- The government have shown faith in the digital checking process by extending the deadline into 2022
- Cutting administrative costs is vital in the public sector
- Technology can detect false information and discrepancies in applications better than the human eye
After consultations with businesses, the Home Office recently announced an extension to digital Right to Work checks for U.K. nationals until April 2022.
The debate that has ensued on whether this is the best way forward makes now a good time to consider whether technology is the future of compliance, as well as the present.
Time and Money
The need to hire new staff quickly, especially in high compliance sectors such as education and care, coupled with the extra legal and administrative hoops that potentially need jumping through as a result of the end of the Brexit grace period, means it is imperative that the pre-employment compliance process is as efficient as possible.
Our statistics show that a digital approach to compliance reduces the time it takes to complete pre-employment checks from an average of four weeks to four working days. The pandemic has shown that the technology out there to facilitate the compliance process works. At a time when time and money are more precious than ever before, especially in high-compliance sectors, let’s start helping ourselves by using the technology that we know works.
Security
One of the main concerns associated with a digitised compliance process is the risk of fraud and people slipping through the cracks. This is a perfectly valid concern - sources estimate that during lockdown, ID fraud rose by as much as 70% in the U.K..
The pandemic has shown, however, that technology is the answer to this issue, rather than the cause. Technology is far more likely to spot either fraudulent or illegal documents (a document that has expired, for example) than a human, and technology is far easier to update in response to criminal trends than the human eye.
The Future
The continuation of digital Right to Work checks until September 1st suggests the government are satisfied with how digital checks have worked, and that they are listening to the wants of high-compliance sectors.
It is also noteworthy that digital Right to Work checks will continue for non-U.K. nationals for the foreseeable future also. With this in mind, it would seem an oddity to have a different way of conducting Right to Work and other pre-employment checks for U.K. and non-U.K. nationals.
Conclusions
The pandemic and Brexit has pushed digital to the forefront of the compliance process, and it has come up trumps. There is no good reason why this technology should not continue to be used by businesses and organisations in the future, especially as the need to fill roles in the public sector is as urgent as it has ever been.
To see how Talent Clouds can streamline your compliance and onboarding processes, please either get in contact with us or request a demo.