Frequently Asked Questions

Please speak to your Recruitment Consultant about this at your registration interview.

Yes. In order to introduce you to a client and meet our obligations as either an Employment Business or Employment Agency, we are required to validate at least your Eligibility to Work in the UK, Identity, Qualifications for the role and verify your Employment History. For more information from the Home Office please follow this link:- UK Visas & Immigration

The length of screening time is dependant on a few factors. One of these is the number and types of checks required - some of these may be with external bodies with specific time frames for verification response. We have found that the more prepared potential candidates are for the compliance process, the more efficient this is. Our advice is to start collecting your supporting documents, prepare for what may be required and allow yourself enough time to be able to visit our offices and start the process as soon as this is requested from you. Average turnaround times for compliance screening levels vary however you can expect it to take up to two or three weeks to complete.

There may be additional checks such as international credit and criminal searches to be completed as part of your screening - this will be outlined in the specific level of screening needed at both client and job level. We have access to over 150 different countries who provide these checks to our screening providers. Please be aware that some of these checks can take up to 6 weeks to provide us with reports so this may cause a delay to your start date or require more notice to complete. In some instances, these checks may be undertaken directly with the client and if you have lived in the UK within the past 12 months then you may be able to start your assignment with this pending.

Each client will have a policy on what is acceptable to meet their requirements. The most common acceptable documents are job searching emails, travel stamps, booking confirmations, boarding passes, bank statements, job seeker’s allowance letters, birth/marriage certificates (if covering a gap), personal references and volunteering references. Please note that this list is not exhaustive.

Your personal referee will need to have known you for at least 5 years, not be related (or in a relationship with you) to you and able to reply to us from a work email address. Ideally this person will be a registered professional however this will be governed by client requirements and you will be advised of this by our screening provider.

If your conviction is considered to be ‘unspent’ you will need to declare this to us during the registration process. You may be asked to explain this in further detail and we will advise you accordingly if this will impact your suitability for the role. An example of a case for review internally would be for a Motoring offence. For more guidance of whether or not you have a ‘spent’ or ‘unspent’ criminal offence or whether you must declare this, please follow this link:- Guidance on Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. UK Criminal checks for unregulated roles will be a basic level check through Disclosure Scotland (DS). For regulated roles, you will be asked to complete either Standard or Enhanced check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). For more information on these please click on these links:- Disclosure Scotland Online or Disclosure & Barring Service

All of our clients differ on what they consider to be good or adverse credit and how pertinent it is to the role you will be performing. The level of credit checking completed will also vary by their policies and requirements. For a major bank, for example, adverse credit may be considered to be defaults, whilst for other clients they will be looking to review CCJs or Bankruptcies. Having adverse credit does not immediately result in a lack of suitability for a role with our agency, however you will need to declare this during your registration process and we can advise you accordingly. If you are unsure of your credit status and would like to complete an initial check yourself, we recommend you follow this link:- Experian Free Trial Credit Check

Directorship check are generally required more by our Financial Services clients however we have seen a rise in the number of other clients who would like past and current Directorships verified. We would use your name (and any variations thereof) through a Companies House register check along with other reputable sites as part of our third party supplier services. You may need to declare any past or present Directorships to the Internal Compliance team if you are applying for certain roles. As part of the screening requirements we are required to undertake, you will be asked for documentation of incorporation and insurances for your current Limited Company should you wish to also use it as your preferred payroll method. Insurance requirements will vary by client specific contractual obligations. If you are unsure if you have sufficient cover or would like more information, please contact your Recruitment Consultant or the Internal Compliance team on the details at the bottom of this page or follow this link:- Companies House Register Search

In most cases our clients will request that this would be the highest completed education, regardless of the time period in which this was completed. On occasions, we will be required to verify all education if completed within the past 5 years referencing period. If you completed your training or qualifications overseas, please put the obtained grade on the certificate and not any equivalencies as this can sometimes cause discrepancies during the verification process. We understand that it is not always possible that your educational institute still holds records of your attendance and grades, so please bring your original certificates and transcripts with you to your registration interview. For UK based Universities or Colleges, please follow this link:- HEDD - Higher Education Degree Datacheck

Any pertinent qualifications needed for the role will be detailed within the job advert or description, if you are unsure if your qualifications on your cv are pertinent, please discuss this with your Recruitment Consultant. As part of all levels of screening we complete, we will be verifying this directly with the awarding or registered body. These checks are subject to external timeframes so may take longer to obtain confirmation internationally. It is essential that you declare to us any part-studied courses, lapsed memberships and any qualifications for which you did not receive certification in. Please remember to bring a copy of your original certificates and transcripts with you to your registration interview. For more information or queries regarding this, please contact our Internal Compliance team below.

Financial Sanctions Checks checks are required for many of the major banks as changes to regulatory policies were updated and global markets. We complete checks with both the US Treasury and HM Treasury to verify that you are not a politically exposed person or subject to any frozen assets.

Financial Conduct Authority checks (was FSA and now FCA) are completed by searching their online register and confirming if you have previously held a regulated position and confirm no adverse information is held.