Managing compliance and verification checks for pre-employment screening

Before you hire an applicant, you can complete specific compliance, criminal history and background checks in your Tes ATS.

While the requirements may differ across countries and regions, it’s important for schools to maintain a central record of evidence of these checks to meet the relevant legal and child safety standards. We recommend you complete this step at the shortlisting or pre-employment stages depending on your requirements.

Note that, verification and compliance checks are only available for job vacancies that use the ‘Optimised online form’ application method.

On this page

• What compliance and verification checks can I get in the Tes ATS? 
• How to request a compliance check for an applicant
• Understanding compliance check statuses 
• How are prices for compliance checks calculated and charged?  

What compliance checks can I get in the Tes ATS? 

If you’ve used the ‘Optimised online form’ type in your job vacancy, you can request the following compliance checks in your Tes ATS. However, some are only relevant to schools in the United Kingdom.  

⚠️ Employment checks are separate from personal reference checks. To get a personal reference check to review an applicants’ previous performance, skills and competencies, you need to request it from an applicants’ profile.

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How to request a compliance check for an applicant

Both school staff and applicants can request compliance checks in the Tes ATS.

If an candidate has applied for multiple jobs, you only need to order one set of checks.

To complete compliance check/s for an applicant, follow these steps:

1.    Expand to the main menu , select Connect, then which job vacancy you want to open.

2.    Find the applicant from the relevant list in your Application tracker and check if they have a green ‘Verified’ badge next to their name. If your school has already completed the required compliance checks and they’re still valid, you may not need to order them again.

3.    To see all compliance checks available, select View application > Compliance checks > Order a check.

4.    Select the applicant/s you need to make a request for, then Select checks.

✳ Tip: If you’re in the UK and your school needs to confirm whether an applicant meets child safety requirements, we recommend you Select all KSCIE compliant checks.

5.    Use the tick boxes to select which checks to request. 

6.    You also need to select the number of years of qualifications you’d like the check to verify. We recommend the maximum as a default based on safer recruitment best practices.

7.    Review the estimated prices for your checks, select Request details from applicant/s, then Done. This triggers an email to the candidate requesting they provide the necessary details to complete the compliance checks.

8.    Once confirmed, you’ll receive an email asking you to Review & confirm if you’re happy to go ahead and Confirm final cost per applicant (which is country/provider specific). 

If you wish to order fewer check/s than originally requested, you’ll need to cancel the existing order and submit a new request.

9.    To confirm that you understand the charges are not included in your subscription fees, select the tick box. You’ll see a tick box to confirm that you understand the charges will be billed separately to your subscription cost, then select Done. 

You’ll be invoiced for all checks successfully completed in the last 30 days on day 15 of every month.

10.    When the check is completed, you’ll receive an email confirmation and the applicants’ status will change to ‘Compliance verified’. You can view all completed or requested checks under Your Accounts > Verify (in the main menu). 

11.    To view completed compliance checks and access a report, open the vacancy and go to View application > Compliance checks > Download report.

Now you’ll see a green Compliance verified badge next to the applicant’s name to confirm the requested checks are completed.

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Understanding compliance check statuses

Compliance check statuses will appear next to an applicant's name in a job vacancy to let you know where the request is at.

UK schools' safeguarding and legal duties: even if a candidate has self-verified, we recommend schools complete their own compliance checks to satisfy the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidelines. 

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How are prices for compliance checks calculated and charged?

When you order verification compliance checks in the Tes ATS, they are billed separately to your subscription fees.

Initial prices are estimates, because the final price of checks is dependent on where the applicant has lived and worked previously and the external provider fees.

Pricing will always be quoted in GBP (£) regardless of where the check is completed.

For UK candidates, if the check ordered is a UK-based check, the estimated price will reflect the actual price.

For international candidates, the estimated price is an average of the pricing range across all countries - at this point it is an estimate. The final price will be confirmed once both the applicant and recruiter have reviewed and accepted the request

Schools will not pay for checks unless they are completed. You’ll be invoiced for all checks completed in the last 30 days on the 15th of every month.

If you do not wish to accept the final price, you can cancel the check/s requested. Once you’ve reviewed and accepted the final cost, you cannot add any other checks to the order.  

ℹ️ Example for UK schools

Candidate A: You order a criminal background check on Candidate A who has only lived and worked in the UK. You need to request one Enhanced DBS check that covers the last five years as per KCSIE guidance. 

Candidate B: You order a criminal background check on Candidate B, who has lived in the UK and Australia in the last 5 years. To be KCSIE compliant, you must obtain an Enhanced DBS check for the UK and an AFP check. Therefore, you need to order two checks, and the prices will differ based on the prices charged in each country. 

In this example, Candidate B will cost more than Candidate A because prices are dependent on where a candidate has worked and lived.

If you’re unsure which checks to request, review the GOV.UK eligibility guidance or the KCSIE Safeguarding Checklist to decide what checks are appropriate for the role you're recruiting for. To achieve the highest standard of child-safe recruitment in the UK, we recommend you order an Enhanced DBS check or the available equivalent in other countries. 

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