Compliance – Why we shouldn’t just pay lip service

In recent years regulation, red tape and a general tightening of the manner in which recruitment businesses work has led to the need for much tighter control over such things as identity checking, right to work in the UK, proof of residence, referencing, credit checking, criminal record vetting etc etc etc…





For our recruitment business this has meant the expansion of a compliance function from two people to a current team of ten.

Ultimately our clients benefit from better service, they can be assured that all of the candidates and contractors that we supply have been fully vetted to their standards and that they are aware of any information that is missing prior to the person commencing in their business. In this way risks associated with right to work, money laundering, CV fraud and criminal records are mitigated as best as possible.

But – and there always has to be a big but – it appears that we are one of a few recruitment businesses that take our obligations on this seriously. When being asked to manage other recruitment suppliers on behalf of our customers, we increasingly find that the requirements are given lip service, not taken seriously and worst of all ignored completely. Whilst we are skilled in spotting this – identifying gaps and auditing that the appropriate checks have been conducted properly – one can only assume that many customers do not do this.

Failure to accurately conduct pre-employment checks creates risks across many areas. Why? The answer is twofold.

As a customer you need to ensure that all of these checks are done properly and that you spot check the documentation is in place to your satisfaction. Secondly, the recruitment industry is crying out for a proper auditable code of practice, perhaps from chartered status, to enforce professionalism and minimum standards with the power to prevent ongoing bad practice and the ability to close down those providers that do not take their obligations seriously.

As a business we understand the important of compliance. Unfortunately, it appears that many other recruitment businesses do not. Pre-employment checks are in place for a reason, make sure you partner with a recruiter who fulfils all of their obligations.