What’s the difference between an identity check, and digital identity verification?

You want to bring the best talent to your business and to do so, you need to make informed and responsible hiring decisions to ensure that you’re speaking with the right candidates. A pivotal part of the hiring process involves authenticating the legitimacy of a candidate. Typically, this involves a background check. But the question is: What check should you use to authenticate a candidate's identity? That’s what we’re here to answer…

What is an Identity Check?  

Identity Checks are a type of electronic identification check designed to verify a prospective employee’s identity. They do this by cross-referencing the applicant’s personal information against data held on secure databases, including: 

• Information held by credit referencing agencies 

• Electoral roll 

• Telephone databases 

Why are they important?

Did you know that 79% of household waste contains at least one item that could help fraudsters steal an identity? In an ideal world, every candidate applying for a role would be truthful. However, that’s not always the case and sometimes a person may not tell the truth about who they are. With that in mind, Identity checking is a crucial part of the recruitment process. An identity check can help protect your organisation from fraud and give you an extra level of confidence in the people who have access to sensitive information.  

What is Digital Identity Verification?

Digital Identity Checks are a fully digital way to verify a prospective employees’ identity. Instead of showing a physical identity document, they can provide the same information digitally. Essentially, Digital Identity Verification puts the identity checking part of the recruitment process in the hands of applicants, saving you time on verifying documents manually. Digital Identity Verification checks can verify identities to support Basic, Standard and Enhanced DBS Checks, authenticating documents like: 

• Passports 

• PASS cards 

• Driving licences

 Why are they important?

Using Digital Identity Verification to support your DBS checks, as opposed to conducting a physical check, your business can benefit from: 

• Speedier results 

• Mitigating human error 

• The ability to check IDs from over 200 countries 

• Overall a more thorough check 

How does an Identity Check differ from Digital Identity Verification?

Even though both checks provide a similar service, they each have their own uses. Digital Identity Verification is a service that is specific to DBS checks that removes the need for manual identification and, in turn, saves time and paperwork. Identity Checks are more about giving employers extra assurance that their employees are who they say they are. Whilst they’re also useful to use alongside DBS checks, as they can ensure the results match the person’s identity, they’re not actually used as part of the DBS process.