With the number of job vacancies close to the one million mark, employers are becoming desperate to recruit. But with employment fraud a growing concern, it’s essential that you aren’t recruiting inappropriate people for your vacant roles. Background screening can help prevent any fallout from a bad hire.

A former Conservative mayor for Exmouth has recently been convicted for historic abuse. In response, local councillors are calling for mandatory DBS Checks to be standard practice for anyone hoping to become a councillor. While that may sound logical, mandating checks could be illegal.

In our ongoing commitment to provide comprehensive screening solutions for our customers, Personnel Checks are pleased to announce that we are now a fully registered Umbrella Body for Disclosure Scotland. We can now provide solutions for all levels of Scottish Disclosure Checks as well as applications to the PVG Scheme.

The 15th cohort for the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Programme was recently announced. Personnel Checks are pleased to share that our own Managing Director, Jack Mellor, has been selected to take part in the programme, run in conjunction with the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.

In recent weeks, a Birmingham transport firm have lost multiple council contracts after failings were discovered in their DBS compliance. Over 50 drivers were found to have not had the appropriate checks carried out despite regularly transporting SEND children to and from school.

Each year the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) publish figures of their annual performance including barring figures. Barring is a vital aspect of the DBS’ mission to safeguard the UK public from harm. In the report this year, they’ve revealed that the number of individuals on the barred lists has grown by over 4000.

With UK children spending more and more time online, knowing how to safeguard them properly is always a concern. When it comes to protecting young people in online spaces, even if you think you’re tech-savvy it can be hard to know where to start. That’s why we’ve put together these tips.

Campaigners recently welcomed the news that a government review is to be launched into a legal loophole that allows sex offenders to change their names and effectively disappear from the eyes of the law. This means that previous offences might not be disclosed on DBS Checks, allowing dangerous individuals to work with children or vulnerable adults.

Football Banning Orders (FBOs) were first introduced in 2000. These orders are issued to prevent violence and disorder relating to football matches and tournaments. In response to the abuse from a vocal minority online, following the Euro 2020 finals, the government have committed to extending the guidance to include online abuse.

People appearing on reality TV or game shows are often subject to a range of background checks. The Sun recently reported that contestants on ITV’s Love Island are subject to DBS Checks. In the article, they compare the checks to the ones carried out on education staff, which isn’t quite right!

Whether employers have a right to look into a candidate or employees social media history has proven to be a contentious topic. Regardless of your opinion on these checks, the recent scandal involving a high-level member of Google’s diversity team and some historic antisemitic tweets proves their importance.

Following the deletion of huge numbers of criminal records on the Police National Computer (PNC) an independent inquiry urged the government to update the ‘inflexible’ system. The Home Office hopes to launch the new Law Enforcement Data (LED) system by 2023.

Two schools in Scotland recently had to escort agency cleaners from the premises due to not having the correct background checks completed. In the UK, school staff, whether employed full-time or via an agency require some of the highest level of criminal record checks available to ensure that students aren’t exposed to dangerous individuals.

Personnel Checks are proud to support care organisations across the UK with their screening and safeguarding needs. After an incredibly difficult year for the sector, awareness weeks like this are important for raising the visibility of the amazing work care staff do day-in-day-out.

Searching for employment with a criminal record can often feel like an insurmountable task, but it shouldn’t be. Employment is a key factor when it comes to the rehabilitation of ex-offenders, the employers on this list understand this.

A recent report from the UK’s qualification authority has revealed that one-in-four university admissions staff cannot spot forged credentials. With employment fraud a growing concern for employers, what can you do to try and prevent it happening to you? In this article we take a look at just that.

Carer’s Week 2021 seeks to highlight the amazing unpaid work carried out by millions of unpaid carers in the UK every day. The focus for this year is to ‘Make Caring Visible and Valued’ with that in mind we thought we’d shed some light on some of the key facts and figures relating to unpaid care.

With the recent announcement that Microsoft will be discontinuing support for two of their legacy internet browsers, updates to our own system are being brought in to ensure we remain secure, safe and compliant. This article outlines the coming changes in more detail.

While you might have the best interest of your staff and clients in mind, it's important to be aware of some of the more common safeguarding mistakes you could make. Awareness is often the first step towards action, which is why we’ve broken down some of the typical errors we come across when it comes to safeguarding in the workplace.

This week marks Learning at Work Week 2021. This is an annual event that promotes the benefits of building learning cultures at work. At Personnel Checks, we pride ourselves on profiting the people within our organisation through continual learning and development. In this article, we examine the importance of creating a culture of learning.