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The UK Government has released further details on how employers will soon be able to use digital identity verification services. 
 
Challenges for employers around ID verification, for both Right to Work and DBS checks, were amplified by the pandemic. This focused attention on the subject has resulted in changes to legislation which will allow digital identification. At Verifile we greatly welcome this initiative and look forward to launching compliant services to support the new process.
 
The changes to legislation are expected to take effect on or soon after 6 April 2022, but solutions may not actually be available on this date. Providers wanting to supply these services must first become certified against the DBS and Right to Work schemes. There are currently no certified providers, nor is there even a single certification body. A list of certifiers will be selected in due course. Until then the legislation change itself won’t necessarily result in an instant solution.
 
Verifile has been working closely with our technology and digital identity verification partners this past year on some different approaches. We are doing all that we can with the information available, including developing a working solution to be ready for the start of April. But, there are still aspects of this initiative which are unknown and need further detail from Government.
 
The Government has also indicated that the certification process itself could take up to 8 weeks. As such, we felt it necessary to manage expectations about timeframes accordingly.
 
Unfortunately, we must caution that there will be no silver bullet which will transform the process for all candidates overnight on April 6th. Even if there is a certified solution in place by that date, not all candidates will embrace a Government-led digital ID verification initiative. We will of course provide alternative solutions for candidates who are not willing to take the digital pathway.
 
It is important for us to stress that in all scenarios, you will be able to continue using the existing identity checking guidelines, including the temporary arrangements introduced in March 2020.
 
Our solution, which we intend to launch as soon as possible, will offer different options to meet all needs.
 
We’ll continue to update you as we are getting closer to April.

The DBS have released figures about current performance in light of the impact on their turnaround times due to the pandemic. Given the impact this has on your own operations we wanted to share the details with you. 
 
The DBS revealed that there's been quite a spike in turnaround times since the start of the year. They assure us, however, that these are returning to pre-Christmas levels with no significant delays. 
 
Here's a table showing the DBS's published service standards compared with the actual performance of the DBS checks we have put through on your behalf:
 

 
Despite the delays experienced by the DBS which have exceeded their published standards in recent weeks, we’ve been able to maintain and even exceed those service levels for Verifile customers!
 
If you want to know how we can help you with fast and accurate DBS checks, please contact sales@verifile.co.uk or call 01234 608090!

However, since then, we have received an important update from DBS regarding their experiences. We felt all our customers will find this relevant, so I wanted to bring it to your attention. The update was as follows:  
  
So far this year the number of requests for DBS checks has seen a steady increase and despite this, we have still been able to meet all of our published service standards. 
 
As we see extraordinary high levels of recruitment across the country not just in the care sector and gig economy, but also the start of companies recruiting casual labour in the run up to Christmas, we expect this demand to further increase. 
 
During September, we have processed 690,000 applications, which was 130,000 (23%) more than we had planned for – as organisations have started to recruit more staff following lockdown restrictions. We expect October to be even busier. This means that we may not meet all of our targets in October or November and we are asking people to bear with us while we respond to this unprecedented demand. 
 
Ordinarily, 80% of Enhanced DBS Checks are completed within 14 days, 80% of Standard DBS Checks are completed within 5 days and 80% of Basic DBS Checks are completed within 2 days. We are advising people that DBS checks may take an additional five days to process. 
 
Our staff have worked tirelessly hard throughout the pandemic to ensure employers receive the vital information they need to make safer recruitment decisions. We continue to work 7 days a week to keep on top of demand and are recruiting extra staff to deal with our demand. We have also continued to stop those people who we believe pose a risk to children and vulnerable groups from working in regulated activity. We’ll continue to do this as we know and recognise the vital role we play in recruitment and safeguarding the most vulnerable. 
 
We anticipate a return to normal levels of demand towards the end of the year. 
 
We reviewed our own data for DBS checks that we processed in September, and found that our results are quicker than the official line quoted by DBS. Here are our actual results for all types of DBS checks that were processed in September: 
 
85.1% of Enhanced DBS Checks were completed within 14 days 
83.7% of Standard DBS Checks were completed within 14 days 
83.2% of Basic DBS Checks were completed within 14 days 
 
Another agency that asked us in recent days to flag to our customers that they are struggling to keep up with their published turnaround time of 10 working days is the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) in Northern Ireland. 

I wish to take this opportunity to mention that while we have not received official communications from all other agencies, we know that others have similar challenges.  
 
With the unprecedented demand for background checking services, we are continuing to do everything in our power to support all of our customers. We would once again like to thank you for your continued patience and understanding during this time.  
 
Yours sincerely,  
 
Eyal Ben Cohen 
Founder and CEO