What are Identity Checks?
Identity Checks are a type of electronic identification check designed to verify a prospective employee’s identity. They do this by cross-referencing the applicant’s personal information against data held on secure databases, including:
- Information held by credit referencing agencies
- Electoral roll
- Telephone databases
I have used uCheck before at my 2 previous companies and have always had a great service, so I have set myself up with them for my own agency now
How can Identity Checks assist my organisation?
Identity checking is a crucial part of the recruitment process. An identity background check can help protect your organisation from fraud and give you an extra level of confidence in the people who have access to sensitive information.
The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) has outlined the four main reasons why prospective employees may lie about their identity:
- To avoid detection
- For dishonest financial gain
- To avoid financial liabilities
- To legally obtain genuine documents
Identity Checks can be useful for all employers, but are particularly suited to those who carry out a number of pre-employment checks (like DBS Checks) on their employees. With an Identity Check, you can verify the identity information your employees provide for the other checks to ensure you get the correct results.
An Identity Check is a comprehensive check that confirms attributed identity information as well as biographical identity information – but what do these terms mean?
- Attributed identity – this refers to a person’s identity details as established at birth, including their date of birth and full name.
- Biographical identity – this refers to the aspects of a person’s identity that have changed over time, including entries on the electoral roll and credit history data.
Biographical identity information is difficult to falsify, so carrying out Identity Checks is a great way for employers to gain an added layer of assurance about an employee.
How long do the results take, and how do I get them?
It only takes a few minutes to request Identity Checks with our simple identity checking form, and we usually complete checks within five minutes.
Our online Platform allows you to check the status of your application at every step of the identity checking process, and you’ll get an automatic notification as soon as a check is complete. You’ll get pass or fail results against all databases checked, viewable in a handy downloadable PDF, which you can print immediately for your HR files.
