Risk UK Pre-employment Screening Article

Transcription

1 1. There has been media coverage recently of companies being a bit overzealous with CRB checking. How can a company tell if they really need to check the criminal record of current or potential employees or not? The Criminal Records Bureau have strict requirements about who can and cannot be checked and if in doubt the CRB or an Umbrella Organisation should be consulted, however an understanding of the underlying legislation is also required to avoid a potential breach, the CRB web site lists all of the categories and in particular those people whose job may bring them into contact with children and/or vulnerable adults: An example of this is whether a person working within the manufacture of controlled drugs requires a CRB check? In this case the underlying legislation included the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act, 1960 and the Health Professions Order, 2001 which includes clinical scientists & medical laboratory technicians and therefore because the post includes the lawful manufacture of controlled drugs then it maybe suitable for a Standard disclosure. Umbrella Bodies such as Agenda must satisfy themselves that the CRB check is appropriate. It is an offense to carry out a CRB check where there is no legal requirement to do so. The scope of the CRB continues to change and so frequent reference to the CRB web site is advised. The CRB is rightly concerned over abuse of the system particularly when in 2008 they reported a 22% increase in the number of requests which was testing their ability to turn around 90% of the checks within their target of 29 days. Another consideration is for the employer or Umbrella Body to carry out robust identification checks to ensure that the CRB check actually relates to that person. 1 January 2009

2 2. How much of a problem is presented by illegal immigrants trying to get work and what types of jobs do they typically go for? With an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants currently within the UK and the ready availability of fake documentation, employers across all businesses, large and small, have to exercise extra vigilance in their employment procedures. Those who fall foul of legislation run the risk of incurring punitive penalties. Fines of up to 10,000 can be levied for each illegal worker employed. In addition in January 2009, Lord Rooker, the Immigration minister announced that employers who are found to have been deliberately complicit in bringing illegal immigrants to Britain could face sentences of up to 14 years. In 2008 we saw over ten times more illegal workers caught than in 2007 and Agenda is witnessing the increasing use of false documents to dupe unwitting employers. The government has issued fines of over 720,000 since April 2008 following the introduction of sections 15 to 25 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act Forthcoming legislation will place even more stringent points-based checks on employers. The UK Government announced in January 2009 a a programme to treble the rate of removal of illegal immigrants and failed asylum-seekers to 2,500 a week and the setting up of immigration "hit squads" that will concentrate initially on industries such as, hotels and catering, construction, clothes manufacturing, agricultural; and information technology industries. Lord Rooker,, has promised that a series of "high-profile prosecutions" of employers will send a message that it is no longer safe to work illegally in Britain. Agenda has seen an increasing number of fake documents and with the increased Government crack down on illegal workers it is imperative now more than ever that employers ensure that they check the validity of the right to work documentation and the identity of the individual before employing. Recent fines of up to 25,000 have been incurred because the employer did not check the validity of the documents and had been duped by the illegal workers. 2 January 2009

3 3. If a company employs someone without checking their background first what types of risk are they running? As mentioned above the risk of unknowingly employing illegal workers and incurring large fines should be a sufficient reason for carrying out some form of background check. However, it is not just about illegal workers; it is also about demonstrating a duty of acre to all of your employees and reducing the risks of employing fraudsters, thieves, unqualified, spies, terrorists and others that may not have your organisations best interests at heart. A number of annual reports, including the UK's fraud prevention service CIFAS s The Enemy Within' have showed a rising level of major discrepancies and embellishments on CVs over previous years. Thirty-nine percent of UK organisations have experienced a situation where their vetting procedures have allowed an employee to be hired who was later found to have lied or misrepresented themselves in their application. Agenda s experience is that we should not take anything at face value; Agenda ensures that all documentation is checked at source and is cross checked against other documents provided. If a qualification is vital for a particular position then it must be checked at source, Agenda s review of all 2008 screenings revealed an alarming 1 in 20 qualifications were misrepresented this included upping the grades achieved in degrees and in some cases not even completing the course for the claimed qualification. With theft and information loss a major concern and increasing emphasis from the Government on the security of information having a robust preemployment screening process can reduce the risks, accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu carried out a survey which found that employee misconduct, errors and omissions are the greatest cause of data security breaches. 3 January 2009

4 The survey also revealed a shift in priorities from protecting sensitive data from attack by outsiders to addressing internal threats. An overwhelming majority of respondents, 91% are concerned about employees. Nearly 80% cited the human factor as the root cause for information security failures. Agenda s experience is that having a robust screening process makes good business sense and anecdotal evidence from a major Pharmaceutical client suggests that the benefits are tangible in that they have reported a reduction in petty theft and crime of more than 40% over the 5 years that the preemployment screening process has been in place. Remember, also that there are legal requirement for some checks to be conducted (CRB/Right to Work) and by having these checks built into your recruitment processes will protect you against possible fines and legal action. 4. Is it your experience that some companies feel a little awkward informing current employees that a CRB check needs to be carried out? Informing any current employee that you will be conducting checks on them is always going to be a sensitive situation. When Agenda first assists a client in introducing background checks the scope and requirements of the check must be considered. Consultation, contractual checks and liaison with other stakeholder such as Unions may be appropriate. All background checks should be carried out with the full and signed permission of the individual although many organisations are looking at open source information as a part of their background checks. Agenda has had to develop intelligence led open source checks covering 20 to 50 Billion web pages to meet this demand. Strictly speaking open source checks do not require the individuals permission; however, it is good practice to do so and particularly for current employees to retain trust and confidence. 4 January 2009

