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Recruitment Agency Software

Pre-employment Screening

Background checks software

At Access Screening, we simplify the complex world of background checks, offering over 140+ checks from our extensive library of trusted partners, all within one powerful platform. Tailor the checks to fit your business needs and start automating and streamlining your processes today.

Whether you're an experienced HR professional, a recruitment agency, or new to background screening, our software is designed to save you time by automating every step of the process—giving you the freedom to focus on what matters most.

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Automate your background screening workflows

Easily build and integrate the background checks you need right into your own automated workflows. With over 140+ checks and trusted partner integrations, you can streamline your entire screening process, all from one platform. Our next-gen software helps you onboard faster, minimise fraud risks, stay compliant, and cut your time to hire.

Must-have background checks for every hire

The background checks you need can vary based on your industry and the roles you’re hiring for. At Access Screening, we’ve got you covered with essential checks most businesses need before bringing someone on board. Here’s a list of the types of background checks we offer to help you onboard with confidence.

Right to Work

Our Digital Identity Verification Right to Work Check uses Onfido's innovative technology to verify an individual's identity online in seconds, without bias, replacing traditional in-person document inspections.

For employers, a digital identity verification check is particularly crucial for Right to Work checks. It allows employers to verify that potential employees have the legal right to work in the UK, ensuring compliance with immigration laws and regulations. This process ensures that candidates are who they claim to be and that their documents are legitimate, facilitating a quick, secure, and compliant hiring process.

These checks are essential for compliance, helping employers avoid legal penalties such as fines up to £20,000 to protect their brand reputation and maintain a lawful workforce.

Digital identity checks

A digital identity verification - high confidence check confirms an applicant's identity with a high level of assurance, without the need for manual document verification, meets GPG45 compliance standards, and checks against reported stolen or fraudulent docs to reduce the risk of fraud.

Powered by Onfido's innovative technology, this check allows applicants to remotely upload images of their accepted identity documents and motion capture to secure online validation. Sophisticated facial recognition and fraud detection technology is then used to verify the authenticity of the documents and confirm the identity of the document holder through live face-match technology.

This check reduces admin time by eliminating the need for manual checking, photocopying, and storing identity documents. Additionally, digital identity checks improve consistency and reduce the risk of fraud, as consistent security checks are performed, minimising human error and ensuring robust fraud detection.

References checks

A comprehensive reference check verifies the background and qualifications of potential employees by receiving validation of work history and performance from previous employers, educational credentials, personal references to gain insights into the candidate's character, and gap history checks to account for any periods of inactivity in their professional timeline.

Access Screening triggers emails to all referees and manages the process of collecting reference history via an online referee portal.

Rapid Employment Verification

Access Screening and Konfir give businesses the ability to perform rapid employment verification checks. This integrated functionality aggregates data from various consent-driven sources, including payroll, banking or HMRC data sources in a GDPR-compliant manner, offering an efficient solution to minimise turnaround time for every request. 

Rapid Employment Verifiction also allows you to quickly cross-reference gaps in employment history and confirm employment roles without having to manually contact multiple referees.

Access Screening will provide start dates, job titles and company names, Using Konfir, the only Government Accredited check, to instantly verify data using consent-driven sourcing including payroll, banking, HMRC and accounting data.

This gives rapid employment history for the past 6 years dramatically reducing your referencing time.

DBS checks

A Disclosure Check provides information about an individual's criminal record. These checks are essential for employers to make informed decisions about hiring, especially for positions involving vulnerable groups. Disclosure checks vary in depth and scope depending on the level of detail required for the role.

Access Screening lets you select Basic, Standard or Enhanced DBS checks with rapid digital results and the ability to validate identification documents, and continuous monitoring of disclosure checks.

All checks search the Police National Computer (PNC) for details on record. For Health and Social Care sectors, you can also complete an adult first check prior to a full enhanced check to see if a prospective employee is barred from woring with vulnerable adults.

By conducting these checks, employers can make informed hiring decisions, fulfill legal and regulatory obligations, and create a secure and trusted work environment. This proactive measure safeguards both the organisation and those it serves.

BPSS / BS7858 Checks

BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) and BS7858 checks are essential components of comprehensive employee screening processes, particularly in sectors like government, security, and sensitive industries.

BPSS checks assess a candidate's suitability by evaluating their identity, nationality, and criminal history, ensuring that they meet baseline security requirements.

BS7858, on the other hand, is a more specific standard for individuals working in security roles, involving a thorough review of an applicant's background, including financial history, employment references, and criminal record checks.

Qualification checks

A qualification check is designed to verify the educational and professional qualifications claimed by an individual. This check confirms the authenticity of degrees, certifications, and other academic or professional credentials, as well highlighting if a candidate has declared fake qualifications or an unaccredited diploma mill.

Access Screening directly contacts educational institutions, certification bodies, and other relevant authorities, a qualification check ensures that the qualifications and memberships of professional bodies listed on a candidate’s CV are genuine and accurately represented. This verification process helps organisations avoid the risks associated with hiring underqualified individuals, such as reduced job performance and potential reputational damage.

Credit checks

Access Screening, can assess the individual’s financial stability and identifies any behaviors that may indicate financial risk. Reviews international credit reports, financial records, and credit bureau databases; and includes checks for significant debt, credit defaults, bankruptcies, and other financial discrepancies depending on the country’s legal framework that could affect job performance or integrity.

These checks examine an applicant's credit history to assess their financial stability, debt management, and potential risks associated with their financial circumstances.

Additionally, such checks promote compliance with relevant regulations while striking a balance between the candidate's privacy and the organisation's financial security.

