Category: DBS News and Advice

More young people than ever are staying at school and college until they are 18, and leaving school at 16 and walking straight into your first full-time job is now relatively unusual. But that’s not to say that under 18s don’t work at all. Many have a part-time job around their school or college hours, volunteer with sports clubs, or are on an apprenticeship which involves some time at work and some time in the classroom. Getting a DBS check can be tricky for under 18s, but it’s not something that employers can ignore.

Part of the reason why there is so much confusion around the different levels of disclosure is reporting in the press and the media. They talk about criminal record checks as if they are all the same thing, and the procedure is the same for all jobs. That’s not the case though, so it’s hardly surprising that job applicants are bemused when they’re asked for a standard or enhanced DBS – aren’t they all the same? There are important differences between the levels of a DBS check, and although it’s really the job of the employer to know which check applies for each position, having a broad idea of how the system works is still a good idea.

Is there anything more frustrating than delays which are not your fault? That’s especially the case if you’re applying for a new job and need to have all of the paperwork in place before your employer will allow you to start work. There’s lots in the process you can control, such as making sure you act promptly when you get an email from your employer asking you for information. But there are other parts of the procedure which are out of your control and understanding what might be causing the delays may help take some of the stress out of the situation.

One US manager hit the headlines recently in the business word when he announced that he had an innovative new way of checking up on the people who had applied to work with his company – checking up on their Uber rating. A manager at an investment firm looked at the rating given to customers by Uber drivers, justifying his decision by saying that people who treat strangers like Uber drivers well are more likely to treat their colleagues and customers well too. But did this innovative tactic pay off?

Remember the days when job hunters used to scour the newspaper for the latest vacancies? The way we look for jobs has changed beyond all recognition, with most jobs now being advertised through websites like Indeed, or social medial sites like LinkedIn. There is a newcomer in the jobs market though with the video app TikTok launching a recruitment project in July 2021 called TikTok resumes. But is a video CV something you should be thinking about?

Thousands of people in the UK decide to accept a caution from the police every year rather than going through the whole process of going to court. A caution is often seen as a minor, administrative thing rather than a serious issue but is that really the case? For people in England and Wales, there can be more implications to being invited into the police station for a quick chat than you might initially think. Even a voluntary interview on an informal basis might be recorded, and should the police decide to take things further in the future, form the basis for a legal prosecution.

Employers across the UK are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to help them make recruitment decisions. When used properly, AI can help streamline recruitment processes and help to eliminate human bias and error. AI is typically used to sift CVs at the first stage of the application process, to crawl through an applicant’s social media feed, or to schedule interviews. AI is all about taking the administrative burden off the HR team, and making the recruitment process quicker, especially in organisations which are handling a large volume of applications, or who have multiple vacancies.

A Yorkshire MP has hit the headlines after starting a high-profile campaign to stop people convicted of sex offences from changing their names and falling off the radar. Deed poll paperwork, which allows anyone over the age of 18 to legally change their name and leave their old identity behind, costs as little as £42. The concern is that this loophole in the law permits sec offenders to change their name and move into a new job, potentially having access to more vulnerable adults or children.

The controversy over DBS checks for Birmingham drivers does not seem to be coming to an end any time soon. The problem first arose in September 2020 when the council switched providers for their school transport service, which provides taxis to take children with special educational needs to schools across the West Midlands.

In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the government consulted on new proposals for screening people who apply to hold a firearms licence in England, Wales, and Scotland. The numbers of people in the UK with a firearms licence are surprising; almost 600,000 people on the UK mainland have a firearm certificate, shotgun permit, or both. The police play a critical role in the licencing process for people who are either applying to hold a firearms certificate for the first time or renewing an existing certificate. The police vetting process is designed to weed out applicants who might pose a danger to the general public. If the police service believes that the applicant does present a risk, then they will refuse a licence.