Guidance

Selecting pre-employment checks for vacancies and candidates (vX)

Guidance for recruiters on how to set up online pre-employment checking forms using Civil Service Jobs vX.

Before you invite candidates to accept a provisional offer online, you need to set up your vacancy to include your department’s checking preferences.

Set your campaign preferences

  1. Find the vacancy and go to the Vacancy Forms tab.
  2. Expand the Vacancy Details Form and if the form is not already editable, select Edit.
  3. At the bottom of the page, select Yes to Use pre-employment check forms.
  4. Add ‘Not applicable’ values to checks which are not required.
  5. For all other checks, select which types of applicant will need the check.
  6. Save your updates.

For some forms, you can choose whether you want a form for the candidate to complete, or a form for the recruiter, or both. This allows for organisations to use different providers, such as for security vetting or occupational health, and their processes may vary.

If you select an Additional Check, you will need to provide the candidate separately with any forms or extra detail required, as these are not included in the standard online pre-employment checking forms.

Candidate types

  • External - candidate is not a civil servant
  • Other government department (OGD) - candidate works for the Civil Service, but not for the advertising organisation
  • Non-departmental public body (NDPB) - candidate works for an accredited publicly funded organisation, but not the Civil Service.
  • Internal - candidate works for the advertising organisation

Edit checks required on an individual application

If a check is no longer needed or a new check is required, you may need to change the checks which are associated with an individual application.

  1. Go to the candidate’s Application Summary.
  2. Select Application Forms, then Flags.
  3. Select Edit, then use the PEC Status section to edit each check.
  4. Submit.

If you added any candidate forms, you must move the candidate back to Provisional Offer - Accepted status so they can complete the new forms:

  1. Go to the candidate’s Application Summary.
  2. Select Administration, then Other status.
  3. Select Provisional offer - Accepted.
  4. Tick the Run Automatic Actions box.
  5. Select Change Status.

If you only selected Recruiter Form Required for a check and did not add any new forms for the candidate, you do not need to change the candidate’s status. You may need to reload the page to see the new recruiter forms.

Help and support

Contact the Product and Support Team if you have a technical problem: support.csjobs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

Updates to this page

Published 21 February 2020
Last updated 5 January 2022 + show all updates
  1. Added Additional Check details.

  2. First published.

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