The Coronavirus pandemic made some massive changes to the job market, and employment around the UK took a hard hit. In the initial months of the pandemic, the Government implemented massive lockdowns across the country. There were rules preventing people from moving out of their homes, which were implemented to reduce the spread of the virus. Companies did not have much of a choice if they were planning on working with these changes, and their only way to keep up with them was through remote working. A majority of the companies that had their employees remote work mentioned that it was not as efficient, and most of them saw a drop in the productivity of their staff.
Furthermore, with fewer people leaving their houses, there were a lot fewer transactions made, and companies were not sure about meeting their targets. People were losing their jobs across the UK and the unemployment rate, after only a few months in the pandemic, increased to almost 5% from the 3.9% where it was standing for the longest time.
With such a large number of people losing their jobs, employers wanted to make sure they could trust the people they were getting on board. They also had to verify and check if they were a good fit for the team. Furthermore, some of the jobs that they were working had to make sure that the people they were working with did not have a criminal record and they needed to coordinate with a department to gather the information.
Most of these checks were handled through the DBS system. The Disclosure and Barring Service assists people who are hiring make better, smarter and safer recruitment decisions. They issue background checks for people across England and surrounding areas. Other than just providing background checks on the people looking for jobs, the DBS maintains an adult and children Barred Lists, making well thought out judgement calls, as to whether specific people should be added to any of the lists, or eventually barred from engaging in the specific jobs they are applying for.
Additionally, the Coronavirus brought about a lot of changes to the DBS system and a process that initially started as a background check that was occasionally used by some employers when they were hiring turned into so much more.
The disclosure team processes DBS checks, which were earlier called CRB checks, and based on the results of the test they issue certificates to an individual. People can provide these certificates when they are looking for a job, or employers can ask for them to get through a check and come back with the information. The information on the certificate allows them to make sure they are picking the right people for their organisation.
They also created a ‘DBS update service’ that people can avail of when they are applying for employment in various places across the UK. It is ideally an online subscription service that allows applicants to keep their standard and enhanced DBS certificates updated. Furthermore, it creates an easy system for employers to review their DBS certificate to make sure they are a good fit for the company. However, they can only get through the process if they have permission. Applicants are allowed to print their certificates and use them across multiple jobs if their requirements match. However, they have to make sure that the certificates are recent and updated. Since it is a subscription service, applicants have to pay for it, year after year, which also means that the certificate is valid for a year and would have to be updated post that.
Ideally, the DBS check, one applied for and received, will always be relevant but only up to the date that they applied for the test. Depending on the employer, they sometimes ask for more recent checks. Some employers ask their prospective employees to provide a recent check that might be within six months to a year, while others are open to waiting a lot longer, upto three years.
Throughout the Coronavirus lockdown, there were massive changes made to the DBS service including changes around the hours that they were spending in the office, which changed since there were a lot fewer people coming into work. Additionally, there were a few DBS checks that were prioritised over others, especially if they belonged to people directly assisting with the pandemic. Healthcare workers and nurses would find their documents on the fast lane to be submitted while the others would take a little longer since the overall process was a little slower. Furthermore, there were a few more roles and titles who could get through the fast track DBS check which included nurses, midwives, nursing associates, health professionals, social workers, social carers, medical practitioners, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and emergency volunteers.
The adult and child barred list check was completed in under 24 hours which allowed employers to work faster when they were getting through registration processes while waiting for the final DBS check results. They could even begin with the work and make changes on the rest eventually.
For the people who did not want to coordinate the process through the website, they could call the office, through their phone line, during work hours, for a better understanding of how the system works. To make an even smoother process, employers can go through the requirements on the website and get the information they are looking for without leaving their offices, which is ideal during a pandemic.
There are some ethical rules when it comes to requesting for the DBS check of another person, and the most important is that it can only be handled on an individual who is already working for the company. Furthermore, some rules state that it can be handled on people who are being considered for the job since they have to verify if they meet the requirements of the team.
