Digital ID Checks
Digital Identity Verification – Smooth, Compliant Background Screening
Our digital ID service helps you to streamline your Right to Work checks for British and Irish passport holders and DBS criminal record checks while remaining compliant.
Digital ID Improves Security and Saves Time
- Meet legal obligations to check IDs for Right to Work and criminal record checks
- Reduce ID fraud – it’s harder to fake IDs with digital identity checks
- Reduce time to hire so HR spends more time on your business
- It’s easier for candidates and remote workers based far from company offices
Our dedicated account managers can set you up to run digital ID checks in less than an hour.
Trusted Results – Digital ID for Right to Work Checks
Digital ID checks enable employers to validate a person’s identity online prior to employment, making the Right to Work process smoother and easier.
Digital Right to Work checks for British and Irish passport holders only came into force on October 1, 2022. Use our Digital ID Service to manage the Right to Work process for you.
Faster DBS Checks – Digital ID for DBS Criminal Record Checks
Credence uses an IDSP to support digital ID for the criminal record checks process. We’re able to accept UK and foreign passports as part of the validation process, as well as UK driving licences.
The DBS has not removed the manual DBS ID guidance, or COVID-19 ID checking guidance, that allows identity to be checked remotely.
Applicants using the Digital ID Verification route may not need to provide physical documentation to verify their current address. If an applicant has a UK driving licence or the IDSP can verify their address using an authoritative source, they will not need to verify their current address using physical documents.
Frequently Asked Questions
A digital ID check is a convenient, government-compliant way to verify someone’s identity online.
Credence’s digital identity verification service refers to using digital ID checks for Right to Work checks and DBS checks.
The Credence Digital ID Check Service
Step 1. Candidates use the camera on their digital device, i.e. smartphone, to submit a selfie and the likeness is digitally compared to the photo on their identity document.
Step 2. Once the candidate likeness is confirmed we carry out the Right to Work and/or Criminal Record Check on their digitally submitted identity documents.
Step 3. The checks and results are available in the Credence online customer dashboard. An automatic notification is sent to the employer to notify that the check is complete.
Yes, the digital ID verification option is available in the Credence Customer Dashboard. Existing Credence customers can submit digital identity verification check applications via their Dashboard. Employers can also upload copies of original ID documentation that’s already been verified in person.
If you wish to register an employer account with us, please provide your business details here.
Yes, the Digital Right to Work check is compliant with Home Office guidelines for employers in the UK where individuals are able to use in date British and Irish passports. The employer still needs to ensure that the photograph and personal details in the screening report match the person presenting for work. Failure to comply with this guidance could result in an employer not having the necessary “statutory excuse” required by law.
No, you will need to have their Right to Work status verified using the Home Office Right to Work in line with Home Office guidance ‘An employer’s guide to right to work checks: 6 April 2022,’ which includes using the Home Office Right to Work checker by providing a Share Code.
For DBS checks, the digital pathway is possible for anyone holding an in date passport from any country as long as their address can be verified by a UK driving licence and/or a digital verification with a credit referencing agency or IDSP through the Credence digital identity verification process.
Credence’s online customer platform enables customers to revert to non-digital solutions to support individuals not willing or able to utilise digital identity checking for UK Right to Work and Criminal ID checks.
Passports that have expired within the last 6 months can be used until further notice as the ID verification guidance set up during Covid-19 is still in place. As a result, you may continue to accept recently expired passports as part of the existing document-based ID checking process until further notice.
If you do use the Covid-19 ID checking process, original ID documents must be physically inspected at the point the employee starts work, or as soon as is practically possible.
An additional charge per applicant may be applied for digital ID verification to our DBS criminal record check, please reach out to your account manager for verification. For British and Irish only Right to Work digital ID verification fees, please contact your account manager as charges may apply depending on account check volume.
Further information can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-identity-certification-for-right-to-work-right-to-rent-and-criminal-record-checks
From 1 October 2022, employers must carry out one of the prescribed checks as set out in the Right to work checks: An Employer’s Guide before employment commences.
If an individual provides you with a Share Code via the Home Office online service, as the employer you must carry out the check by accessing the ‘View a job applicant’s right to work details’ on gov.uk to obtain a statutory excuse against a civil penalty. Share Codes can only be used for the purpose they were originally selected for, within the Home Office online service. Learn more here regarding gov.uk digital ID certification for RTW, rental and CRC checks and read the gov.uk RTW employers guide.