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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.

What happens at the DBS after you have filled in your application form and either sent it off in the post or hit the submit button on the computer? For most applicants it’s a bit of a mystery. However, the process is really quite straightforward, and follows the same stages every time.

Many employers choose to conduct disclosure checks as a standard part of the recruitment process. Understanding more about the background of the people they are thinking of employing helps them make safer recruitment decisions and get a better fit for people joining their team.

Nannies fall into the category of people who need an enhanced DBS check, which is the most detailed level of criminal record checking. This is because nannies spend most of their working day alone with children, unsupervised.

Back in December 2021, care homes in Teesside were back in the news for all the wrong reasons when a home in Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough was rated as inadequate after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission. The full report revealed that the main concerns were around shoddy recruitment practices within the home, which put patients and other staff members at risk.

Being a student is often seen as the time in your life when you can enjoy your youth, run a bit wild, and have a lot of fun alongside getting your degree. Getting into trouble as a student could not only land you in trouble with the police, but could also see you thrown out of university, with a conviction which can have a long-term effect on your career prospects.

Background checking is often termed pre-employment screening as it’s associated with the checks and research which employers do on a candidate before making a job offer. But there is a growing school of thought which recommends repeating the process regularly on existing employees, even when they have been part of the company for many years. What are the advantages of taking this approach?

More and more employers are doing background screening on people who wish to work for them, in order to protect their business from a rogue employee intent on committing fraud, or just from an incompetent employee who hasn’t got the experience or qualifications they claim. It’s a common enough process, but there are lots of myths floating around about the process.

The new Omicron variant, discovered at the end of 2021, seems to be less serious, but has caused a huge spike in infections, leading to millions of UK workers being asked to isolate when they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive. Worries over lack of staff to run schools has led the government to issue appeals to former teachers, asking them to return to the classroom to help out.