Government requirements for identity checks went live in October 2022. What is it and why every recruitment agency or employer needs to be on board with this.
The IDSP service allows an employer, recruitment agency to check the status of a British or Irish employee, by using an accredited identity service provider.
The disadvantage of this is that the system requires the person to have an in-date passport or visa, if they do not possess them then a face-to-face meeting and manual checks will have to be carried out to verify the person applying for the position.
The consequences for failure to meet this criteria is £20K fine for every illegal person found working for the employer. The fine is considered severe enough to act as a strong deterrent, especially for small to medium sized companies or businesses and since 80% plus of businesses in the UK are SME’s this can be particularly harsh on a business bottom line profits.
There is the suggestion that at least one out of every five people in the UK will not have an in-date passport to verify who they are. Which ultimately means that the employer should not hire that person for the position because they may be considered an illegal, until the person in question can be verified.
The current UK government is considering making modifications to the way identity checks are performed which will make it easier with hopefully less red tape to help people who do not have an up-to-date document which will help them get into work.
In the meantime, the ID checks are completed by the growing accredited IDSP service providers.
The theory is that an accredited IDSP service provider provides an efficient and secure way to verify a person’s identity, one of the drawbacks is the cost as it is prohibitive to some small businesses.
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It’s important for recruiters to assess the market as this industry is growing at a rapid rate and to really do the due diligence work required before working with an IDSP provider.
Its important for employers and recruiters to understand that this process is not just about moving extra paperwork and ticking a box. It’s a person’s data and that data has to be stored and verified correctly.
Using a IDSP provider tends to be quicker and more convenient way to work within the verification process, for the digital right to work.
IDSP providers do have their advantages when it comes to combating ID fraud, as opposed to manual checks which is time consuming for the recruitment agency which will have to be performed on every serious applicant.
However, If your a small recruitment agency or just starting out as one, you may find the costs to be very prohibitve in the begining for the ID checks to be carried out by IDSP agency, which means that you have to perform the task yourself. You can visit the UK government website for more help and information. Which can help with candidates that are not British Citizens to verify their details. whilst still asking them to provide proof of residency passport or visa details. For British citizen's the verifcation process is similiar, you just follow the pattern, such as asking the candidate to proivde a picture themselves, plus Passport if they have one in date, driving licence, proof of residency etc. You can also use video services, such as Zoom, Google meet or Zoho to mention a few as way to see the person in front of you, this is in addition with the other checks mentioned above. It just means that the checks that you will need to perform is a little more time consuming. You can visit sites like these ones below which will help with giving your more information regarding the digital right to work.
In any case remember using a IDSP provider is quicker and more efficient way to process potential applicants, for the digital right to work.
This is why we are highlighting the use of a Digital Identity Service Provider Known as (IDSP) and why it’s important!
Very insightful..