Identifying fraudulent pre-employment documentation: recruitment from outside the UK

If any of your employment checks and verification activity returns results which require further investigation or highlights potential fraud, please let your local counter-fraud team know as part of your investigation process. Dependent on the issue, you may also need to alert the relevant professional regulator and/or the UKVI.

As outlined in the NHS Employment Check Standards, it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that all evidence and certification provided is scrutinised and appropriately verified. For candidates being recruited from overseas, this should take place as early in the process as is possible, and before the individual travels to the UK. While the regulator will validate documentation needed as part of the registration process, in many cases these checks are the last stage of the process for entry onto the register, by which point as the employer, you will have given much time and resource to supporting the recruit who subsequently cannot take up employment.  

As outlined in the NHS Employment Check Standards, it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that all evidence and certification provided is scrutinised and appropriately verified. For candidates being recruited from overseas, this should take place as early in the process as is possible, and before the individual travels to the UK. While the regulator will validate documentation needed as part of the registration process, in many cases these checks are the last stage of the process for entry onto the register, by which point as the employer, you will have given much time and resource to supporting the recruit who subsequently cannot take up employment.  

Irrespective of any duties you may place on your chosen agency/third party to undertake the necessary employment checks, the overarching responsibility falls to the employing organisation. You should seek assurances through your own scheduled audit and monitoring processes, that your chosen agency/third party operates within the same high standards outlined by the NHS employment check standards. If in doubt, duplication will be preferable to gaps.

For candidates who already hold professional registration, the regulator will have undertaken checks to validate that they have the relevant qualifications to be on their register and can practise in their chosen profession. Additional checks on qualifications to practise are not normally necessary. 

In line with other document checks, retain a copy of the certificate or statement of results provided by the individual on file. For local auditing purposes it would be advisable to keep a record of the verification taken place. When storing information such as this, please ensure you comply with existing data protection legislation.

If any of your employment checks and verification activity returns results which require further investigation or highlights potential fraud, please let your local counter-fraud team know as part of your investigation process. Dependent on the issue, you may also need to alert the relevant professional regulator and/or the UKVI.

For candidates who already hold professional registration, the regulator will have undertaken checks to validate that they have the relevant qualifications to be on their register and can practise in their chosen profession. Additional checks on qualifications to practise are not normally necessary. 

https://ielts.org/organisations/ielts-for-organisations/get-started-with-ielts/register-your-organisation

The IELTS verification service is free service used by institutions that have recognised IELTS. 

When registering for the test and sending results to NHS Trusts or NMC, test takers give their permission for their results to be verified.

Genuine recruitment agencies can recognise IELTS and have access to the verification service. 

Regulators determine which tests they will accept and whether a test can be used that is over two years old. 

Results are released and available in three to five days for IELTS delivered on computer and after 13 days for paper based tests.

If a test taker is found to have committed malpractise their results can be withheld.

Test takers can book tests whenever they are available but IELTS would recommend undertaking some practise through the free support offered: https://ielts.org/take-a-test/preparation-resources

Each recognising organisation has an administrator and the administrator can grant access for their colleagues. 

The test taker's gender is part of the set of personal details such as name, DOB, etc and should be checked when verifying results.

The email address is: ielts.verifications@britishcouncil.org.

In order to become an IELTS examiner, you must attend and successfully complete training and certification. Training covers how to rate the speaking and writing modules of the IELTS test and how to deliver the speaking test.

Receiving organisations that have had scores sent to them by applicants can verity each test report form. 

The cost of an IELTS test varies slightly from country to country and details can be found at https://ielts.org/take-a-test/booking-your-test.

Test takers can share their results with any institution they wish to apply to.

Each IELTS test generates a unique test report form number, unique to that test. 

To register to become an OET recognising organisation, please visit https://oet.com/for-partners/recognising-oet

On submitting your application, the person appointed as results verification manager will receive their login details within one-two working days.

We appreciate your feedback. Please make sure that you are logging in to the OET Hub at https://oet-global.com/ to view computer-based test results.

