BPSS screening
What is BPSS exactly? It stands for the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), and is a pre-employment screening standard detailing the minimum level of clearance required for roles within government.
BPSS is a relatively simple screening standard, often chosen for private sector firms delivering services to government or as a baseline level of screening for their own staff. It also acts as a basic level of vetting for security clearance, with all higher levels of vetting carried out by National Security Vetting (NSV).
BPSS’s comprehensive suite of checks includes verification of an applicant’s:
- Identity – ID Data Check
- Right to work – Nationality and Immigration Status as well as their entitlement to undertake the work in question within the UK civil service
- Employment history covering the previous three years of employment and history/ activity
- Criminal records, including a basic DBS check on unspent criminal convictions
Security Watchdog also offers employers additional checks in line with the BPSS standard where required for particular roles. These screening checks include searches for adverse media in the public domain, social media conduct or evidence of extreme animal rights activism.
Why choose Security Watchdog for BPSS checks?
Which roles require BPSS clearance?
BPSS checks are needed for full-time civil servants, members of the armed forces, temporary and agency staff working in government, and government contractors.
What does BPSS clearance give access to?
The UK government’s guidelines on national security vetting state that BPSS clearance ‘allows access to UK official assets and occasional access to UK secret assets’. It is required for anyone working ‘in areas where secret and top secret information may be overheard’ or for individuals ‘who require access to Public Services Network’.
Why choose Security Watchdog for BPSS checks?
- Our online screening portal offers 24/7 access from any location.
- We offer seamless integrations into your current HR platforms to make ordering checks quick and easy.
- Our Express Screening service offers instant access to data needed to verify a candidate’s activity history. It removes the need for us to approach referees directly, instead verifying a candidate’s employment or gap in activity using integrations with banks, payroll and HR platforms.
- Our easy-to-use form capture offers instant data validation, with documents uploaded straight from a candidate’s mobile device for the best-ever customer experience.
- Live progress tracking ensures your candidates have the best possible screening experience.
- Precise and quality screening made possible through our combination of market-leading software and impeccable customer service.
How our online screening portal works
Our online screening portal makes the ordering process quick, simple and accurate.
Set up your account
Access the client portal to create your candidate
Select your screening package of choice
We invite your candidate to complete our online form
We obtain the required references and background checks once they’ve supplied the necessary information.
You can monitor the progress of checks on any individual, at any stage
You can download a report for every completed screening.
Contact Us
Contact our team to find out more.