Vetting Hub/Pre-Employment Screening & Vetting Essentials Course

Pre-Employment Screening Without the Gaps or Guesswork

A practical UK focused course that teaches you to screen candidates thoroughly, verify information correctly, and make confident hiring decisions you can defend.

"We built this course because we've seen too many organisations learn screening the hard way, after a bad hire, a failed audit, or a preventable incident. After nearly 20 years conducting thousands of employment checks, we know what a proper screening process looks like and where most go wrong. This course gives you the structured approach, practical methods, and real world insight to screen every candidate consistently and confidently."

  • £125

Pre-Employment Screening & Vetting Essentials Course

  • Course
  • 36 Lessons

Expert Built Pre-Employment Screening Mastery

Developed by Graham and Vivianne Johnson, industry leading screening experts with nearly 20 years' experience verifying candidates across multiple sectors. This CPD certified course teaches you to conduct thorough, compliant pre-employment screening that reduces hiring risk and creates defensible recruitment decisions.

Master the complete screening framework: application verification, identity checks, employment history confirmation, reference collection, qualification verification, gap analysis, and proportionate risk assessment. Learn how to structure your screening process, collect the right evidence, and document decisions that will stand up to scrutiny.

Each lesson includes real world scenarios from the Johnsons' extensive experience, teaching you what to check, why it matters, and how to handle the situations that catch others out.

Perfect for HR professionals, recruiters, line managers, compliance officers, and anyone responsible for hiring decisions in their organisation.

Why Choose This Course:

✓ Created by screening practitioners with nearly 20 years of hands on experience.

✓ Learn structured methods you can apply to any role or sector immediately.

✓ Understand what to check and why, not just tick box procedures.

✓ Gain confidence to handle gaps, discrepancies, and difficult situations.

✓ Build a screening process that protects your organisation and your decisions.

Screen thoroughly. Hire confidently. Protect your organisation.

Duration: 2-3 hours.

CPD Award: 2 Professional Development Hours.

Graham and Vivianne Johnson

Why We Built This Course

We created this course because most pre-employment screening training focuses on what checks to do, not how to do them properly when things get complicated.

From 2006 to 2024, we ran our own screening businesses and conducted thousands of employment verifications across multiple sectors. We dealt with candidates who fabricated job titles, employers who refused to respond, references that didn't add up, and gaps that needed careful investigation. We learned what a robust screening process actually requires.

What Makes This Different

You'll learn how to verify employment when companies have closed or merged. What to do when references contradict application details. How to investigate gaps without making assumptions. When to escalate concerns and how to document your reasoning for future scrutiny.

Every lesson comes from real scenarios we've personally handled, the difficult situations where standard checklists don't give you the answer. You'll gain practical methods that work in the real world, not just theory.

This isn't written by trainers who've read about screening. It's built by us, practitioners who've conducted thousands of checks and know what actually works. CPD certified, UKRLP registered. Real screening expertise, not theory.

Officially Accredited and Professionally Recognised

CPD Certified Courses

CPD Certified

Our courses are independently accredited by a recognised CPD body so every completed module converts into verifiable CPD hours you can record. Registration Number: 0006126

UKRLP Registered

VH Courses is listed on the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP), a public register that confirms our status as a legitimate training provider.

Course Contents

Course Introduction

This course explains the essential screening and vetting checks used in the United Kingdom. You will learn how to verify identity, employment history, qualifications and legal status. You will also understand how to handle data safely, avoid discrimination and follow consistent best practice across the full recruitment process.

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Course Instructions

Module 1: Foundations of Pre-Employment Screening

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Lesson 1: What is Pre-Employment Screening?
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Lesson 2: Why Pre-Employment Screening is Essential
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Lesson 3: The UK Legal Framework for Screening
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Lesson 4: The Business Case for Screening
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Lesson 5: Roles and Responsibilities in Screening
Module 1 Knowledge Check

Module 2: Right to Work and Identity Verification

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Lesson 6: Right to Work Checks – Legal Requirements
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Lesson 7: Conducting Manual Right to Work Checks
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Lesson 8: Digital Identity Verification and IDSP Checks
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Lesson 9: Preventing Identity Fraud in Recruitment
Module 2 Knowledge Check

Module 3: Employment History and Reference Verification

Lesson 10: Employment History Verification
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Lesson 11: HMRC Employment History and the 5 Year Statement
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Lesson 12: Obtaining and Assessing References
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Lesson 13: Documenting and Explaining Gaps in Employment
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Lesson 14: Qualification and Professional Registration Checks
Module 3 Knowledge Check

Module 4: Criminal Record and DBS Checks

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Lesson 15: Understanding DBS Checks in the UK
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Lesson 16: Levels of DBS Disclosure
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Lesson 17: Assessing DBS Results and Risk Decisions
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Lesson 18: Rehabilitation of Offenders and Filtering Rules
Module 4 Knowledge Check

Module 5: Data Protection and Compliance

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Lesson 19: GDPR in Pre-Employment Screening
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Lesson 20: Consent, Retention and Data Handling
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Lesson 21: Secure Storage and Record Keeping
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Lesson 22: Subject Access Requests and Candidate Rights
Module 5 Knowledge Check

Module 6: Building and Maintaining Your Screening Programme

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Lesson 23: Designing a Proportionate Screening Policy
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Lesson 24: Risk Based Screening Approaches
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Lesson 25: Creating a Screening Checklist
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Lesson 26: From Manual Screening to Software Solutions
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Lesson 27: Managing Third Party Screening Providers
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Lesson 28: Audit, Review and Continuous Improvement
Module 6 Knowledge Check

Final Summary and Certificate

The final course summary and certificate section are the final information required to complete before being issued with your CPD Certified Certificate. In this section it explains what you have learned throughout the course and what you are now certified for.

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Final Summary

Who Is This Course For?

Built for professionals responsible for hiring decisions and candidate verification in any organisation.

HR & Recruitment Professionals

You manage the hiring process and need to ensure every candidate is properly screened before they start. This course gives you structured methods to verify applications, collect references, and document decisions that protect your organisation from bad hires.

Line Managers & Hiring Managers

You make hiring decisions but may not have formal screening training. Learn what checks matter, what red flags to watch for, and how to work with HR to ensure candidates are properly verified before you bring them onto your team.

Compliance & Operations Leaders

You're accountable for recruitment standards across your organisation. This course ensures you understand what thorough screening looks like, enabling you to set expectations, review processes, and identify weaknesses before they become problems.