Employers and organisations
Standard and enhanced checks for your staff and volunteers
If your organisation isn't registered with AccessNI, an umbrella body can countersign applications for you. That's what we do.
What we do for you
- Confirm the role is legally eligible for the level of check you're asking for
- Give your applicants the PIN and instructions for the online application
- Check each application against the applicant's identity documents
- Confirm volunteer applications meet AccessNI's definition of a volunteer
- Countersign the application and submit it to AccessNI
- Track progress and tell you when the certificate is issued
- Tell you whether you should ask to see the certificate before appointing
Getting set up
Tell us about your organisation
Tell us about your organisation, the roles you recruit for and roughly how many checks you need each year.Sign the agreement
AccessNI requires a service level agreement or service provision letter between us before we process any applications. It also sets out our fees and how you're invoiced.Put two policies in place
You need a policy on recruiting ex-offenders and a policy on the secure handling, use, storage and retention of disclosure information. AccessNI publishes a sample ex-offenders policy (opens in a new tab) and a sample policy statement (opens in a new tab) you can adapt.Request checks
For each applicant, tell us the role. We confirm eligibility and send the applicant what they need to apply.
What you'll hear from us
AccessNI issues the certificate to the applicant only. We don't receive a copy and neither do you. Through AccessNI's case tracking we can see when a certificate has been issued and whether it contains information. We then tell you one of two things:
- No information disclosed. You can continue with the appointment.
- Information disclosed. Ask the applicant to share their digital certificate with you so you can view it before deciding. AccessNI publishes a sample request letter (opens in a new tab).
Your responsibilities
These come from the AccessNI Code of Practice and the umbrella body agreement.
- Tell applicants in advance that the role needs an AccessNI check
- Tell them a criminal record won't necessarily prevent them getting the position
- Give every applicant the Applicant Information Leaflet before they apply
- For enhanced checks with a barred list check, ask whether there is any reason they cannot work in regulated activity
- Give us the information we need to confirm the role is eligible
- Discuss anything disclosed with the applicant before withdrawing an offer
- Keep disclosure information secure, share it only with people authorised to see it, and don't keep it once the recruitment decision is made, and never for more than six months
The recruitment decision is yours. As an umbrella body we can't make it for you.
Get your organisation set up
We'll come back to you about eligibility, fees and the agreement.