by-step guide for applying for a Criminal Record Check:
- Determine the type of check: Assess the role to choose the level of check you need (basic, standard, enhanced, or enhanced with barred lists). The criteria should be base on issues like direct contact with vulnerable adults, and if they will be operating high levels of responsibility for others.
- Complete your application Fill out the necessary online forms, which includes personal details, addresses, and ID.
- Submit your application: The DBS application will be submitted by the hiring body. If any errors or inconsistencies are found, the DBS will return the application to the umbrella organisation within 24 hours for correction.
- Police National Computer (PNC) Search: If the application form is filled out correctly and no further verification is needed, the information is cross-referenced with the Police National Computer (PNC) database to check for any criminal records. If the PNC reveals any undisclosed offences, these will be flagged as issues on the check.
- Children’s and adults’ barred list checks: This step is only relevant for enhanced Criminal Record Checks, typically for those working with vulnerable people. The application information is checked against the barred lists to identify any matches. If an applicant is found on these lists, the organisation is legally barred from employing them.
- Local police force check: For enhanced Criminal Record Checks, the application is then sent to local police forces for additional verification. The police will check their records to make sure nothing is missed and that the DBS record is accurate. This stage can cause delays due to backlogs or the need to resolve conflicting information.
- Receive your certificate: The verified information is compiled into a DBS certificate. Printed standard and enhanced DBS certificates are mailed to the applicant, and the results are sent to their email address. If the job requires regular updates of the DBS status, it’s recommended they join the DBS Update Service within 14 days of receiving their certificate.
As you can see, background searches can be an arduous and resource-heavy process.
Many organisations prefer to use accredited companies and platforms instead, taking advantage of efficiency savings and ensuring proper compliance with UK laws.
New employees cost businesses in time, training, money and internal resources. ADP’s BackCheck can help you hire candidates safely, securely and with zero friction.
ADP provides the following checks for your peace of mind:
- Identity and right to work verification
- Credit and address checks
- Criminal record checks
- Directorship checks
- Adverse professional media searches
- Social media searches
- Global risk database checks and terrorist watchlists
- DVLA reports
- Regulatory database checks and references
- Education and professional credential verifications
- Employment and activity verifications
- Reference interviews
- Executive investigations
- Global checks across 200+ countries and jurisdictions
Understand the impact and implications
Criminal record checks and background searches can impact an employee’s prospects. Employers often reject candidates based on issues with their history–and sometimes more tenuous reasons, such as an undesirable social media presence. However, it’s important to realise the implications for rejecting someone based on spent convictions. These are protected under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and shouldn’t influence your hiring decisions–there are legal consequences if this is proven to be the case.
Candidates have legal rights in the process of criminal record checks and background searches, including:
- Access to information: Individuals can legally request access to their own records.
- Correction of inaccuracies: Individuals can request correction if there are errors recorded on their record..
- Data privacy: People have the right to know how their information is used, and handled in a lawful and compliant manner.
Addressing challenges and best practices
Criminal record and background searches can be hampered by challenges around processing times, inaccurate records, or privacy concerns–which can all delay your hiring and onboarding.
To ensure things run smoothly, and you’re staying compliant with UK laws, make sure that you follow all legal guidelines on employment law. Obtain consent for background checks, and communicate transparently about the reason and scope for these checks. HR systems should stay on top of changes in law. By outsourcing this aspect to a third-party, you can benefit from global compliance teams who actually monitor legislation and regularly update their clients on important news.
If any inaccuracies or challenges arise during the DBS or background search processes, make sure to contact the DBS or the organisation that carried out the check to report this to them. The candidate will need evidence to support the correction of any errors that you’re requesting corrections for. If in doubt, don’t hesitate to speak to a legal team to quickly address challenges–especially if the dispute puts you in a compromising position to do with hiring prejudice and criminal records.
The future of background checks in the UK
Technology has inalienably changed the way background checks are carried out. It’s never been easier to verify your candidates quickly and safely. Deep machine learning tools and AI are further emboldening this technology, offering faster data processing and searching–meaning that the background search can take minutes, rather than weeks. The quality of the data is also vastly more reliable.
Laws governing criminal record and background checks are always changing, so it’s vital your organisation stays up to date with what you need to stay compliant.
Third-party service providers, like ADP can help you carry out background checks seamlessly and compliantly, with specialised knowledge and state-of-the-art technology to streamline the process.
As research shows: 35% of companies are turning to an external background screening provider to help them hire candidates safely and securely.
As the demand for quick, reliable background checks gathers speed, providers like ADP will continue to be at the forefront of this technology.
Conclusion
Criminal record checks and background search services are incredibly useful tools in establishing safe and trustworthy teams across different sectors in the UK. HR teams can avoid costly hiring mistakes by understanding the different types of Criminal Record Checks, and the reasons why background searches are so important.
As the appetite and digital capability for background screening grows, don’t be one of the 60% of companies left behind. See how ADP can handle the process for you–so you can hire faster and with more confidence.
