Background Checks

There are various times in our lives when other people, companies and institutions may need to formally check up on us to learn more about us. The most common way of doing this is to run background checks. What are these checks, why are they used and who uses them?

Background checks can take various forms, depending on why they are being used. They are generally designed to help someone learn about your background. A check may be done, for example, to see if you are who you say you are, to check on your suitability from a security perspective or to learn more about your background in a specific way.

These types of background checks are basically used because some people will not always tell the truth about themselves, their personal circumstances and their track record. They allow other people to protect themselves from various problems as they can simply use them to assess their ‘risk’ in certain situations.

So, for example, a parent that wants to volunteer regularly as a class helper in their child’s school may have to go through background checks (usually via the CRB - Criminal Records Bureau) to check that they are suitable to come in and work with children. This kind of check will be done to make sure that they don’t have a criminal record or other blot on their background that may be a problem.

It’s also quite common for employers to run background checks before they take on new employees nowadays. These kinds of checks will look at various things about a candidate. So, for example, they may run an ID check, a criminal records check, a job history check and a qualifications check. The principle here is to check that the candidate is telling the truth on their CV and in their interviews.

Employer background checks may also involve looking at the candidate’s financial track record as well. Financial checks of this kind are quite common nowadays. They may be used by banks, building societies and other lenders when you apply for a loan, mortgage or other financial product or contract.

These kinds of background checks are specifically designed to help lenders work out whether they should lend money or give credit to individuals. A check here will show if the individual has had any financial issues in the past that will make the lender not want to lend them money.