If you continue to have issues, please take a screenshot and send it to verifiersupport@oet.com.au

This email address can be used for general issues with OET log in. One of our team members will respond to you within one-two business days.

If a short training session would be helpful, please contact verifiersupport@oet.com.au

A step-by-step guide can be found on our website: https://support.oet.com/s/article/How-do-I-give-verification-institutions-permission-to-view-my-results

Scores required on the test depend on the regulator. In the UK, the NMC requires a score of grade B/350 in reading, listening and speaking and a C+/300 in writing.

Tests taken within a 12-month period can be combined if these grades are obtained in at least one sitting and in the other sitting, the reading, listening and speaking is no lower than C+/300 and the writing is no lower than C/250.

However, the GMC requires a score of Grade B/350 across all subtests in a single sitting.

No, there is no fee to use our results verification service.

We will consider applications from recruiters who are listed on the NHS Employers ethical recruiters list.

We only release our results via our results verification portal. As soon as the result is live, the candidate is able to share it with you.

OET is committed to preventing the occurrence of fraud and maintaining the security and integrity of the OET. We have rigorous process and policy in place for the identification and management of malpractice.

A candidate's result might be disqualified as an outcome of malpractice investigation. To find out more about our malpractice policy please see https://oet.com/test-regulations

Candidates can book the next available test day: https://oet.com/test/book-a-test 

Each team member at your trust will be issued their own login.

To add one of your staff to become a verifier, the verifying manager will need to complete this form: https://oet.formstack.com/forms/results_verification_access_form

They will receive a confirmation email once their access has been granted with information on how to log in to both portals. 

Data such as their gender and DOB is used on test day to ensure we are testing the right person as part of the check in process. This is also used at post-test when checking for malpractice (for example, impersonation). 

The NMC require a score of Grade B/350 in reading, listening and speaking and a C+/300 in writing.

Tests taken within a 12-month period can be combined if these grades are obtained in at least one sitting and in the other sitting, the reading, listening and speaking is no lower than C+/300 and the writing is no lower than C/250.  

For further information, please visit https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/english-language-requirements/accepted-english-language-tests/.

Yes, candidates will need to provide access to view each score.

We are sorry to hear that these partners have experienced technical issues.

Location does not impact access to the portals as we have a global network of recognising organisations. Please ensure they have registered as a recognising organisation.

If not, they can apply by completing this form: https://oet.com/for-partners/recognising-oet. If they are already registered and are having issues with the verification process, please ask them to contact verifiersupport@oet.com.au with the candidate number they are trying to verify.

Yes, candidates do pay to sit the test but there is no charge for them to use the results sharing service.

Yes. The candidate can share their result with any of our recognising organisations as needed. 

Here's a tutorial on how they can share their results: https://support.oet.com/s/article/How-do-I-give-verification-institutions-permission-to-view-my-results.

The candidate will need to provide you with their candidate number which can be found in the candidate dashboard.  

For OET on Computer and OET@home: https://oet-global.com/

For OET in Paper: https://registration.myoet.com/login.jsp

Ensure you are checking the results in the right portal.

For candidates who took OET on Paper and have a candidate number that starts with 200x log in to https://registration.myoet.com/login.jsp

For candidates who took OET on Computer or OET@Home and has a candidate number that starts with x471 log in to https://oet-global.com/

If you are still unable to view this, please email the candidate number along with a screenshot of the results when attempting to view the candidate scores to verifiersupport@oet.com.au

Depending on the visa or regulator, the candidate can choose which exam to take.

Yes. As long as the candidate has shared both results with you, you only need to enter their candidate number once into the system and both results will appear.

We are working towards a unified results verification portal and will provide an update as soon as possible.

Statement of Results can be downloaded for computer-based tests, unfortunately, this is not available for paper-based tests. We are reviewing this. In saying this, the results will remain visible to the organisation for as long as the candidate has not withdrawn their sharing permission.