The Access Group has today announced the launch of a new mobile app to help mitigate potential fines of up to £20,000 for UK organisations as they carry out mandatory background checks in their hiring process.
Instant checks are made possible through the Access Right to Work app or via the Access Workspace software platform confirming an applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK and securely storing proof of compliance. Both time and costs are increasing as part of the hiring process and Access has talked to multiple hiring professionals as part of the product development stage who are keen to improve the whole experience for candidates and their recruiters, as well as keep costs to minimum.
Every UK organisation is required to ensure their job applicants can legally work in the UK before employment commences. Failure to carry out the necessary checks is considered a criminal offence with fines of up to £20,000 per illegal worker employed and prison sentences of up to five years. From July to September 2019, the Home Office reported that 900 individuals across the UK were discovered without the correct permissions to work, leading to employers being fined more than £10 million.
Staying compliant can be an administrative burden without screening software to help efficiently manage the process. The Access Right to Work app:
- protects businesses against fines and reputational damage
- reduces manual administration and improves time to hire
- enables instant verification of a candidate’s Right to Work
- facilitates nationality status checks and validates passports, visas and biometric residency permits
- safely stores a fully auditable case history with remote device clearing via PC, tablet or phone
- provides alerts for when documents are due to expire or need to be re-verified.
With demand for new workers starting to pick up, being able to conduct background checks quickly and easily is critical for businesses to be agile in their hiring. The Access Right to Work app has checks relevant for multiple industry sectors. Some of these, such as healthcare that saw a significant uplift in hiring activity due to Covid-19, have been reliant on remote screening software to deploy compliant workers swiftly. Meanwhile for sectors such as hospitality and construction starting to ramp their temporary workforce again, being able to conduct the necessary background checks efficiently will help them get back up and running as quickly as possible.
Commenting on the new product launch, Paul Vogel, Managing Director, Access Recruitment, says: “we are always looking to drive innovation at Access that adds tangible customer value. Our new Right to Work app has been created as a mobile solution to complement our industry leading screening solutions, further enhancing how we help organisations and recruitment firms stay compliant and manage their risk. Businesses can get up and running within minutes and only pay for the checks they run making it an affordable, scalable solution.”
The Access Right to Work app is available standalone, or as an integration within the Access screening platform.
