Background Screening: Jargon buster

Some businesses realise that they need a background screening process in place but may not understand what they require and can become easily confused with industry terminology.  Unfortunately, there are many acronyms and what can be perceived as ‘jargon’ floating about in the background screening sector.  We understand that knowledge is power and before you implement any procedures, it’s crucial that you have a firm grasp on what these terms actually mean. Also, if you don’t fully understand certain terms, the services are difficult to pitch to key decision makers, no matter how much you believe in them. So this week, we are background screening jargon busting any terms you may not understand and helping you get to grips with background screening.

Basic Checks
Basic level criminal disclosures are currently produced by Disclosure Scotland, however, from January 2017 these will be provided by the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) -formerly known as the CRB checks.  Basic level disclosures are not job specific and are available to anyone for any purpose as they detail only unspent criminal history.

Standard checks
A Standard check is produced by the DBS but is subject to legislation.  These levels of criminal checks can only be provided to organisations whose employees meet a specific criteria. Essentially it is a check covering criminal history including cautions, warnings, reprimands and convictions.  These checks are often used for professional or regulated bodies such Financial Services.

Enhanced checks
As with a standard disclosure, this level can only be accessed if the employees of an organisation meet the criteria.  These checks are commonly used for purpose of protecting the most vulnerable in our society whereby a person has frequent unsupervised access to vulnerable people.  This disclosure will check criminal history as well as checking whether an individual is banned or deemed unsuitable to work with children or vulnerable adults.

DBS Updating service
The Updating service is a system which keeps all DBS checks up to date without having to apply for a new check. This means that a DBS check can be consistently checked to ensure there are no changes to a person’s criminal history, ensuring they are still suitable for the role. This enhancement in safeguarding can be essential for protecting the well-being of your employees and customers. Also, it can help to protect the reputation of your business as you will always have the most valid and up-to-date information available to you.

Employment Screening
This service can involve undertaking a host of checks to ensure a candidate is suitable for the role they are applying.  This service can include such things as ID checks, Right to Work in the UK, qualification checks and of course employment referencing.  Many employers should remove the acceptance of CV’s from their recruitment processes and instead create an employment timeline for an applicant highlighting and validated any gaps.  This information is invaluable during the recruitment process and can help minimise your recruitment failure rate.

BS7858 Security
BS7858 is the best practice procedure published by the British Standards Institution. It is used by businesses and industries throughout the whole UK and is used to enhance the security and recruitment process. To get this accreditation, you need to comply with certain requirements. These include: credit report and ID validation; five-year employment verification; highest qualification verification; two-person character references; criminal record check and a gap employment analysis.

BPSS Clearance
The Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) was created to help reduce the risk of illegal workers, identity fraud and overall protect national security. It’s a requirement for civil servants, the armed forces and government contractors. It’s also required before applying for NSV security clearance. It analyses a candidate’s credit report, three-year employment verification; gap in employment analysis and a basic criminal disclosure.

List 99
This List forms part of Section 142 of the Education Act 2002, but is formerly called List 99 and has existed for many decades. When doing an enhanced DBS check, this list can also be checked as part of the process.  While this list has not been updated since 2009 many organisations still request these checks prior to the completion of the disclosure as it will check whether a person is listed as being unsuitable to work with children and results are returned immediately.  However, employers should be aware that this is not the DBS children barred list.  The List 99 has focused mainly around education and those individuals post October 2009 who have been banned from working with children will not appear on a List 99 check only the Children Barred List.

Once you understand these terms and what they can do for your business, it will make it easier to pitch to decision makers and your HR team. Background screening procedures are vital for your business and can protect you from serious reputational damage, so it would be careless not to have a process in place. If you would like to speak to a member of our team about background checks for an individual or a business, you can contact us by calling: 01443 799 900 or email us: info@cbscreening.co.uk