SIA approved contractors and outsourced pre-employment screening
Outsourced pre-employment screening: understanding your responsibilities and how to meet our standards.
Following the British standards as an approved contractor
One of the conditions of your ACS approval is that you follow the British standards.
We have published information about buying the British standards that apply to private security. You can buy them at a 30% discount.
The standard that applies to pre-employment screening is British standard 7858: Screening of individuals working in a secure environment (BS 7858).
Your pre-employment screening must conform to BS 7858 for you to remain an SIA approved contractor.
Your responsibilities when outsourcing your screening
If you choose to outsource your pre-employment screening, you are still responsible for making sure it conforms to BS 7858. Outsourcing your screening does not outsource your responsibility.
It is important to note that there are some elements of BS 7858 that you cannot outsource.
Making sure your screening provider conforms to BS 7858
In this guidance we suggest some ways that you can make sure your screening provider follows BS 7858. However, this list is not exhaustive. Also, our guidance does not replace or take precedence over the guidance in the British standard.
Make sure your contract is clear
Your contract with your screening provider should clearly state that you expect them to follow BS 7858. You should make sure they understand this.
Audit the screening process
You should audit the screening process so you can demonstrate that your screening provider has followed BS 7858.
Check for certification
You should check that the business providing your screening has BS 7858 certification.
Check for individual competence
If the business does not have BS 7858 certification, you can still check the competence of individual staff members carrying out your screening. You can do this by asking them to provide their training records. They should have a BS 7858 training certificate.
Request a screening file
At the end of the screening process, your provider should give you a file accounting for every stage of the screening process, not simply a certificate showing that screening has been completed.
Verifying electronic references
BS 7858 states that it is important to verify the source of any references you receive.
Nowadays, it is common for people to send references by text message or another type of electronic message. This can make verifying the source of the reference harder.
You need to do extra checks on these types of references to make sure their source is genuine. You should verify the contact details of the person who sent the message, either by making direct contact with them or in another way. You should make a record of how you verified them.
If you outsource your screening, your screening provider must provide you with evidence of how they verified any electronic references. This evidence should include a copy of any electronic messages sent and received. They can provide the evidence as photos, screenshots, or copies. They should put the evidence in their screening file.
Using online data banks
Using online data banks for pre-employment screening is becoming more common. Online data banks of employment records provide a way to view someone’s employment history and request references from previous employers.
However, there are risks involved with using online data banks for pre-employment screening. The information they hold may be inaccurate and it is also vulnerable to data breaches.
If you outsource your screening and your screening provider wants to use an online data bank, you are responsible for checking that:
- the data bank complies with the Data Protection Act
- your prospective employee has checked that the records the data bank holds about them are accurate
- your prospective employee has given their consent for their records to be accessed by your screening provider
- your screening provider has been transparent with your prospective employee about any fees involved with accessing their records through the data bank, and your prospective employee has agreed to these
- your screening provider has carried out checks to confirm that the data bank’s records are about your prospective employee and not about someone else
- your screening provider has followed up with any previous employees who have given references through the data bank about any anomalies that might appear in the information