HMRC
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Instant Employment Verification: Verify Employment in Minutes, Not Days
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Why Choose Checking Your Staff?
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Powered by Konfir
Specialist employment-verification technology accessing trusted data sources with candidate consent.
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Results in Minutes
Straightforward candidate employment histories can potentially be verified significantly faster than traditional employer references.
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Reduce Reference Chasing
Spend less time repeatedly contacting previous employers.
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Identify Employment Gaps
Highlight periods that may require further investigation.
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Identify Potential Undeclared Employment
Available data can provide a more complete picture of employment history.
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Better Candidate Experience
Candidates don't have to wait while multiple previous employers are contacted.
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Part of Wider Screening
Combine Instant Employment Verification with DBS, Right to Work, identity, financial, sanctions and other employee checks.
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Actual Experts. Real Support.
Instant verification doesn't mean every employment history suddenly becomes simple.
Stop Waiting for Employment References
Employment verification has traditionally relied upon one thing:
Waiting for somebody at a previous employer to reply.
Sometimes they respond quickly.
Sometimes it takes days.
Sometimes they don't respond at all.
For employers carrying out pre-employment screening, those delays can hold up onboarding, create additional administration and leave screening teams repeatedly chasing the same reference.
Instant Employment Verification provides another way.
Using Konfir, candidates can securely connect to trusted data sources and provide verified evidence of their employment history digitally.
For many candidates, employment information can be verified in minutes rather than days.
What Is Instant Employment Verification?
Instant Employment Verification is a digital alternative to traditional employment verification.
Rather than relying solely on an email being sent to a previous employer and waiting for somebody to respond, Konfir allows candidates to consent to employment information being verified using trusted data sources.
These can include:
HMRC
Payroll data
Open Banking
Other appropriate evidence sources
The resulting information can help confirm where somebody has worked and when, without depending entirely upon a previous employer responding to a reference request.
How Does Konfir Work?
Checking Your Staff uses Konfir, a specialist UK employment and income verification platform.
The candidate receives a secure verification request and chooses the appropriate data sources available to them.
Depending upon the candidate, this can include:
This can provide evidence of PAYE employment history recorded by HMRC.
The purpose isn't to provide an employer with somebody's shopping habits or complete bank statement.
It is used to help establish relevant employment or income information.
Payroll
Konfir can use payroll data to help verify current or previous employment information.
Open Banking
With the candidate's permission, Open Banking can help verify employment through relevant salary-payment information.
What Can Be Verified?
Depending upon the available data sources, Instant Employment Verification can help confirm information including:
The information available depends upon the data sources successfully connected for the individual candidate.
Current employment
Previous employment
Employer name
Employment start and end dates
Job title where available
Employment gaps
Potential undeclared employments
Relevant employment patterns
Employment Verification in 2–5 Minutes
Konfir reports that candidates typically take around 2–5 minutes to complete their verification journey.
Once the candidate has connected the appropriate data sources and submitted their verification, the resulting information can be returned immediately.
Compare that with a traditional reference process where your screening team may spend days:
Why wait days for information that may be available in minutes?
Sending the initial request
Waiting for HR
Sending reminders
Calling the employer
Finding another contact
Chasing again
Waiting for somebody to finally respond
For straightforward employment verification, technology can remove much of that delay.
Candidate Consent & Control
Candidates remain in control of the data they choose to connect.
Konfir's verification process is consent based.
Candidates can review what information is being requested and choose which available data sources to connect.
Connections to services such as HMRC and Open Banking are used for the verification process rather than providing the employer with ongoing access to the candidate's accounts.
Checking Your Staff receives the relevant verification information needed for the screening process — not unrestricted access to the candidate's personal financial activity.
Employment Gaps
Employment gaps are particularly important within screening standards such as BS7858 and other forms of structured employment vetting.
Instant Employment Verification can help identify periods where employment data isn't found.
That gives our screening team a clearer starting point for establishing what the candidate was doing during those periods.
Technology can identify the gap.
Our screening team can then help manage what needs to happen next.
Undeclared Employment
Employment verification isn't only about confirming the jobs a candidate tells you about.
Available data can also potentially identify employment information that hasn't been declared within the candidate's employment history.
That can be particularly useful within more detailed vetting processes where establishing a complete history is important.
An undeclared employment doesn't automatically mean somebody has been dishonest.
There may be a straightforward explanation.
But it provides information that can be appropriately clarified as part of the screening process.
Instant Verification & BS7858
Employment history is a fundamental part of BS7858 security screening.
Traditional referencing can often be one of the slowest elements of completing a candidate's five-year history.
Instant Employment Verification can help accelerate that process by providing verified employment information directly from available data sources.
Where information can be verified digitally, we can use that evidence within the wider screening process.
Where gaps, discrepancies or periods requiring further evidence remain, our screening team can continue the investigation.
Technology handles what can be verified instantly. Our people handle what can't.
That combination is particularly valuable when clients need to get security personnel screened and deployed quickly.
Instant Verification & BPSS
Employment history is also an important element of BPSS screening.
Instant Employment Verification can help establish relevant employment information quickly and identify periods that may require additional investigation.
It can therefore form part of the wider BPSS process alongside:
Identity
Right to Work
Criminal record screening
Employment history
Other appropriate verification
Instant Verification for High-Volume Recruitment
The benefits become particularly noticeable when organisations recruit regularly.
