Employers whose employees work with children or vulnerable adults, or where they work in a financially regulated sector, are legally obliged to obtain details of their employees’ criminal records and therefore do so systematically.
Employers whose businesses do not deal with these groups of people are less likely to obtain details regarding their employees’ and potential employees’ criminal backgrounds. So first of all get your business office sorted with an Offices to let Basingstoke company at links like www.matrix-house.co.uk then get all your staff in for interviews, get your DBS forms out and ask each employee if they mind filling one out. You could say it’s a rule of the job to have one done.
Make the right recruitment decisions
There are good reasons why businesses that are not legally required to do so would be protecting their businesses if they obtained similar background checks on their employees. Obtaining a criminal record check, or a DBS check as they are now known, can enable businesses to ensure they are in the best possible position to make important recruitment-related decisions.
Providers will carry out the administrative detail on your behalf and ensure that you obtain the results swiftly. A basic DBS check will reveal any unspent convictions, which means any convictions that are still relevant. Convictions are considered spent after a certain period depending upon the severity of the offence committed. Standard and enhanced DBS checks will show more detail; however, these can only be requested by employers who are legally required to obtain such details regarding their employees’ or potential employees’ backgrounds.
Comply with data protection laws
If you decide to obtain criminal record checks on your employees, you must ensure that you comply with data protection laws when dealing with the information you receive and when storing it. In accordance with government guidelines, employers must retain the criminal record information for no longer than six months after a recruitment decision has been made. It is also imperative that any criminal record certificate information is kept in storage containers that are secure, lockable and non-portable and that access to these containers is strictly controlled.
There are obvious advantages to obtaining criminal record information to assist with a recruitment decision; however, unless a standard or enhanced check is allowed for the role you are trying to fill, please note that the information you receive is limited. In addition, if you do obtain the criminal record information, you must ensure that you are up to date with your legal obligations to the job candidates.
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