Security Companies
Security officers, CCTV operators, mobile response personnel and other security staff deployed to education sites.
Employee Screening for Education Contractors: Get Your People Ready to Deploy
Speak to the experts
Why Choose Checking Your Staff?
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Screening Designed Around the Role
Not everybody entering a school requires exactly the same checks.
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One Screening Partner
Bring DBS, Right to Work, identity, referencing and other employee screening together rather than managing multiple suppliers.
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Experienced UK-Based Team
When something doesn't fit neatly into the standard process, you can speak to people who understand employee vetting.
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Candidate Management
We help manage candidate information, outstanding requirements and screening progress.
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Clear Progress Tracking
Monitor screening activity through our secure online platform.
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Built for Contractors
We understand that screening isn't the end product.
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Actual Experts. Real Support.
When your client asks for a check you haven't encountered before, you don't need to become an expert in education screening yourself.
Working in Education Comes With Additional Screening Requirements
Winning a contract to provide services within a school, academy, college or other education setting can bring additional safeguarding responsibilities.
Your employees may be cleaners, security officers, engineers, IT technicians or facilities staff rather than teachers.
But if they're working within an education environment, the school or college may need to establish that the appropriate pre-employment and safeguarding checks have been completed.
This can include information required to support the school's Single Central Record (SCR).
Checking Your Staff helps contractors understand and manage the screening required to get their people compliant and ready for deployment.
You manage the contract. We help manage the screening behind it.
Who Do We Help?
We support businesses supplying employees and contractors into education environments, including:
Facilities Management
Employees providing FM services across schools, academies, colleges and education estates.
Cleaning Contractors
Cleaning teams working during or outside normal school hours.
IT & Technology Providers
Engineers, technicians and support staff who may regularly work within education premises.
Maintenance & Engineering
Electrical, mechanical, building maintenance and other contractors attending education sites.
Catering & Support Services
Employees providing contracted services within schools and colleges.
Recruitment & Staffing Businesses
Organisations supplying temporary, contract or permanent workers into education environments.
Other Education Contractors
If your people need to work regularly within a school or college, we can help you establish the appropriate screening requirements.
Understanding the Single Central Record
Schools and colleges maintain a Single Central Record, commonly referred to as the SCR.
It records specified pre-appointment checks carried out on relevant individuals working within the organisation.
For contractors, the requirements can depend upon factors including:
The right checks depend on the role and circumstances.
What work the individual is doing
How frequently they attend the education setting
Whether they have opportunity for contact with children
Whether their work constitutes regulated activity
Whether they are supervised
The contractual arrangements
The school's own safeguarding responsibilities
This means there isn't necessarily one standard screening package that applies to every contractor.
Enhanced DBS Checks
Many organisations first encounter education screening when a client asks:
“Does this employee have an Enhanced DBS?”
For eligible roles, an Enhanced DBS check provides a higher level of criminal record information than a Basic DBS check.
Where the role meets the appropriate legal eligibility requirements, an Enhanced DBS application may also include a check of the Children's Barred List.
However, employers cannot simply request an Enhanced DBS because somebody will be working on school premises.
Eligibility depends upon the activities being undertaken and the circumstances of the role.
Our screening team can help you understand the appropriate DBS route.
Children's Barred List Checks
For eligible roles involving regulated activity with children, a check against the Children's Barred List may be required.
This is normally undertaken as part of an appropriate Enhanced DBS application.
Not every person working on a school site is eligible for a Barred List check.
Eligibility needs to be established based upon the work being undertaken.
This is exactly why contractor screening should start with the role rather than simply ordering a DBS check.
Right to Work Checks
Every UK employer has a responsibility to establish that its employees have the appropriate Right to Work.
Checking Your Staff can support the appropriate checking route, including:
Digital IDVT checks for eligible candidates
Home Office online checks
Share-code verification
Support where another prescribed checking route is required
Right to Work screening can be combined with your other education-sector checks to create a consistent onboarding process.
Identity Verification
Confirming that you're screening the correct individual is fundamental to any vetting process.
Identity verification helps ensure that the person being deployed corresponds with the documentation and information used throughout their screening.
Our digital screening process helps make identity verification quicker and easier for candidates and employers.
Employment History & References
Depending upon the contract, role and screening requirements, your education client may also expect appropriate employment history and referencing to have been completed.
Checking Your Staff can manage:
Employment references
Employment history verification
Education history where relevant
Employment gaps
Discrepancies requiring clarification
Rather than simply sending automated requests, our team actively manages outstanding information and helps move candidates through the screening process.
Candidates Who Have Lived or Worked Overseas
A UK DBS certificate does not necessarily provide information about criminal offences committed overseas.
Where an employee has lived or worked outside the UK, additional overseas checks may be appropriate depending upon the circumstances and requirements of the education setting.