If you're onboarding one employee, chasing a reference is inconvenient.
If you're onboarding 10, 20, 50 or hundreds of employees, reference chasing becomes an operational workload.
Instant Employment Verification can help organisations:
Reduce manual reference chasing
Accelerate onboarding
Reduce screening administration
Identify gaps earlier
Improve consistency
Create a better candidate experience
Get employees ready for deployment sooner
This can be particularly useful for employers operating within high-volume or time-sensitive recruitment environments.
Which Sectors Use Instant Employment Verification?
Security
Speed up employment-history verification within BS7858 screening and help get security personnel deployed sooner.
Facilities Management
Useful for businesses regularly onboarding cleaners, maintenance teams, security personnel and other operational employees.
Recruitment & Staffing
Verify candidate employment information without relying entirely upon previous employers responding to references.
Healthcare Contractors
Help establish employment history for workers being supplied into NHS and healthcare environments.
Education Contractors
Support employment-history screening for employees being deployed into schools, colleges and other education environments.
Financial Services
Provide evidence-based employment verification as part of a wider pre-employment screening programme.
IT & Technology
Verify employment histories for employees and contractors working within technology and data environments.
High-Volume Employers
Any organisation recruiting regularly can benefit from reducing the administrative burden associated with traditional employment verification.
Instant Employment Verification vs Traditional References
These services aren't necessarily identical.
It can help establish facts such as:
This might include information outside the scope of digital employment verification.
Instant Employment Verification should therefore be used according to what your screening process actually needs to establish.
In some cases digital verification may provide the evidence required.
In others, additional referencing may still be appropriate.
Instant Employment Verification
Provides evidence-based employment information from available trusted data sources.
Where somebody worked
When they worked there
Employment gaps
Other available employment information
Traditional Employment Reference
A traditional employer reference may provide additional information depending upon what the previous employer is prepared and legally able to disclose.
Our Instant Employment Verification Process
1
Request the Verification
The candidate is submitted for employment verification.
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Candidate Invitation
The candidate receives a secure invitation to complete the verification.
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Candidate Consent
The candidate reviews the request and chooses the appropriate available data sources.
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Connect Trusted Data
Relevant information can be securely obtained from sources such as HMRC, payroll and Open Banking.
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Employment Verification
Available employment information is analysed and returned.
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Identify Gaps or Discrepancies
Any missing periods, discrepancies or information requiring clarification can be identified.
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Complete the Wider Screening
Where Instant Employment Verification forms part of BS7858, BPSS or another screening package, our team continues with the remaining required checks.
Instant Doesn't Mean Automatic
Instant Employment Verification can dramatically reduce the time needed to establish straightforward employment information.
But employee screening still requires judgement.
A missing employment period doesn't automatically mean somebody has concealed information.
An undeclared employment may have a reasonable explanation.
A data source may not contain everything required.
And some candidates may need to follow an alternative verification route.
Good technology makes straightforward screening faster. Good people deal with the exceptions.
That's why Checking Your Staff combines both.
Instant Employment Verification – FAQs
What is Instant Employment Verification?+
It is a digital method of verifying employment information using candidate-consented data from trusted sources rather than relying solely upon traditional employer references.
Who provides your Instant Employment Verification?+
Checking Your Staff uses Konfir, a specialist UK employment and income verification platform.
How quickly can employment be verified?+
Konfir states that candidates typically complete the verification journey in around 2–5 minutes, with results available once the verification is submitted. More complex employment histories or information requiring additional investigation can take longer to resolve.
Does Konfir contact the candidate's previous employer?+
Not necessarily. Employment information can be verified through connected data sources such as HMRC, payroll and Open Banking without relying upon a previous employer responding to a traditional reference request.
Can you see the candidate's bank transactions?+
The purpose of the Open Banking connection is to verify relevant employment or income information. The verifier does not receive the candidate's full bank statement, spending habits or day-to-day transactions.
Does the candidate have to consent?+
Yes. The candidate controls which available data sources they choose to connect as part of the verification process.
Can it identify employment gaps?+
Yes. Available employment data can help identify periods where no employment record has been found, allowing those gaps to be investigated where required.
Can it find employment the candidate hasn't declared?+
Available data can potentially identify employment information that wasn't included within the history originally supplied by the candidate. Any discrepancy should be appropriately reviewed rather than automatically treated as dishonesty.
Does it replace traditional references?+
It depends upon what you're trying to verify. Konfir provides factual, evidence-based employment verification. It isn't a character reference and doesn't provide qualitative information such as somebody's performance or reason for leaving. Where that information is required, a traditional reference or additional process may still be needed.
Can it be used for BS7858 screening?+
Instant Employment Verification can provide useful evidence when establishing employment history as part of the wider BS7858 screening process. Any remaining gaps or information requiring additional verification still need to be appropriately managed.
What if the candidate can't be verified digitally?+
Digital verification won't resolve every candidate. Where sufficient information isn't available through connected sources, additional documents or traditional verification methods may be required. Our screening team can help manage the next stage.
Tired of Chasing Employment References?
Whether you need a single employment verification or faster referencing across a high-volume screening programme, Checking Your Staff can help.
We combine Konfir's Instant Employment Verification technology with experienced UK-based screening professionals.
Verify the straightforward. Investigate the exceptions. Get people working sooner.
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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