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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What can I do when Verifile cannot get a reference?
• Can I view and copy the candidate’s academic certificate as an alternative to getting the academic reference?
• My candidate is worried about Verifile running a credit check as they are concerned about the impact on their credit. How should I advise them?
• Why does Verifile need the mother’s maiden name for some criminal record checks?
• Why does Verifile need a 5 year address history for a criminal records check?
• Can I place an order for myself?
• Can I share a copy of the reference with the candidate?
• What is CV comparison?
• What is the difference between a spent and an unspent conviction?
• How does the Verifile traffic light system work?
• Why has the U.K. Right to Work Audit I ordered received an amber traffic light?

Q: What can I do when Verifile cannot get a reference? (< link to article)

A: There are many things to consider when Verifile cannot get a reference because of a company closing, HR choosing not to provide references, etc..

Is this role relevant to the role the candidate has been hired for?

For example, verifying work in a bar during university may not be as high risk as not verifying the previous employment on which the hire was based. We advise thoroughly reviewing the level of risk involved in not obtaining the reference before taking further action. 

If it is important to you that verification of the role is completed, there are a few options: 

1. You may wish to consider viewing original documentation from the candidate such as contracts, P45s and P60s. However, please remember that it is possible to buy these documents online or falsify these documents with relative ease. Utilising original documentation should always be done, bearing in mind the full results of the file and the risk involved.  
2. You may wish to get a new reference using information provided by the candidate. However, it is important to remember that this will not be a researched reference and the possibility always exists for the individual to provide details of someone who will not provide a legitimate reference. It may be wise if looking to get this type of reference, that you ask the candidate to provide a business email and/or phone number for their contact. If you wish to complete a reference using details provided by the candidate, please call us to arrange this.
   
   Please note, we would charge this as an additional check.

Q: Can I view and copy the candidate’s academic certificate as an alternative to getting the academic reference?

A: As a temporary measure during a period where Verifile cannot gain verification due to school closures (e.g. summer holidays), it may be helpful to review a certificate as a temporary measure. However, because of the relative ease with which an individual can falsify a certificate or get a fake certificate, we would always advise to get the reference through Verifile in order to reduce any risk.

Q: My candidate is worried about Verifile running a credit check as they are concerned about the impact on their credit. How should I advise them? (< link to article) 

A: The credit check run by Verifile leaves a soft footprint on the candidate’s credit file. A soft footprint is only visible to the candidate themselves and a credit provider, lender, or bank cannot see that we have run this credit check. The check will have no effect on the individual’s credit score or their ability to gain credit.

Q: Why does Verifile need the mother’s maiden name for some criminal record checks? (< link to article)

A: Following the Soham murder case, an independent inquiry was conducted, and it emerged that by using his mother’s maiden name, Ian Huntley escaped detection from background vetting checks. Because of this, it became a requirement to provide your mother’s maiden name when applying for a criminal records check.

Q: Why does Verifile need a 5 year address history for a criminal records check?

A: Following the Soham murder case, the Home Secretary requested that Sir Michael Bichard lead an independent inquiry into child protection measures, record keeping, vetting, and information sharing. Because of the inquiry, one of the mandatory fields of the check now includes full address information for the past five years.

Q: Can I place an order for myself?

A: We would always advise that if possible, ask another user on the account to place the order for you. This avoids any conflict of interest. For the higher level criminal checks (Standard and Enhanced DBS) you cannot place an order for yourself.

Q: Can I share a copy of the reference with the candidate?

A: As the employer receiving this information, you have a duty of care to protect the referee and considering the request from the individual to see what information we received about them.  

If the reference had come from an organisation like Tesco, and was signed simply as ‘References Team’, then you would probably make the judgement to share the reference in full with the individual. 

However, if the reference is provided by a named individual, who might suffer consequences for you sharing the reference in full with the individual, then you would probably make the judgement not to share. If you feel it is absolutely necessary to share the reference, you could disclose the contents of the reference, but not the referee’s name.  

Please note, we are not employment law experts. It may be wise to seek legal advice before deciding regarding these types or query.

Q: What is CV comparison?

A: Using the CV uploaded by the client, we compare the details provided on the online form to the CV. The reason for using the CV provided by the client at recruitment stage is so that any information on the CV which led to the hire of the candidate is considered in the verification process. We would not use a version provided by the candidate as this could be manipulated to match the information provided on the online system and result in us not verifying something which you based the hire upon. 

Discrepancies which we find are noted in the online Client Portal. Further to this, if we note a sizeable difference in the job title or that the dates are substantially longer on the CV, we will send you an email alert as you may wish to factor this into recruitment decisions. We would not question these discrepancies with the candidate, but we will take into consideration any discrepancies when processing the check.

Q: What is the difference between a spent and an unspent conviction? (< link to article)

A: A spent conviction is a conviction which, under the terms of Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, can be effectively disregarded after a specified amount of time. The time for rehabilitation depends on the sentence imposed, not on the offence. The more serious the conviction, the longer the period of rehabilitation. For example, if you have received a prison sentence of over four years, the conviction will never become spent, but cautions become spent immediately (apart from conditional cautions which will become spent after three months). 

The Act aims to rehabilitate offenders by not making their past mistakes affect the rest of their lives if they have been on the right side of the law for some time. For details of the length of time before a conviction becomes spent, see the NACRO website:

https://www.nacro.org.uk/resettlement-advice-service/support-forpractitioners/the-law-on-disclosure/#long

Please note that the rehabilitation periods vary between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. You will be provided with results that are filtered according to the rehabilitation periods applicable in the country where the candidate currently lives.

Q: How does the Verifile traffic light system work? (< link to client article)

A: Verifile traffic lights provide an indication of the results of the check. We would always advise that you fully review all results, as there may be details which you feel are more important than the traffic light suggests, which do not match the details provided to you in an interview or on a CV, etc.. 

The traffic light system works as follows:

• Green traffic light: the results match the information provided by the candidate exactly or closely.
• Amber traffic light: the results do not completely match the information provided by the candidate or some information which may be considered negative has been found.
• Red traffic light: the results are extraordinarily different from the information provided or negative information has been found.  

We can provide full details of how checks are assessed by Verifile, including details of thresholds for assigning different traffic lights. If you would like a copy of this document, please contact our Client Service Team (detaiils below).

There is an option to remove traffic lights from your report. If you prefer not to view these, please let us know and we can adjust our online system accordingly.

Please note, this would be a global option for your account and affect all users.

Q: Why has the U.K. Right to Work Audit I ordered received an amber traffic light? (< link to article)

A: The Right to Work audit, assesses the documentation we have on file at the time of the check to confirm if it satisfies the requirements of the Home Office and allows the individual the right to work in the United Kingdom. 

If we have assigned the check a red or amber traffic light, this shows that you may not be meeting the requirements with the documentation you currently have on file. The results of the check will provide you with details of the documents which you need to collect in order for the individual to have the right to work in the U.K.. 

As this is an audit only and the traffic light reflects the documents held on file at the time of the audit, Verifile will not change the traffic light based on further documents which you collect. It is also unnecessary for you to provide copies of the additional documents which you have collected. Once you have collected these documents, you can add them to the employee file. You may also wish to note on the Verifile final report copy you hold, that you have collected these documents. Should you then be audited, you will be able to show the individual has the right to work in the U.K.. 

Further Questions?

This is not an exhaustive list and many more answers can be found in the Knowledge Base as a whole.

Whilst we have taken care to ensure that this information is accurate, we update articles regularly. If you feel something is incorrect, please use the feedback buttons below to tell us how we could improve.