Are digital identity checks working for you?

You need to know your recruits are everything they say they are. The same is true of your IDVT. Digital identity checks offer significant advances in efficiency, security and user experience. But you need to be clear about their parameters and limitations – and how they fit into your wider approach to background checking and vetting.

Following a change in the law in April 2022, there is a new way to verify the identity of British and Irish passport-holders which is significantly faster, simpler and more secure than conventional manual checks. Employers can now use digital identification document validation technology (‘IDVT’) to verify the identity of British and Irish citizens with valid (in date) biometric passports. For the first time, there is a government-approved way to confirm the identity of an applicant, without meeting them face to face, or seeing an original document.

Speed, security and a superior candidate experience

The potential benefits are obvious and enormous. The sheer speed and convenience of the process is more efficient for you as an employer, but it can also create a vastly superior experience for the candidate. Compliance with DBS and Home Office guidance reduces your exposure to risk and legal liability. And by using the most advanced online security, you can have confidence in the quality and rigour of your processes, while protecting your business against fraud.

So what’s the problem?

There isn’t one, as long as you appreciate the limits as well as the strengths of the new process. The IDVT process doesn’t work for all workers, and it doesn’t work for all passports. That means you need processes that kick in, automatically and seamlessly, if IDVT is not appropriate.

The expert partner who has your back

As the European market leader and subject expert in every aspect of digital background checking and vetting, Security Watchdog has always offered a partnership approach to employers. This means our services and support are designed to operate in the interests of client and candidate, to deliver the right outcome for everyone involved.

Beyond a binary response

So our IDVT offering provides more than a blunt ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ decision. If there is a problem with, say, a photograph that means the check can’t be done, we might well work with the candidate to resolve it. If the ‘computer says no’ when it should probably be a ‘yes’ we’ll be in there, helping to get to the right decision. For you this means more efficiency, more rigour, more peace of mind. But it also means a positive experience for a candidate who is about to become a colleague.

Step back from the goldrush

When the new legislation arrived, there was a predictable rush to get IDVT solutions into the market. By contrast, we took the time to shape and deliver an offering which is genuinely fit for purpose. This is partly because it takes time to complete the due diligence, governance and compliance to ensure that any particular technology delivers on its potential. But we also needed to understand specifically how IDVT could best meet the real-world challenges of major employers.

IDVT and the bigger picture

Our solution combines identity document verification, facial matching technology, fraud checks and address verification services to maximise security and peace of mind while delivering a superior experience for people you want to recruit. But it also meshes smoothly with a wider background checking and vetting capability, blending digital processing power with human judgement and expertise. While IDVT works for citizens of the UK and Ireland, Security Watchdog can offer background checking and vetting for a global talent pool, up to and including immigration services. The result? You can throw your talent net wider, with the same confidence, the same efficiency, and the same commitment to an exceptional candidate experience.

This is our advice

Wherever you buy your IDVT services, make sure you are clear about how the process works – and what happens when it doesn’t or can’t. IDVT is a great advance, but you need to see this innovation (like any other) through the prism of your business priorities and the candidate’s experience.

Why so confident?

We feel very confident that our integrated approach to IDVT will soon become the benchmark for the industry. This is precisely because it is not created in isolation but as part of a holistic client/candidate combination. It is not surprising that a premium reseller of onboarding services has recently chosen to put a white-labelled Security Watchdog engine ‘under the bonnet’. IDVT does what it says on the tin. But we deliver on the wider promise of the technology – and the talent you need to succeed.

If you would like to know more about our approach to IDVT (or any other aspect of our capability), please contact us here.