Healthcare recruitment compliance is not one document and it is not one moment. It is a chain of evidence: identity, permission to work, criminal-record status where the role is eligible, professional registration, qualifications, employment history, references, health requirements and the client-specific conditions attached to the placement.
This checklist is designed to help UK healthcare recruitment agencies structure that evidence before a candidate starts. It is not legal advice and it does not replace the current requirements of the hiring organisation, framework, regulator or qualified adviser.
The six NHS employment-check families
NHS England identifies six minimum employment-check standards for staff, including temporary workers and contractors: identity; professional registration and qualifications; employment history and references; right to work; work health assessments; and criminal-record checks. The exact evidence and permissible variations depend on the role and receiving organisation.
Review NHS England’s employment-check summary.
1. Confirm identity before relying on anything else
Match the person to reliable identity evidence and resolve inconsistent names, dates of birth or photographs. A registration number or certificate is not a substitute for confirming that the candidate is the person represented by the record.
2. Establish and retain the right-to-work evidence
Use the applicable Home Office route: an online share-code check, an eligible manual document check or an approved digital route. Confirm that the person is permitted to perform the work offered, retain the required evidence and record when the check was made. Where permission is time-limited, schedule the required follow-up rather than treating the initial check as permanent.
Check current GOV.UK right-to-work guidance.
3. Use the correct DBS route for the role
First establish whether the role is eligible for a Standard, Enhanced or barred-list check. When using the DBS Update Service, the organisation must be legally entitled to carry out the status check and must have the individual’s permission. The service applies to Standard and Enhanced certificates, not Basic checks.
4. Check professional registration at the authoritative register
Do not rely solely on a candidate-supplied certificate, screenshot or registration number. Check the relevant live register and confirm that the registration type, profession and any licence or annotation are appropriate for the role.
- NMC employer confirmation guidance for nurses, midwives and nursing associates.
- GMC registers for doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associates.
- HCPC Register for the regulated health and care professions it covers.
5. Match qualifications and competence to the actual assignment
Registration confirms entry on a professional register; it does not prove that every candidate is competent for every assignment. Review qualifications, recent experience, role-specific skills, training currency and any client-mandated evidence against the duties and clinical setting.
6. Verify employment history and references
Obtain the references required by the receiving organisation or framework, verify them through an appropriate route and investigate unexplained gaps or inconsistencies. Do not treat an uploaded reference as automatically authentic.
7. Confirm work-health and immunisation requirements
The appropriate assessment depends on the role, duties and exposure risk. NHS England’s screening and vaccinations framework establishes a baseline for NHS trusts, but an agency must still confirm the requirements applying to its candidate and placement.
Review the NHS England framework.
8. Reconcile the placement-day position
The operational question is not merely whether every document exists. It is whether the evidence still supports this candidate starting this assignment today. Before placement, review the agreed critical items, resolve anything expired or changed, and keep a named person accountable for the decision.
Commercial pathway: Explore SOS healthcare recruitment agency software for current placement evidence.
A record and a current status are different things.
Explore how SOS Global Recruitment structures screening evidence and a deliberate second review before placement.
A practical evidence record
For each check, record the requirement, approved source, person reviewed, result, evidence location, check date, expiry or follow-up date, exception status and the named person responsible for resolution. That creates an auditable decision trail without pretending that one generic pass score can describe every risk.
Last reviewed: 31 August 2026. Always confirm the latest official guidance before relying on this checklist.