Advice for employers

The following advice is intended to support employers with meeting the NHS employment check standards from April 2008.

• Pre-employment checking is more effective if it forms an integral part of your policies, practices and procedures for the recruitment, hiring, and where necessary, training of employees.
• It is strongly recommended that only one department be responsible for carrying out pre-employment screening to ensure consistency, generally this falls to HR as the lead on the recruitment and selection of employees.
• A dedicated manager or senior member of staff should be appointed to lead the process to ensure that checks and protocols are adhered to and information is shared appropriately.
• The level and degree of checks carried out should be proportionate to the level of risk or opportunity to cause harm or damage the position being applied for may represent, and should only be carried out after a provisional decision has been made on the successful applicant. Where information is requested at an earlier stage (eg, at short-listing or interview), employers must be prepared to justify why this is required, for instance, to protect patient or staff safety.
• All pre-employment practices and processes need to be thorough, objective and unbiased and compatible with all relevant legislation such as Data Protection, Human Rights, Race Relations and Equality.

Recording of checks

• NHS employers should carry out all checks in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Information should only be obtained where it is essential to the recruitment decision and kept in accordance with the Act. Employers must record the outcome of all pre-employment checks, using Electronic Staff Record (ESR) where available. These checks are also part of the information governance and assurance standards linked to the use of the NHS Care Record Service (NHS CRS). For more details visit Connecting for Health.

Use of agencies, contractors and other external bodies

Ultimately, the responsibility for pre-employment checks lies with the employer. Where pre-employment checks are delegated to an agency, contractor or other external body, employers must satisfy themselves, by regular audit and monitoring, that appropriate checks are being carried out and processes meet the standards required.

This requirement should cascade from contract to sub-contract. A contract with an employment agency is likely to include:

• details of the checks required for different posts
  
  
• a statement to the effect that the agency will not receive payment for their services unless they provide staff who have been adequately screened
  
  
• the agency will be liable for financial penalties if it is discovered that contracted staff have not been adequately screened
  
  
• the contracting authority retains the right to audit the screening process at any time
  
  
• the agency must inform the contracting authority if the contractor is no longer employed by them, is undergoing any disciplinary procedures, or is arrested.