Blogs



CMS.DataEngine.CollectionPropertyWrapper`1[CMS.DataEngine.BaseInfo]
Profile Image Verifile
| Identity and Documents Verification Checks
March 16, 2022
Blog Article Image

Verifile Celebrates Commitment to Real Living Wage

Verifile Limited has been accredited as a Living Wage Employer. Verifile's commitment to paying the Real Living Wage will see everyone at Verifile in the UK receiving a minimum hourly wage of £10.00. This wage is significantly higher than the government minimum, which currently stands at £8.91 per hour.

Verifile is a leading provider of background screening services. Verifile is using innovative technology and methodology. The business has been trading for over 17 years from its Bedford head office. Verifile is now an established market leader. With services used globally and an impressive customer base, it has experienced significant growth in the last few years. Verifile has ambitious plans to accelerate its growth globally. Verifile recognises that its people will make this possible.

The Real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the costs of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their employees earn a wage they can live on. Since 2011, the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to over 300,000 people. As a result, it put over £1.6 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.

Eyal Ben Cohen, Founder and CEO, Verifile said “We never forget Verifile is a people business, and we genuinely care about the impact of what we do. Ensuring our colleagues earn a wage they can live on is crucial to us. We are committed to their wellbeing and the impact this has on their families and the community.”

Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation said: “We’re delighted that Verifile has joined the movement of almost 9,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.

“They join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names.  These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like Verifile, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”

Read More
CMS.DataEngine.CollectionPropertyWrapper`1[CMS.DataEngine.BaseInfo]
Profile Image Verifile
| Identity and Documents Verification Checks
February 3, 2022
Blog Article Image

DBS price drop announced – reduced fees from April

Anticipating a steep rise in the number of checks required by employers over the next few years, the DBS has recently undertaken a fee review.  We are delighted to share news that the government has announced plans to reduce the fees for all DBS criminal record checks
 
The prices for both Basic and Standard levels are being reduced by more than 20%, which is very welcome news for employers. There will also be a small 5% reduction in the fee for Enhanced level DBS checks. 
 
Subject to being approved by Parliament on March 16th the new government fees will apply for all DBS applications submitted from April 6th 2022.   
 

Type of DBS check Current DBS fee* Revised DBS fee* from April 6th 2022
Basic DBS check £23.00 £18.00  (£5 reduction)
Standard DBS check £23.00 £18.00  (£5 reduction)
Enhanced DBS check £40.00 £38.00  (£2 reduction)
*excluding Verifile’s service charge
 
Standard and Enhanced volunteer applications will remain free-of-charge, and no changes will be made to DBS Update Service or Adult First checks. 
 
Verifile is committed to passing on the full savings to our customers and the new pricing will automatically be applied to their accounts. 
 
Conducting criminal records has never been more affordable. Coupled with the fact that over 80% of Basic level checks are processed within 24 hours, this is a must have addition to any background check programme and for any role. The new price also makes criminal records very affordable for post-employment monitoring programmes. 
 
If you’re not currently enjoying our automatic DBS services and you are interested in adding them to your account, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and we’ll get you ready to enjoy these new low-price checks. 
 
In case you missed them, check out some of our recent blogs.  There’s a Verifile review of 2021 and our plans for 2022; an update on the changes to Digital identity verification services and how we will be able to support you with this game-changing new process; and an Update regarding DBS performance.
 

Read More
CMS.DataEngine.CollectionPropertyWrapper`1[CMS.DataEngine.BaseInfo]
Profile Image Verifile
| Other
January 26, 2022
Blog Article Image

Review of 2021 in the Background Screening industry

Here's Verifile's 2021 review...

2021 was another strange year for us all and I can't be the only person still wondering what "normal" even looks like.

But before I share my review what's been happening here at Verifile, I want to ensure you are all aware of the news that UK employers have been waiting for. I am delighted that we can all look ahead to the era of Digital ID Validation!

UK GOV have announced that digital identity checks can be used for Right to Work checks from April 2022. Candidates will be able to upload images of their personal documents, instead of having originals checked by prospective employers. This is great news which will save significant resource, reduce onboarding time, and mitigate risk for employers.

Better still, the same identification technology can be used to support DBS checks too! We will of course be sharing more detail over the coming months but rest assured that we have been working hard behind the scenes in preparation.

As I sit here thinking about 2021, what stands out is that it's been a year of both significant growth, and significant change. Few would have predicted the incredible bounce back after the first year of Covid-19. Fewer still foresaw the 'great resignation' and the battle for recruitment and retention.

In response to unprecedented demand for our services, we've been recruiting non-stop for 18 months. Headcount at Verifile is already up by two thirds compared to pre-pandemic levels and with no plans to slow down. In September we welcomed our new Chief People Officer, Fiona Buchanan, to the board. Fiona has already set about making changes to make Verifile an even better place to work for our rapidly growing team! A new Chief Technology Officer is also due to join us early March and we have big plans for our platform and product – more on these will be shared in due course.

2021 was without doubt our most challenging year to date. Our Operations teams have been working relentlessly to deliver the services you rely on. Highlights include:

  • 41% increase in number of candidates screened
  • 40% increase in number of checks completed
  • 95% of verifications closed successfully
  • 25% of checks are ordered through our API (If you are interested to learn how you can access our checks via your own platform, we’d love to help you!)
  • 60% of checks were completed fully by our automated technology without any manual intervention
  • DBS times consistently averaging between 3 and 7 days
  • We checked candidates in 155 countries
The highlight from 2021 that we are most proud of is our verification success rate. Only 5% of all the employment references, qualifications, and memberships we checked were unable to be verified at source. That’s an incredible accomplishment considering all the disruption experienced by all third-party respondents throughout the year!

This aspect of our service is truly what continues to set Verifile apart and provide unparalleled value. And while this approach may take longer in some cases, we maintain that if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.

When looking at all the candidates we checked in 2021, we also found that:
  • Over half of all candidates have had discrepancies on their CV (55%)
  • Almost 1 in 4 candidates had a significant discrepancy with a red traffic light (23%)
  • 1 in 10 employments we checked had a significant discrepancy with a red traffic light (10%)
  • 1 in 10 qualifications we checked had a significant discrepancy with a red traffic light (10%)
  • 1 in 8 memberships we checked had a significant discrepancy with a red traffic light (12%) 
Now looking ahead, what’s in store for 2022 here at Verifile?
  • Digital ID Verification bringing about big changes to DBS and Right to Work checks
  • The launch of an alternative candidate-centric ordering process
  • Further data source integrations, and more products and services
  • Exciting news about our international expansion
  • New leaders joining our Board and senior management team
  • Adoption of Customer Success philosophy over Account Management - a major investment in how we support you
  • Continued investment in recruitment and in our colleagues’ well-being and personal development.
Our Business Support Team is creating initiatives, and enabling the return to office-based working for staff wishing to do so. Kelly, our Vendor & Accreditation Officer, is busy steering us through various audits as we continue to renew our 7 certifications, and we’re working towards more certifications for 2022.

In summary, I hope you enter the new year as full of optimism and excitement as we do here at Verifile. My team and I look forward to keeping in touch with you and enjoying more shared success in 2022.

Yours sincerely,
 
Eyal Ben Cohen

Verifile Founder and CEO

Read More