Blog

It’s that time of year again where a new set of students are heading off to University to start their training for a new career. Many will be moving away from home for the first time, or even coming from overseas to study in the UK.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, there are around 370,000 people serving as school governors. Ever thought about joining them? Being a school governor isn’t a paid role, but is an opportunity to contribute to your local community. Here’s everything you need to know about this important role.

Many of us have fond memories of our school trips overseas, staying with families in France, Spain or Germany to practice the language and learn about life in a different country. It’s a rite of passage for many British teenagers, but in recent years the number of school exchanges have reportedly declined.

Pre-Employment checks, sometimes referred to as “vetting”, refers to a variety of ways in which employers check up on the background of applicants to minimise risks. The types of checking will depend on the role being applied for but might include identity checks, criminal records checks or even social media checks.

Although 4 million applications for DBS checks are processed every year, there’s still a lot of misinformation and poor understanding about how the system works. This leads to people getting the wrong end of the stick about how DBS works, and gives rise to myths which we’ve probably all heard about the system.

The details of how the DBS system works, the different levels of checking and the fact that Scotland and Northern Ireland have different systems are a mystery to many. One of the main areas of confusion is about using the same DBS check form across a number of settings.

Depending on the level of check, old convictions, cautions and reprimands might appear on your form once returned to you. So how do you tackle this with your employer, and maximise the chances of being offered the job?

Every few months the DBS system hits the headlines due to some huge delay over processing applications which means someone doesn’t get a job they’ve been promised. The government sets national targets for processing DBS forms, but as it’s the job of the 43 separate police forces across England and Wales to process the checks, it’s perhaps not a surprise that performance varies hugely depending on where you live.

One of the best-known gig economy companies is Uber, the private hire taxi company. But it’s not as simple as signing up on a company website, picking up the car keys and heading off for your first pick-up.

As an employer are you being too picky about the people you’re employing? According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), over half of employers in the UK are struggling to fill vacancies due to shortages in skilled applicants.