5 With regards to the CRB checks, it can be awkward but as it is a legal requirement there is no alternative. As described above it is illegal to check a person who does not fall under the prescribed categories. Therefore if a CRB check is legally required the current employee will have to comply. This can be handled sensitively and for employees that may be concerned about what might come up separate consultation and counselling may be offered. The organisation must also develop a policy on what they will do in the foreseeable circumstances and reassure concerned employee that they are not going to be dismissed because of a driving conviction that happened 10 years ago for example. But, within a large organisation it is likely that information may be revealed through the CRB check that will lead to the dismissal of current employees due to their background being unsuitable for the position that they work in. In all cases it is important to check the identity of the person and all former names to ensure that the CRB results refer to your employee. 6. What are your predictions for the future of employment & recruitment issues? Intelligence Led Open Source Checks to Increase The use of open source information searches in recruitment decision making is more popular than ever and we expect to see that trend continue, 20% of employers use social networking sites to run searches on job applicants and 68% of employers use search engines to check on candidates according to financial services recruiter Joslin Rowe. They identified that the top ten turnoffs for employers on social networking websites as: 1. References to drug abuse 2. Extremist / intolerant views, including racism, sexism 3. Criminal activity 4. Evidence of excessive alcohol consumption 5. Inappropriate pictures, including nudity 6. Foul language 5 January 2009

6 7. Links to unsuitable websites 8. Lewd jokes 9. Silly addresses 10. Membership of pointless / silly groups The searches will also become more sophisticated, Agenda has seen from the popularity of it s posint, Sanctions, Politically Opposed Persons (PEP) and other open source checks that employers are becoming more aware of the information that is out there. The information gathered must be handled sensitively and we expect to see an increase in intelligence led searches where results are validated and cross checked to protect candidates from being barred from employment in error. Checks on Suppliers and Agencies to Increase Agenda has seen huge increase in the last few years in the checking of suppliers to organisations, a rise in the number of prosecutions for having an illegal worker on site via an agency has seen more stringent checks being imposed on providers. In the past, organisations have trusted their suppliers, imposing strict checking procedures on their own employees whilst allowing contractors access to the same areas and information without the contractor having to conduct the same level of checks. With the continuing move to having a smaller core of full time staff supplemented by a pool of temporary and agency personnel we expect to see an increase in requirements for agencies to carry out more robust checks. Agenda has carried out many audits of suppliers and the evidence shows that agencies do not yet have the in-house capabilities to comply with their clients robust screening requirements but in the future this extended workforce will need to meet the screening requirements of the client organisation. 6 January 2009

7 Development of a Common Minimum Standard for Checks Because there is not a standard check and each organisation s risks are different we have seen a vast array of differing requirements. We also see organisations claiming industry standard checks or full background checks are being conducted but when the detail is analysed the checks are neither standard nor full in their scope. We expect to see a minimum international standard to include basic requirements such as a thorough identity confirmation check as a minimum, without this all other checks are meaningless. An international requirement is vital as we see more migration of labour across borders. More clarity will be required in the future to show both the scope and depth of the checks being conducted and evidence of the information gathered, this is particularly important where information is being gathered in different countries where the legislation, access and process will be different. We may not be able to check apples with apples across the Globe but we would expect that this new minimum standard would protect the person being checked as much as the employer, validating, cross checking and investigating need to become the standard. Not taking information at face value works both ways and we need to be sure that the John Smith with issues of concern in the background check is our John Smith. A common standard would assist in this process. 7. Will there come a time when every employee in the UK has his/her background checked? Having our background checked is inevitable; ten years ago Agenda was pushing on closed doors when suggesting to potential clients that we could assist in providing pre-employment screening services. Now that has all changed, the public is much more aware of the need for certain checks, issues like Soham raised public concerns and awareness of the need to check people working in certain professions. The event of 9/11 in America and 7/7 in London shook the world and in 2006 the UK Government brought out the Baseline Personnel Security Standard emphasising the need for robust background checking procedures. 7 January 2009

8 As employers we are already required to check the right to work documentation of potential employees, however, this is not just a check of foreign nationals this is a check of all potential employees including those who claim to be UK citizens. The availability and quality of forged documents and market in stolen documents make this an essential part of the checking process. This means that all applicants whether form the UK or not will have to have this check conducted. In the UK we have been anticipating the introduction of a National Identity Card, established by the Identity Cards Act 2006 linking the card to the National Identity Register (NIR). The Act specifies fifty categories of information that the NIR can hold on each citizen, including up to 10 fingerprints, digitised facial scan and iris scan, current and past UK and overseas places of residence of all residents of the UK throughout their lives and indices to other Government databases. We have already seen the requirement for this applying for or renewing passports to be entered onto the NIR. Concerns over the scheme have been expressed by human rights lawyers, activists, security professionals and IT experts and if fully introduced it will bring us closer to the requirement to have not just employees but all UK citizens background checked. From our experience at Agenda, more employers are conducting preemployment screening. Estimates from groups such as the Society for HR Management suggest that some forms of pre-employment screening conducted by employers have doubled over the last 10 years. It would be difficult to envisage a time when all employees require a background check but we are moving in that direction, employers are getting better at evaluating risk and carrying out some due diligence to reduce those risks particularly from their own employees. Norman Mortell BA (Hons) Director, for Agenda Security Services, A division of Agenda Resource Management Ltd 8 January 2009