Checking Your Staff can provide international criminal record checks on request.
Availability, documentation, cost and turnaround times vary by country.
Social Media Screening
Some contractors and education organisations may also choose to incorporate professional Social Media Checks into their wider recruitment and safeguarding process.
Our Social Media Checks use specialist technology from Fama to review relevant publicly available online information against defined workplace behaviour criteria.
This provides a more structured approach than individual managers informally searching candidates online.
Social Media Checks should always be relevant and proportionate to the role.
BS7858 Screening for Security Contractors
Security companies working within education may have two sets of screening considerations.
Your employees may already require BS7858 security screening because of their security role, while the education environment may introduce additional safeguarding or DBS requirements.
Checking Your Staff can help bring these requirements together.
Rather than running separate screening processes, we can help manage appropriate checks as part of a wider employee vetting programme.
Which Checks Can Checking Your Staff Provide?
Basic, Standard & Enhanced DBS
The appropriate level of criminal record check according to the role and legal eligibility.
Children's Barred List
Where the individual and role meet the relevant legal requirements.
Right to Work
Digital and online Right to Work verification through the appropriate route.
Identity Verification
Digital identity checks supporting a consistent employee screening process.
Employment Referencing
Employment history, references and management of gaps and discrepancies.
International Criminal Record Checks
Available on request where employees have lived or worked overseas.
Social Media Screening
Structured screening of relevant publicly available online information.
BS7858 Screening
Complete security screening for security personnel and other appropriate roles.
Adverse Financial Screening
Available where financial screening is appropriate and proportionate.
Our Education Contractor Screening Process
1
Tell Us About the Role
What will the employee be doing and where will they be working?
2
Establish the Screening Requirements
Identify the appropriate checks based upon the role, contract and client requirements.
3
Candidate Onboarding
Candidate information is collected securely.
4
Complete the Checks
DBS, Right to Work, identity, referencing and other appropriate screening is processed.
5
Resolve Issues
Our screening team helps manage missing information, discrepancies and outstanding requirements.
6
Complete Screening
The screening information is brought together to provide a clear record of the checks completed.
7
Ready for Your Client
You have the screening evidence needed to support your client's onboarding and safeguarding processes.
Don't Let Screening Delay Deployment
Winning a contract is only the beginning.
You still need to get appropriately screened people onto site.
Delays caused by incorrect DBS applications, missing documentation, references or uncertainty about screening requirements can hold up deployment and create additional work for your operations team.
Checking Your Staff helps you manage that process.
The right checks. The right evidence. Your people ready to work.
Education Contractor Screening – FAQs
Do all contractors working in schools need an Enhanced DBS?+
No. Simply working on school premises does not automatically mean somebody is eligible for an Enhanced DBS check. Eligibility depends upon factors including the activities being undertaken and the circumstances in which the work is carried out.
Our client says our staff need DBS checks. Can you help?+
Yes. Tell us what your employees will be doing and the requirements your education client has provided. We can help identify and process the appropriate DBS screening route.
What is the Single Central Record?+
The Single Central Record — SCR — is maintained by schools and colleges as a central record of specified pre-appointment checks. Depending upon the circumstances, the school may need information relating to contractors working within its environment to support its safeguarding records.
Does the school put our contractors on its SCR?+
This depends upon the individual's status and circumstances. Department for Education guidance sets out requirements relating to relevant individuals, including certain agency and third-party staff. Your education client should establish its own SCR requirements, while Checking Your Staff can help provide evidence of the underlying checks completed on your employees.
Can we combine DBS with BS7858?+
Yes. This can be particularly useful for security businesses supplying officers into schools and colleges. We can manage BS7858 screening alongside appropriate criminal record and other employee checks.
What happens if our employee has lived overseas?+
Additional overseas screening may be appropriate. International criminal record checks are available on request, subject to the processes available within the relevant country.
Can you screen a whole workforce?+
Yes. We support organisations with individual checks as well as ongoing employee screening requirements. For contractors regularly recruiting and deploying employees across multiple client sites, we can help create a more consistent screening process.
Can we use the same screening for different education contracts?+
Possibly, but you should not assume that every contract or role has identical requirements. The appropriate screening can depend upon the employee's duties, working environment and your client's requirements. Speak to our team when you're onboarding employees for a new type of education contract.
Providing Services Into Education?
Whether you're a security company, FM provider, cleaning contractor, IT business, maintenance company, recruiter or other organisation supplying people into education, we can help manage your employee screening.
You concentrate on delivering the contract.
We'll help get your people appropriately screened and ready to deploy.
Get In Touch
Phone Number
0333 339 0021Email Address
enquiries@checkingyourstaff.co.ukOffice Address
Checking Your Staff
PO Box 381
Mirfield
WF14 9GB
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