A background check investigation is just one of the multiple research services a Cyber Investigator will perform in The United Kingdom.
Performing a UK background check will consist of discovering or verifying historical facts regarding a British citizen, or on occasion a British organization.
However, background checks in The UK are often conducted on British citizens for the purpose of UK employment screening.
The amount of time a UK background check takes will be dependent on how deep the check goes.
Background checks in The United Kingdom can involve researching criminal history, credit history, social media presence, past education, employment history, references, and a UK citizen's personal history. These UK background check investigations often occur at a desk and utilize the internet (cyber background check) in-conjunction with multiple phone calls.
UK Background Check Databases
A big part of performing a British background check will involve verifying a UK citizen's past using UK databases, some paid databases and also free to use ones. An Investigator typically uses a paid UK government database to access information regarding criminal history.
However, just simply discovering UK court records is usually a service that many local UK government jurisdictions offer for free.
Often, an Investigator will lookup a UK citizen's court record for free and resort to paying for a UK government criminal record check if court records are found. Unlike searching for British court records, a credit history check will often require the Investigator to pay a few quid for accessing the UK database that holds financial records.
UK Cyber Background Check Resources
Phone Calls in The United Kingdom
When conducting a background check on a British citizen, an Investigator will often perform a fair amount of phone calls. This happens a lot when verifying UK educational degrees.
Often, the Investigator will contact the UK educational institute via phone and validate the degree with the school's own records department.
However, some English universities and colleges protect these records.
In this case, the Investigator will have to contact the UK citizen who is the subject of the background check and get them to contact the UK post-secondary institution themselves in order to access this information. The British citizen will then be asked to request an educational transcript from the UK school and get the school to mail it to an address of the Investigator's choosing. This will mitigate tampering of the records document. As with UK education, researching references will also require phone calls. The Investigator will have to validate that the references are who they say they are and contact them in order to hear their opinions on the subject of the check.
Google.co.uk Background Check
Lastly, and often the largest part of a British background check, the Background Investigator will utilize the web as an investigative tool to research the UK citizen's personal history:
Obviously, searching social media platforms will be an important part of this UK background check process.
However, a lot of information can be found on a Brit outside of social media. There could be many mentions of the UK citizen on various sites. Many English have a rudimentary grasp on searching the internet.
A normal UK citizen could find a few pieces of information when searching on the net. However, a skilled Background Investigator will be able to find all relevant information and be able to accurately verify and document it properly. This is why, even with a simple background check task, an experienced and skilled British Investigator should always be utilized.
About the Author
Peter Sandru is an Instructor & Co-Founder of NDIL with over 14 years as a Professional Investigator. Peter Sandru has spent more than a decade conducting investigations throughout the world, primarily for corporations, law firms, and government agencies. Peter has assisted in the creation of many investigative training programs in various capacities. Over the length his career, Peter has performed numerous background checks on UK individuals and UK organizations.