Workforce Integrity in 2026: Five Trends Reshaping Employment Screening and Workforce Risk

Workplace screening has undergone a significant change over the past two years, driven not by a single moment of regulatory change but by several forces that have reshaped how organisations assess suitability, manage risk and uphold trust. What was once a step completed before someone joined an organisation is now an ongoing part of how employers safeguard people, prevent fraud, strengthen identity assurance and meet regulatory expectations.

This article outlines the five forces shaping screening in 2026, highlights the implications for employers and offers a practical, insight-led perspective on how to approach workforce integrity in an increasingly demanding environment.

Screening Has Grown Faster, Yet Accuracy Relies More Than Ever on Human Judgement

Advances in digital identity verification, automated document checking and workflow optimisation have delivered significant efficiencies. Many tasks that once required repeated exchanges or manual correction now progress more quickly and consistently using AI, giving HR, Safeguarding and Compliance teams more time to focus on areas that require specific expertise.
Those efficiencies, however, have also encouraged a perception that faster verification equates to more accurate screening. In reality, the opposite is often true.

Technology excels at confirming whether information is formatted correctly and whether documents match expected templates. It cannot assess the credibility or authenticity of what is presented, whether a qualification is appropriate for a role, if a career timeline is in line with sector norms or even if the narrative surrounding a candidate’s experience is coherent and plausible.
These assessments require context, pattern recognition and an understanding of the subtleties within a profession – elements that only a human reviewer can supply.

In regulated and safeguarding environments, this distinction becomes especially important, because suitability depends on factors that go beyond what automation can reliably test. From our experience, employers achieving the most reliable outcomes are those that embrace a hybrid model in which technology manages high-volume, mechanically defined tasks while people excel at interpreting complexity, investigate anomalies and exercise judgement.

As screening continues to accelerate, the value of human insight increases proportionately. Speed alone cannot guarantee the accuracy or defensibility of decisions that carry critical organisational risk.

Fraud Is Increasing, and It Has Become More Polished, More Organised and More Difficult to Detect

Fraud has become one of the most significant crime categories in the UK, and its impact within recruitment has expanded in both scale and sophistication. Over the past eighteen months, we have seen an increase in professionally constructed attempts to misrepresent identity, employment history or qualifications.

This pattern is driven partly by economic pressures that motivate individuals to embellish their credentials, but more importantly by the accessibility of digital tools that enable the creation of documents and CVs that appear entirely credible until further verification is conducted.

Fraud is no longer characterised by obvious inconsistencies or crude manipulation. It frequently presents through documentation that appears structurally sound but contains subtle irregularities in the document’s issue details, metadata or narrative context. Employment histories may be meticulously assembled yet lack external corroboration. References may confirm dates without offering meaningful insight into conduct or capability, and qualifications may appear legitimate yet have no traceable origin when verified directly.

These attempts are particularly concerning in environments where access to vulnerable people, financial systems, critical infrastructure or sensitive data carries inherent risk.

In our experience, most fraud isn’t dramatic. It blends into the recruitment process and only stands out when someone with sector knowledge looks closely. Automated tools rarely pick this up, because the documents often meet the technical checks those systems are built around.

The organisations that are handling fraud well are the ones that blend automated checks with experienced reviewers who understand context and can spot when a story doesn’t make sense. As fraud becomes more polished, judgement matters as much as technology, so screening needs to be structured but still willing to question things that don’t look right.

Screening No Longer Ends at the Point of Hire: Ongoing Assessment Is Becoming an Operational Expectation

For many years, screening was treated as a discrete gateway activity that ended once a candidate joined the organisation. That model no longer aligns with modern workforce behaviour, where role transitions, remote working, expanded access privileges, financial pressures, regulatory expectations and risk profiles shift over time.

Although DBS does not require periodic Enhanced checks unless a role changes, and no legislation mandates continuous screening across the workforce, employers are increasingly adopting practical, risk-based ongoing assessment models to ensure suitability is upheld throughout employment.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCT) has reinforced this direction by requiring large organisations to demonstrate that they have implemented ‘reasonable procedures’ to prevent fraud committed for their benefit. The Act does not prescribe screening intervals, but many employers view periodic identity or background checks as a defensible part of their prevention framework, particularly in roles that involve financial responsibility, safeguarding duties or access to sensitive systems.

Our team helps organisations adopt layered frameworks that balance operational practicality and proportionate risk management.

These frameworks may include:

Periodic checks through the DBS Update Service
Identity re-verification for remote or long-serving employees
BS7858 renewals aligned with contractual obligations in the security sector
Sanctions or fitness checks in Financial Services
Triggered checks when individuals change roles, move into higher-risk positions or gain new access privileges

The aim isn’t continuous monitoring. It’s maintaining ongoing confidence that people remain suitable for their roles, rather than relying solely on an assessment made at the moment of hire.

Digital Identity Has Become the Structural Anchor of Modern Screening

Digital Identity Verification (DIV) has moved from a useful add-on to a core part of modern screening, especially for organisations that need to establish identity quickly, clearly and consistently from the start.

DIV enables employers to meet these expectations by providing auditable records, consistent verification standards and a more reliable starting point for downstream checks. For organisations hiring remotely or across multiple sites, DIV offers operational advantages including fewer delays, fewer errors in subsequent DBS, BPSS or BS7858 submissions, reduced fraud exposure and smoother onboarding for candidates who would previously have needed to present documents in person.

