Screening & vetting
What is an identity check?
An identity check establishes that a person is who they say they are, using documents verified against defined criteria. It is the first step of screening and everything after it depends on it.
Use this diagram+
Free to use on your own site, in training material or in a handout, as long as the credit link stays on it. Paste this where you want the diagram to appear.
<figure>
<img src="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/identity-check/diagram.svg" alt="identity check — diagram from SecureOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/identity-check">What is an identity check?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk">SecureOptix</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>If identity is wrong, the rest of the file is about somebody else. That is why the standard places it first and why the documents are specified rather than left to judgement.
It overlaps with the right to work check but is not the same thing: one establishes who someone is, the other establishes what they are permitted to do. Both are needed and each can be satisfied while the other is not.
Documents need to be seen and verified rather than accepted as copies, and the record has to show who verified them and when.
What goes wrong in practice
- Copies accepted without the originals being seen.
- Verification recorded without naming who carried it out.
- Treated as satisfied by the right to work check alone.