Candidates are required to provide a full employment history and explanation of any gaps in employment on their application form. Any unexplained gaps in employment must be explored at interview.
Factual reference requests will be made after the interview has taken place and a conditional offer of employment has been made.
Factual references confirm dates of employment and if the person has been subject to any employee relations processes, they do not include personal opinions or views that may be regarded as subjective.
References are required to validate the last three consecutive years of continuous employment and/or training. The number of references required for each successful candidate may vary depending on the number of episodes of employment and/or training they have had during the last three years.
All references must be received from a recognised company email address; information cannot be accepted from personal email addresses such as yahoo, hotmail etc. Previous employment history must be checked before the unconditional offer of employment can be confirmed. References and application forms will be cross-checked as part of this process.
Existing staff moving internally
For existing staff moving internally, references will not be requested, instead the recruitment team will check the HR system to confirm that there is no relevant information that will need to be considered e.g. disciplinary.
Individuals recruited from another NHS organisation
If the successful candidate is already working in the NHS, one factual reference from that NHS employer is sufficient.
Doctors in training
Doctors in rotational programmes are regarded as being in continuous employment for their full period of training. Discretion should be used when deciding the frequency and number of references required. Information from the most recent Record of In Training Assessment (RITA) or Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) can be used to obtain information.
Executive and Director level appointments
Checks must be conducted in line with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Fit and Proper Person Requirement for all Director level positions. This must include carrying out a check against the companies house register.
Approving References
The recruitment team will review and approve all incoming references where no issues are identified.
In situations where the reference contains information such as a high level of absence, or disciplinary issues then the recruitment team will refer these to the Recruiting Manager in the first instance who will be responsible for assessing this information and making a decision on whether this is deemed satisfactory - appropriate guidance should be sought from the recruitment team/human resources Team where a withdrawal is being considered.