At CBS, we view digital identity not as a replacement for human review but as an enabler of better review. When identity is established early and with confidence, analysts can devote their attention to the areas where judgement is indispensable, such as employment history, sector norms, contextual explanations and credibility overall. Strong identity assurance creates a stable base from which the rest of the screening process can progress efficiently and accurately.

Regulatory Expectations Have Increased, and Organisations Must Demonstrate That Their Procedures Are Reasonable, Structured and Defensible

The regulatory environment surrounding services within employment screening has become more demanding, not through a single change but through several developments that collectively create a higher bar for organisational accountability.

The updated DBS identity rules require clearer documentation and defined verification routes. The UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) provides a benchmark for assessing the integrity of digital identity processes. Right to Work enforcement has intensified, with penalties reaching up to £60,000 per breach, creating a strong incentive for thorough and auditable procedures. The ECCT also established a new corporate offence for failing to prevent fraud committed for an organisation’s benefit, reinforcing the expectation that employers can evidence coherent, proportionate and embedded prevention measures.

Sector frameworks – particularly in Education, Care, Financial Services, Energy and Security continue to evolve, and screening expectations are evolving alongside them.

Across these contexts, a common theme emerges: employers must be able to show not only that checks were completed, but that decisions were made in a structured, consistent and evidence-led manner.

CBS supports organisations by helping them:

Define clear, role-based screening requirements
Document the rationale for each check type
Establish audit-ready identity assurance processes
Resolve discrepancies with transparency
Maintain alignment between policy and practice across complex or decentralised hiring environments

Regulators don’t expect perfection. They expect processes that make sense, match the level of risk and are followed in the same way across the organisation.

What High-Quality Screening Looks Like in 2026: The Hybrid Model

Effective screening in 2026 relies on combining automation with human expertise. Each part of the process should be handled by the method that does it best.

Technology adds value by checking structured data, spotting obvious inconsistencies, managing high-volume tasks and creating clean information for the checks that follow. Human reviewers add what technology can’t – assessing credibility, understanding nuance, recognising when something doesn’t fit sector norms and judging whether a candidate’s story matches the level of responsibility the role requires.

Organisations that achieve strong, reliable outcomes are the ones that understand this balance and design workflows that bring both elements together in a way that makes sense and can be confidently explained. At CBS, this hybrid approach underpins how we work because it brings both efficiency and informed assessment, helping employers keep pace without compromising judgement.

Sector Perspectives: How Expectations Differ Across the Workforce

Screening requirements differ significantly across sectors, reflecting their distinct regulatory expectations, risk profiles and access considerations.

Financial Services – face strict requirements around integrity, creditworthiness and fitness. Screening failures can generate both reputational and regulatory consequences.
Energy, Engineering and Critical Infrastructure – rely on robust vetting linked to safety, security clearance and controlled site access, with frameworks such as BPSS and BS7858 playing a central role.
Technology and Digital – environments must manage risks related to remote work, system permissions and insider threat, which places heightened emphasis on identity and employment verification.
Education – recruitment is shaped by safeguarding obligations. Enhanced DBS checks, barred list checks, qualification verification and employment history scrutiny form the core of compliant practice.
Healthcare and Care – operate at the intersection of safeguarding, workforce mobility and staffing pressures, making consistent, repeatable and accurate screening essential to maintain safe services.

Strategic Recommendations for Employers in 2026

Based on our work with a wide range of organisations, particularly those in regulated sectors, several practices consistently lead to stronger screening outcomes:

Verify identity at the start – so every check that follows is built on accurate information.
Use hybrid models – that balance automation with human judgement, rather than relying too heavily on either.
Strengthen employment history checks – for roles that involve trust, access or safeguarding responsibilities.
Introduce ongoing checks where the risk justifies it – using a clear, role-based model instead of blanket policies.
Record decisions clearly – so they stand up to audit and remain consistent across teams.
Give hiring teams simple, accessible guidance – that explains what each role requires and why it matters.

By treating screening as an active part of risk management rather than a one-off administrative step, organisations can strengthen resilience, make better hiring decisions and meet the evolving expectations of regulators, commissioners and stakeholders.

How CBS Supports Employers

Our team delivers screening that brings together the strengths of advanced technology and sector-informed expert review. Our identity assurance capabilities, hybrid workflows and structured screening models are built for organisations that need a process that works at pace, at scale and at times across multiple sites.

We focus on providing screening that is clear, consistent and easy to stand behind – giving employers confidence in the people they hire and in the processes that protect them throughout the employee lifecycle.

Screening in 2026 is not defined by how quickly candidates move through a process, but by the reliability of the decisions made along the way. As fraud becomes more sophisticated, regulatory expectations rise and digital identity becomes embedded in workforce management, employers need screening models that reflect the realities of modern work.

We are proud to support organisations through this by providing the tools, expertise and practical frameworks needed to maintain workforce integrity at every stage. Our aim is simple – to help employers make sound decisions in a world where trust and accountability matter more than ever.

If you’d like support strengthening your screening process or adapting to these changes, our team is here to help. Get in touch and we’ll talk through what’s right for your organisation.