Occupational health checks

An occupational check evaluates an individual’s health and fitness to perform specific job roles. These assessments are essential for ensuring that employees meet the physical and mental demands of their positions, thereby promoting workplace safety and productivity. Occupational checks are particularly important for roles that involve significant physical activity, exposure to hazardous conditions, or critical responsibilities that could impact health and safety.

Access Screening uses Healthier Business, to run occupational checks. These checks can be set up as an automatic system request or to run as a request on an ad hoc basis. The results show whether the candidate is fit to work or is suitable for work with restrictions with the recommendations and adjustments listed.

Social media checks

A social media check evaluates an individual's online presence and identifies any potentially harmful or offensive content. Our integration with market-leading platform Fama combines advanced technology and human researchers to thoroughly review an individual’s social media accounts. The aim is to detect any inappropriate language, images, or behaviours that could reflect poorly on the individual and, by extension, the organisation.

By performing social media checks, organisations can ensure that potential hires maintain a professional and respectful online presence, aligning with the company’s values and protecting its reputation. This process not only helps in making informed hiring decisions but also mitigates risks associated with brand image and workplace harmony.

Along with adverse media checks, our social media and online checks take in over 10,000 sources to check for potential risks of discrimination, violence, criminal or negative activity.

Sanctions

A sanctions check will flag individuals and groups deemed as potential threats or linked to terrorism or terrorist financing activities. Our sanctions check is comprehensive and searches the following registers:

HMT (HM Treasury)
OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) - United States
EU (European Union)
UN (United Nations)
AUSTRAC (Australian Transaction Reports & Analysis Centre, replacing DFAT)

Registers such as the detailed enforcements and detailed sanctions are also matched against the Central Intelligence Agency Heads of State Government Register.

In addition to the global sanctions, the results will also detail information matched against the Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) registers.

Using Contego, Access Screening searches databases using an 80% or higher threshold match based on the candidate’s name and date of birth.

The report will list all searched sources with an overall percentage match confidence for the individual in question.

Directorships

A Directorship check will check if the named individual has currently or previously been a named director for any registered company and includes whether they are currently disqualified from being a director.

Using Contego, Access Screening provides rapid results, helping to safeguard your company's reputation by ensuring that directors do not have a history of misconduct.

DVLA

DVLA reports are a simple way to assess suitability and reliability of individuals whose job may require them to drive a company vehicle. The DVLA check brings back all the Driving License information held by the DVLA for the driver at the time of the check. The information includes:

Full name
Date of birth
Gender
Current address
Licence type and other general licence information
Expiry date of licence
All category codes that the driver is allowed to drive (with expiry dates and restrictions)
Any endorsements currently on the licence and the total number of points

By performing DVLA checks, organisations can ensure that their employees possess valid and appropriate driving credentials, thereby mitigating the risk of employing individuals who may be unqualified or disqualified from driving. This not only enhances safety and compliance but also helps in maintaining the organisation’s reputation and operational efficiency.

Adverse Media

Using Contego and Fama, Access Screening draws on more than 600,000 individuals and companies with connections (known or suspected) to illegal activities, sanctions and regulatory penalties as well as PEPs, influential persons, government corporations, excluded parties and companies of interest.

Data sources for the check come from over 1,000 lists from over 300 enforcement agencies, criminal courts, and investigative news sources from around the world. The check will undertake a search for:

Politically exposed persons
Sanction lists
Enforcement
Adverse media
Influential persons
Associated entities
Government corporations
Excluded parties
Companies of interest

Why background checks matter for business

Background checks are essential for ensuring due diligence is met, but also safety and trust are instilled in employees and employers alike. Performing at least the essential background checks helps to enable informed hiring decisions, reducing the risk of workplace issues.

Background checks don’t just ensure due diligence, they help create a safer, more trustworthy environment for everyone. By conducting essential checks, you make smarter hiring decisions and minimise workplace risks.

With automated background screening software, you can:

Boost workplace safety
Make well-informed hiring decisions
Reduce the risk of employee misconduct
Lower employee runover rates
Protect your company’s reputation
Stay compliant with legal requirements and industry standards
Avoid hefty fines

Read more on the risks of ignoring background checks Book Demo

Fama offers social media screening checks to help businesses assess candidates' digital footprints and mitigate potential risks. By analysing publicly available online content, Fama provides insights into candidates' behavior and character, supporting informed hiring decisions.

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Background check FAQs

Do you have background check questions? We may already have the answer below.

What is a background check?

Not sure about all the details of background screening? You’re not alone. Pre-employment background checks can vary widely by industry, with diverse types of checks taking different amounts of time to complete. Navigating these requirements can be complex, but understanding how they affect your recruitment business is key.

Who can do a background check?

If you are an employer, you can conduct any background check you wish on a candidate providing there is a relevant reason, such as a high compliance role. You will also need the candidates to consent to any following checks you wish to conduct on the candidate themselves.

When does background check happen?

Background checks happen traditionally when a candidate first starts a role, however we get asked 'can employers do background checks after hiring?' more often than you think; the answer to that is yes! You can have regular update services on existing employees, such as a disclosure check.

Can you fail a background check?

Candidates can absolutely fail a background check. If a business uses a screening software provider such as Access Screening, the platform will notify you if there is a failed background check after a job offer in the UK, and it is then up the organisation to take necessary action.

Are background checks necessary?

Some background checks are necessary, this includes a standard right to work in the UK and a DBS if this is a role where candidates would be working with vulnerable people or in a high compliance sector. All in all, this depends on the industry you work in and is up to the organisation to do the due diligence required, failing to do so could result in hefty fines or further legal action required from governing bodies.

Are background checks legal?

Background checks are legal, as long as you have the candidates consent to performing the background checks on themselves.

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Latest Background Check Articles

Take a look through all the latest articles and resources around the different types of pre-employment background checks, and how they can help foster trust and reliability within your workforce.