Terms and Conditions

Last updated: 10 October 2026

These terms apply when you use this website and buy our services through it. Sections 1 to 15 are written for individuals who buy an AccessNI application service for themselves. Section 16 covers organisations booking checks for their staff, section 17 staff ID cards, and section 18 Compliance Manager. By paying for a check or placing an order you agree to them.

1. Who we are

Access Compliance Group is an AccessNI Registered Body and acts as an umbrella body. Company number 554746. Our address is Office 21831, 182-184 High Street North, East Ham, London E6 2JA. You can contact us at info@accesscg.co.uk.

We are a private company. We are not AccessNI, nidirect or part of government. AccessNI also accepts basic check applications directly from the public, without our support, for its own fee alone.

2. What our service is

We provide an application service for AccessNI checks. We:

• confirm whether the role is eligible for the level of check requested
• give you our PIN and instructions for the official application on nidirect
• check your application against the identity documents you upload to nidirect
• countersign your application and submit it to AccessNI

AccessNI, not us, carries out the criminal record check and issues the certificate to you. We do not decide the outcome, we do not see what your certificate says, and we do not make recruitment decisions. Information on this website is general guidance, not legal advice.

3. When our contract with you starts and when the service is carried out

Our contract with you starts when your payment is confirmed. We then show you our PIN on screen and email your receipt, the PIN and the link to the official application to the email address you gave us. We treat our service as carried out when we issue your PIN, because from that point you are able to make your application through us.

4. What you agree to do

• Give us accurate and complete information about yourself and the role.
• Complete the application on nidirect yourself, including every name you have used and your address history, and upload the identity documents AccessNI asks for.
• Use the PIN we give you only for your own application. Do not share it.
• Respond promptly if we or AccessNI ask you for more information.
• Complete your application within three months of payment. After that we may close your request, and you would need to pay again to start a new one.
• Only say that a role is voluntary if it meets AccessNI's definition of a volunteer. If it does not, AccessNI's fee is payable before we can countersign.

Knowingly giving false information to obtain a certificate can be a criminal offence. If we believe information is false or a PIN is being misused, we may refuse to countersign.

5. Eligibility

Standard and enhanced checks are only available for roles the law allows. We are required to assess this before countersigning. If we find that your role is not eligible, we cannot countersign your application and will tell you why. Our refund policy applies in that case: fees are not refunded.

6. Fees and payment

Our prices are shown before you pay. The total is made up of AccessNI's fee, which we pass on at cost, our service fee, and VAT on our service fee. You pay once, to us, by bank payment through GoCardless. Your bank details go to GoCardless and your bank, not to us.

The price you pay is the price shown when you pay. We may change our prices for future orders at any time. If a payment fails or is later reversed, we may pause or stop work on your application until it is paid.

7. Refunds

All fees are non-refundable. Our service starts as soon as your payment is confirmed, when we issue your PIN. This includes where your role turns out not to be eligible, where you chose the wrong check, and where you do not complete your application. The full policy is in our refund policy, which forms part of these terms. Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer.

8. Your right to cancel

You normally have 14 days to cancel a service bought online. When you pay, you ask us to start straight away and acknowledge that you lose the right to cancel once the service has been carried out. Because we issue your PIN as soon as your payment is confirmed, the service is carried out at that point and the right to cancel ends then.

9. How long a check takes

We aim to deal with our part of your application promptly. AccessNI and, for enhanced checks, the police decide how long the check itself takes. Any timescale we give is an estimate. We cannot guarantee a date and are not responsible for delays outside our control.

10. Our responsibility to you

We will provide our service with reasonable care and skill. If we do not, tell us and we will put it right.

We are not responsible for:

• decisions or delays by AccessNI, nidirect, the police, your bank, GoCardless or your employer
• what your certificate says, or any decision someone makes because of it
• loss caused by inaccurate or incomplete information you gave
• loss we could not reasonably have foreseen, or business losses such as lost earnings or lost contracts
• events outside our reasonable control

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit. Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer.

11. Using this website

You may use this website to find out about and buy our services. You must not misuse it, attempt to interfere with how it works or how payments are taken, or submit information on someone else's behalf without their permission. The content and branding on this website belong to us or our licensors. Links to nidirect and other sites are provided for convenience; we are not responsible for their content.

12. Your information

Your information is held by Access Compliance Group only. We never sell it or share it for marketing. It is shared only with AccessNI and the service providers we need to process your check.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we use your information. We handle disclosure information under the AccessNI Code of Practice (opens in a new tab).

13. Complaints

If something has gone wrong, tell us and we will try to put it right. Our complaints procedure explains how and how quickly we respond. Complaints about AccessNI's processing or about what a certificate says go to AccessNI.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The version that applies to your order is the one published here when you paid.

15. General

If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a term straight away, we can still do so later. Only you and we have rights under this contract.

16. Company orders

This section applies when an organisation books checks for its staff or volunteers through our company order form. Sections 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 also apply. Where your organisation has signed a service level agreement or service provision letter with us and it says something different, that agreement takes priority.

• Your authority. The person placing the order confirms they are authorised to do so for the organisation.
• Your staff's details. You give us each person's name, work email address and job role. You confirm you are entitled to share them with us for this purpose and have told your staff you are doing so.
• The check for each role. We confirm which check each role is eligible for. You don't choose the level, and we may ask you for more about a role.
• Price and invoice. We charge our published price for each check, and invoice your organisation for the order. Payment terms are those on our invoice. Your staff pay nothing.
• Invitations. Once we have confirmed the checks, we email each person their application link, our PIN and identity document instructions. Each person completes their own application in their own nidirect account. We never ask for anyone's nidirect log-in.
• Your tracking link. We give you a private link showing each person's progress. Anyone who has the link can see your staff list, so keep it within your organisation. It shows progress only, never what a certificate says.
• Changes and cancellation. Tell us before we send a person's invitation and we will remove them from the order without charge. Once a person has been invited we have started work on that check and it is charged in full, unless your agreement with us says otherwise.
• Your duties as an employer. The recruitment decision is yours. You must have your own policies on the recruitment of ex-offenders and on handling disclosure information, and follow the AccessNI Code of Practice.

17. Staff ID cards

Staff ID cards are a separate service from AccessNI checks. Our prices are per card and depend on the quantity ordered. Prices for branded lanyard packages are indicative and subject to artwork and supplier confirmation, and delivery is charged separately. We confirm the final price, what we need from you and the delivery arrangements in writing before we produce anything. You confirm you are entitled to give us the names, job titles and photographs to be printed.

18. Compliance Manager

Compliance Manager is a separate subscription service for organisations, priced per staff member per month on a minimum term shown on our pricing page. AccessNI checks and staff ID cards are charged separately. The full terms of the subscription, including how it renews and ends, are in the agreement we send you before it starts. Sending us your details through this website is an enquiry and does not commit you to a subscription.

19. Law

These terms are governed by the law of Northern Ireland, and the courts of Northern Ireland deal with any dispute. If you live elsewhere in the United Kingdom you can also bring a claim in the courts where you live.