Reed Screening guides ITContracting.com readers through everything there is to know about baseline security checks.
The Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) is a vetting standard needed for civil servants and all contracting roles for the UK government.
However, it is also now becoming increasingly seen as a best-practice, standard check across a range of sectors and employers in the private sector.
BPSS checks: No longer just for state and civil service jobs
Why? Well, BPSS aims to give employers a defined level of assurance when recruiting workers where a high level of vetting is not already mandatory, as it is in sectors like Education and Health & Care.
But what exactly do ‘Baseline Security Checks’ (as ‘BPSS’ often gets shortened to) involve, and how can contractors get them? Here, exclusively for ITContracting.com, I will answer these BPSS questions and more for contractors, writes Better Hiring Institute chair Keith Rosser, director at Reed Screening.
What can contractors expect from a Baseline Security Check?
BPSS vetting is completed before contractors take up work and involves four main checks:
- Identity;
- Right to work in the UK;
- Employment history; and finally,
- Criminal record check.
Let’s look at each in detail.
1. Identity
This check ensures the work is given to the right person and not somebody pretending to be someone else by using a fake ID.
Identity can be checked physically or digitally.
For a physical check, one or more official documents (such as a passport, driver’s licence or utility bill), must be obtained, showing the person’s full name, date of birth and current address.
One of the documents must contain a photograph of the person, which should be checked, to make sure that the person being vetted is the same person that the documents relate to.
A digital check can be carried out by an accredited digital ID provider (IDVT), or by a ‘sharecode check’ for those people who have an e-visa.
2. Right To Work
In many but not all cases, the documents provided to prove a person’s identity will also prove their right to work in the UK (and vice versa).
The documents can be checked physically, in person; by use of a digital service (for people with an in-date UK or Irish passport), or by an online Home Office Right To Work check — for non-British and non-Irish citizens.
Full details of the documents that will prove the right to work in the UK can be found in the Home Office’s guide to Right to Work checks: Right to work checks: an employer’s guide – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Progress = Remote checks for contractors now available
There has been great innovation in this space over the last few years, with the rollout of the UK Home Office digital Right To Work scheme in 2022.
I’m pleased to say that work I recently undertook with ministers now means contractors can pass through BPSS checks remotely.
As a result, some 25 million people will have found work digitally and remotely by 2023 (former minister Paul Scully has forecast), opening up job opportunities for people in parts of the UK where employment prospects have traditionally been more limited.
3. Employment History
To obtain a BPSS check, you will need to give your full employment/academic history for the last three years, and this will need to be verified as accurate.
For contractors, evidence of work can include documents from HMRC; a banking provider, an accountant and/or solicitors, as well as references from clients (or tradespeople).
This has been enhanced in recent times by the introduction of online HMRC checks to quickly validate work history, as opposed to older, more manual methods.
4. Criminal Record (Police) Checks
This will involve a basic disclosure check with either DBS, Disclosure Scotland or Access NI, depending on where you are contracting.
The basic check will only show unspent convictions. For more detailed information on police checks please take a look at my recent article on the subject: A contractor’s guide to DBS checks – IT Contracting
Do contractors with unspent convictions automatically fail BPSS vetting?
If you do have ‘unspent’ convictions, then this does not automatically mean that you will fail BPSS vetting.
The organisation you are contracting for must risk-assess the impact that your conviction will have on the work you do. And then it will decide on your prospective employment.
As a Non-Executive Board Member of Disclosure Scotland, I have seen first-hand the developments over recent years to enhance the speed of these checks.
Positively, they are often now completed within 24 hours meaning that, overall, BPSS checks can now be completed in as little as a day.
Important: have you lived or worked overseas?
In some circumstances, where you have lived or worked abroad, then an overseas criminal record check may be required from the relevant country.
For some government roles where higher levels of assurance are required, then National Security Vetting and Clearance may be needed.
Is BPSS for government workers only?
No, these baseline secuirty checks are now used by a wide range of employers as a pre-employment vetting standard. If you are doing contracting work for the government, BPSS will be mandatory.
What happens if a contractor doesn’t pass all of the checks?
If you can’t prove that you have the Right To Work in the UK, then you can’t do contract work — in any role, including those covered by BPSS.
If any of the checks return adverse information (such as employment references or a police check), then this does not automatically mean that you fail BPSS vetting.
The organisation you are seeking to contract for must risk-assess the impact that the adverse information will have on the work you are going forward to do. And then it will make a decision regarding your employment.
I’m a contractor, how can I get a Baseline Security Check?
Many pre-employment vetting companies will carry out BPSS checks. But for the only family-owned vetting company based entirely in the UK, operating 24-7, and working one day a week for charity, then reach out to us at Reed Screening.
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