The standards we work to, the checks a client can rely on, and the basis on which candidate information is held.
The purpose of screening is to close the gap between what a candidate tells you and what can be evidenced. A licence establishes that somebody completed a course. It does not establish how they have been occupied for the last five years, whether the history they have given withstands verification, or how they will conduct themselves once they are inside your building.
Everything below is what a client receives as a matter of course. It is not a menu, and it is not varied downwards to meet a timescale.
Screening is conducted to BS 7858:2019, the British Standard governing the screening of individuals employed in a secure environment. In practice a completed file establishes the following.
Criminal record checks are commissioned at the point at which a client wishes to proceed with a named candidate, and are charged to the client at cost. They are not undertaken speculatively across a longlist, which would be both expensive and disproportionate.
Information about criminal convictions is governed separately from ordinary personal data, and the arrangements the law requires will be in place before any such information is obtained on a client’s behalf.
No candidate is charged a fee of any kind at any stage. The prohibition is statutory, under section 6(1)(a) of the Employment Agencies Act 1973, and it extends to registration, introduction, placement and any training made a condition of an introduction.
Hornsman Group Limited operates as an employment agency on an introductory basis within the meaning of the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.
We introduce candidates for engagement by the client. We do not employ, supply or provide workers under our own direction, and we are not a party to the engagement that follows an introduction. Whether the appointment is permanent or for a fixed term, the individual is engaged directly by the client, on the client’s own contract and payroll.
Where a role involves licensable activity we verify a current licence issued under the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Right to work is verified under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Personal data is processed under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018; the company is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under reference ZC211316.
Terms of business are agreed with a client before any candidate is introduced.
How candidate and client information is handled, stated plainly rather than buried in a policy.
Candidate records and screening files are retained on systems under our own control within the United Kingdom. They are not kept on shared cloud recruitment platforms, and they are not accessible to anyone outside this practice.
Candidate information is not circulated to other agencies or to job boards. It exists to serve the assignment a candidate agreed to be considered for.
Details are passed to a prospective client with the candidate’s agreement on each occasion, and only to the extent needed for a hiring decision. The screening file itself is not forwarded.
Every determination concerning a candidate is made by a person. No aspect of a candidacy is decided automatically, and we do not operate automated sifting.
If your own client imposes a vetting requirement above the British Standard, or your sector carries a clearance requirement, raise it at the brief stage. It changes the available pool materially and it is far cheaper to know at the outset than at mobilisation.