April 2013
Lawyer warns firms about social media vetting as youth crime commissioner quits over Twitter comments
An employment lawyer has cautioned organisations about vetting social media in light of the resignation of the UK's first youth police and crime commissioner after she posted a number of offensive comments on Twitter.
March 2013
Criminal record checks to be relaxed
Old and minor cautions and convictions will no longer appear on criminal records checks undertaken by employers for positions where the recruit will be working unsupervised with children and vulnerable adults, the Home Office has announced.
March 2013
Majority of HR professionals are told lies every week, finds PM survey
‘Leading through fear creates a lying culture’, warns expert.
Ninety-two per cent of HR professionals think they are lied to every week, according to an exclusive survey by People Management.
March 2013
Organisations taking twice as long to fill jobs
Employers are taking an average of five weeks and six days to recruit new employees, according to figures published by recruitment consultancy Randstad.
January 2013
Former Barclays boss jailed for theft
A Barclays bank boss was jailed last week for stealing £10,000 from a millionaire customer hoping he would not notice the money had gone.
December 2012
Duplicate crime checks for volunteers abolished
People who volunteer in schools and clubs in England and Wales will no longer need duplicate checks on their background, ministers have confirmed.
December 2012
12,000 people WRONGLY branded criminals due to inaccurate police record checks
People branded criminals incorrectly have been paid £1.9million in redress over the last five years. Nearly 12,000 people have been wrongly convicted according to figures published by campaign group Big Brother Watch. Figures showed the most common errors involved information being disclosed by local police forces or the police national computer.
November 2012
Employment Applications Containing Serious Material Falsehoods Increase 160%
Analysis of frauds recorded on the CIFAS Staff Fraud Database during the first half of 2012, compared with 2011, revealed a notable increase in those recorded for employment applications containing serious material falsehoods (up by 160% from the first half of 2011).
November 2012
Slipping Through the Net: Staff vetting Guide for Local Authorities
Local authorities today are working harder and harder to provide the best value possible from their diminishing budgets. In a situation where it is so important to provide more for less, the last thing that local authorities want or need is to employ someone who is not honest from the outset. There is overwhelming public support for keeping dishonest people out of the public services. This guide is intended to provide some pointers to local authorities to help them to avoid employing anyone with a history of fraud.
October 2012
Service stonewalls on staff criminal records
Oxfordshire’s ambulance service is refusing to admit if any other staff have secret criminal pasts after it emerged one of its senior officers was a convicted murderer.
October 2012
FSA relaxes vetting process for top jobs
The City watchdog sharply reduced its scrutiny of top recruits to banks and other financial services companies this year after concluding that its tough regime was taking up staff time and putting off potential applicants.
October 2012
Criminals Being Hired to Care for the Elderly: Inspectors Uncover Workers Convicted of Assault and Theft Employed in Homes
Convicted criminals are being employed to look after elderly people in care homes across the country, it emerged last night. Private agencies are flouting official guidelines to hire carers with criminal backgrounds for jobs in homes paid for by local councils. Care Quality Commission inspectors have uncovered several agencies employing criminals, in some cases unknowingly as police checks were not carried out.
READ MORE
October 2012
Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is Rebranding
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) are merging to become the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) on 1 December 2012. The CRB are consequently rebranding all their documents including the application form and certificates. There will be no changes to completing the application form, however you will notice that all reference to CRB and ISA have been removed. The service and process will not change, just the name.
September 2012
Changes to CRB Disclosure and Barring: What You Need to Know
The UK Government is scaling back the criminal records and barring systems to more proportionate levels whilst ensuring that they continue to provide effective protection for those who need it. The changes to those systems are included in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which recently received Royal Assent. Some of the changes in the Act will come into effect on 10 September 2012. The Home Office has put together a leaflet about the changes and how they may impact you. Please click here to download a copy.
3rd July 2012
One in 30 employees would fail a drugs test
One in 30 UK employees have drugs in their system at any point in time within the workplace, according to statistics released today by Concateno, a drug and alcohol screening provider.
June 2012
CIFAS and CIPD launch report on managing and mitigating staff fraud risks
CIFAS - the UK's Fraud Prevention Service and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) have launched free guidance to help employers understand the threats associated with fraud and help HR professionals manage the risks. The guide, Tackling Staff Fraud and Dishonesty - Managing and Mitigating the Risks, offers advice on the nature of staff fraud, how and why the risk has increased and how to combat it, including advice on vetting and security screening.
June 2010
Vetting and Barring Scheme Placed on Hold by New Government
In its recent document ‘The Coalition: Our programme for government’, the Government set out its aim to 'review the criminal records and vetting and barring regime and scale it back to common sense levels'.
In order to deliver this promise and carry out the remodelling, the commencement of voluntary registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be halted. The first phase of registration was scheduled to commence on 26th July 2010. Organisations that may be effected by this decision include charities, voluntary groups and education authorities. These organisations are being contacted by the Government with details of the cancellation.