Why is it important for you to do at least a basic DBS check before hiring potential employees in
your organisation? Is it necessary and crucial for the safety of your company? As an essential part
of safe recruitment, you may want at least a basic DBS check before hiring anyone who might
cause harm to others. vVerify can ensure that as employers you provide a sense of safety and
well-being in your organisation.
Why Is An Enhanced DBS Check So Important?
There is a high possibility that as an organisation that is targeted towards caregivers and foster
carers, you will miss neglectful behaviour and even see a rise in abusive cases that may happen.
There is a chance that young or vulnerable people are not treated with empathy or compassion
and that causes overall harm by creating a scared and broken society that cannot be trusted.
Even if you have heard of DBS checks or are familiar with the concept, you have no idea how
important these are for the betterment of our society. These checks are to ensure that companies
recruit individuals who are safe to work for them and compliant with safeguarding procedures.
Enhanced DBS checks are all about creating a safer recruitment environment which is without
abuse and mistreatment of vulnerable individuals. There are many cases which could have been
prevented if the perpetrators were not hired or worked with vulnerable people in the first place. It
is all about taking the steps necessary to prevent harm to children or vulnerable adults. DBS
checks demonstrate that companies are following safeguarding regulations correctly, and ensure
the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
What Does It Mean For The Employees?
As an employee, you can refuse to have a DBS check but that also means the job you are aiming
for is at risk. It is not required by the law for anyone to undergo a DBS check, but many
organisations prefer encouraging basic DBS checks for best practice purposes. If you want to
obtain an enhanced DBC check, you have to complete your application with a prospective
employer or recruitment agency and provide all necessary and personal details that the police will
cross-reference with their database. Even as an existing employee, your company can request for
a DBS check with a valid reason backing them. It is legally important for employers to ensure that
employees working for them have not been barred from working closely with children and
vulnerable people. There is no expiry date for DBS certificates and it depends on the organisation
how frequently they run new checks on their employees. One important factor is that anyone who
carries out regulated activity with children or vulnerable adults must not be on the barred list.
Benefits and Limitations:
When a company or organisation requests the enhanced DBS check it is obvious that it is to
enable a safer environment for recruiting people who won’t cause harm to others around them
and have no serious history of criminal activities. A DBS check enables employers to make
informed decisions, making sure that their work environment is under the care of trustworthy and
responsible employees. If there is a possible criminal record that has done serious harm to others
around them, organisations can alleviate potential threats that those individuals can cause.
There are some limitations that an enhanced DBS check can cause and we should acknowledge
that. It is true that VVerify can provide you with an individual’s history records and that will indeed
be helpful in the recruitment process, but there is no way these checks can predict their future
behavior. We know that companies aren’t always fair or just and can decide the future of an
employee solely on these background checks even if there is more to their stories than the bad
past they are trying to leave behind. Many businesses refuse to hire those with criminal records
taking away their second chances.
What Are Some Of Its Implications On Businesses
One of the main implications for employers for avoiding and overlooking DBS checks on their
employees, regardless of their position, is that they create an unsafe environment for their staff,
clients, users, or customers, resulting in mental or physical harm.
When a business overlooks and avoids a DBS check for their employees or staff regardless of
their position, it creates an unsafe and threatening environment for everyone around them
including their staff, clients, users, and customers who can face either mental or physical harm.
That is one of the major implications which also ends in employers facing legal action if their
employee is dismissed based on their harmful actions or having the potential to do so. According
to the government, failing to refer such individuals to a DBS check is a criminal offence. There is
no way an employer can assess the suitability of their potential employees to work with vulnerable
people or children based on an interview and failing to do a proper DBS check puts others’ safety
at risk.
Employers who did not enforce an enhanced DBS check on their employees will face reputational
damages after disciplining and dismissing an employee. The employees who end up harming or
have the potential to do so can create a harmful environment for everyone around them. Such
thoughtless and uncaring actions by employers will result in creating long-term negative
implications for their professional credibility.
Conclusion
Businesses must get a thorough DBS check done before they hire anybody. In this world, we have
to make sure that our children or the elderly do not come to any harm because of a choice the
employer made. It has to become a prerequisite for the sake of their employees, clients, and
customers. By now we know how important these background checks are and why it is important
to have access to comprehensive details of staff and their criminal records. It is to ensure that
employers can make informed decisions while hiring their staff which helps in creating a safer
society and environment.
