May

A child development centre in South Carolina hired someone to be an afterschool teacher who then confessed to being a previous opiate addict who was now receiving medical treatement for the addiction, and then subsequently fired him.

The EEOC said that an individualised assessment of the employee's ability to carry out their job role sould have been carried out first in order to not discriminate and breach the Americans with Diabilities Act.

The centre was fined $5,000.

Please find below an update for the checks that have had a change of process, requirements or forms. 

UK Criminal Basic England and Wales Results
Verifile has been working with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to understand why some basic checks have been taking longer than expected. We have identified an issue which is affecting the provision of a very small number of basic check results. Results are not being communicated to Verifile, so those checks appear to be processing. Verifile has identified all affected orders and is urgently working to ensure results are received and are available to our clients as quickly as possible.

Identity Checks for England and Wales DBS Checks
We would like to remind clients ordering England and Wales criminal checks (basic, standard and enhanced) that when confirming the candidates’ identity on our platform, you are confirming that you have undertaken the identity check according to the DBS Code of Practice, which includes:

1. Meeting the candidate in person (face to face)
2. Seeing the candidate’s original identity documents (not just photocopies)
3. Checking that the appearance of the candidate matches their date of birth and the photograph on the documents
4. Checking that the documents appear to be genuine with no signs of tampering
5. Checking that personal details on the documents match those entered by the candidate on the Verifile screening form (please call us if you notice any differences)

These responsibilities can be split. For example, the line manager may carry out steps 1 to 4 in the presence of the candidate, and HR may carry out step 5. However, if splitting, please ensure that HR have copies of the identity documents in order to carry out step 5 correctly.

If the identification check isn’t carried out correctly, then there is potential for results to be invalid. Please note that sole responsibility does rest with your organisation to undertake the identification check correctly.

UK Criminal Checks in Northern Ireland via AccessNI
AccessNI, the government agency issuing criminal certificates for Northern Ireland, are modernising their IT system over the next 2-3 months. They have given us advance notice that all signatories will be required to create new log-ins and passwords for their NI Direct account. We will provide more information on how this process will work as soon as we receive further details from AccessNI.

Identity Checks for Standard and Enhanced UK Criminal Checks ​
​Following the advanced notice in our last newsletter, the list of approved identity documents for criminal record checks (Standard and Enhanced) in England & Wales has now been updated. This change was required by the Disclosure and Barring Service, which is the organisation that searches for convictions and relevant information on the Police National Computer and issues these certificates.

The new list of identity documents is now presented to candidates to choose from on the Verifile platform. To assist you in completing the face to face identity check, we have created an Identity Check Guide that can be found in the Help Guides section after Verifile log in.

Kenya Criminal 
A change in requirements means that two copies of certain documents and an extra application letter are now needed.

Russia Criminal
New Power of Attorney document options are now possible following feedback from candidates.

Belgium Criminal
Individuals with a current official registered address in Belgium are now required to obtain criminal check certificates from their local municipality. We can still process these checks on individuals who reside outside Belgium and who have informed the local authorities that they no longer have a registered address in Belgium.
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Ghana Criminal
This service is now available only for residents of Ghana.

“Misleading” criminal record checks are destroying the careers of people who want to work with children, teachers have warned.  

One woman committed suicide after she lost her job for failing to disclose a disorder fine for “snorting like a pig” at an undercover police officer when at university.  And another woman was told she could no longer work as a childminder because her nephew had been convicted of rape, the National Education Union ATL section’s conference heard. Delegates at the conference in Liverpool raised concerns the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) – which checks criminal records of those applying to work with children – is not fit for purpose.  

Josie Whiteley, president of AMiE, the union’s leadership section, said: “The career prospects of individuals are being destroyed by misleading information shared through police intelligence.” Ms Whiteley said she had heard of a young woman who lost her “dream job” of working with children in care after she snorted at an undercover police officer on a night out during her university years.“She decided, perhaps rather foolishly, to snort like at a pig at a man she suspected was an undercover police officer.

He was a police officer and she was told she had committed a public order offence. “They told her if she accepted a penalty notice for disorder and a fine she wouldn’t have to go to court, so she accepted that.”  The woman was allowed to start working with children in care. But when her employer saw the check, they said she had acted dishonestly by not disclosing the penalty notice and she was dismissed.  “She felt her career was in tatters and two weeks later she took her own life,” Ms Whiteley added. 

A motion – which said teachers had been arrested, released without charge and put in a position where their careers were “at risk owing to unfair and or inappropriate information” on their DBS – was passed.It called on the union to lobby the government to overhaul the system and ensure that information about arrests leading to no further action is not eligible information on a DBS check.

Graham Edwards, from Redbridge, said: “The DBS system, as it stands, is not fit for purpose. Children and vulnerable adults do need a DBS system that enables them to be protected, but those who work in education need a DBS system that protects them too.” A statement from the DBS said: “Each year we issue around four million certificates to help employers make safer recruitment decisions. What is included on our certificates is either set out in legislation or provided to us by the police. 

“Any non-conviction information disclosed on a DBS certificate has been subject to a decision by a police force in accordance with a statutory test and with regard to statutory guidance. “It is also important to note that around 94 per cent of certificates are clear and that a DBS check is one of the key pieces of information that form part of any organisation’s recruitment decision and should be considered alongside other information.”