Blog

We’ve all seen the images from British airports this summer, with queues of holiday makers waiting to collect their bags or have their passports checked. And you could argue that those are the lucky ones – the people who have made it to the airport without their flights being cancelled. The disruption is being put down to difficulties in hiring new staff after the pandemic, but what is really going on?

UK rules around illegal working changed in April 2022, and some employees can now only have their right to work in the UK checked electronically. Before that date, employers had a choice of methods for checking; they could ask an applicant to bring in their original passport, check documents on a video call, or use an online portal for workers with certain classes of visa or UK immigration status.

The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) is more commonly known as Clare’s Law after a well-known victim of domestic violence. This scheme allows police to tell a victim of domestic abuse about any violence or abuse that their partner has been accused or convicted of in the past. The DVDS was set up in March 2014 and applies to all Police Forces in England and Wales.

Even the most basic recruitment process will have some degree of background checking. Most applicants see background checks such as supplying references just another administrative hurdle to get through, or inconvenient paperwork. Applicants don’t often stop to think about whether all this background checking is important or not.

The costs of living increase are hitting all business sectors at present. Transportation of all types is particularly affected, with rocketing fuel prices pushing up prices for the goods on our supermarket shelves, and the price of public transport. Taxi drivers in many parts of the UK are facing even steeper price rises, with Councils passing on the charges for background checking onto the drivers.

The war in Ukraine sparked a humanitarian response from across Europe, with thousands of people in the UK volunteering to host Ukrainian families fleeing the conflict. The government’s hastily arranged Homes for Ukraine scheme aimed to match people in the UK with those needing accommodation, but is it working in the way it was intended?

The shift to employing people to work remotely has brought huge benefits to some employers, who have found that workers are just as productive at home as in the office, allowing them to cut costs on office rents. Going forward, it seems that home working is here to stay. But are there different rules around recruitment checks for home-based position?

DBS checks can take several weeks to process, and this can lead to long delays for people who are hoping to start work in positions which require some degree of police checking on applicants. One of the things which employers can do to speed up getting new people into their job roles is to use the Adult First system which isn’t open to every position, but can be very useful in certain circumstances.

In many parts of the country the rental market is fierce, with a huge amount of competition over the most desirable properties. Landlords want to make sure that they get reliable tenants who are going to look after their property and pay the rent on time every month, but from a tenant’s point of view this can mean an endless round of checks and interviews. What exactly is your landlord allowed to ask about?

There are regular appeals on media for people who are prepared to take in a child or children, either temporarily as a foster carer, or on a permanent basis. Understandably, there are a lot of hoops to jump through first to make sure that the people approved as foster carers or adoptive parents are suitable for the role.