Carry out a risk assessment
There are no specific rules on whether you need to obtain retrospective references. You'll need to assess the risks on a case-by-case basis and use your own judgement to determine your next steps.
Use our risk assessment to help you decide whether you need to obtain references. You can point to this assessment in your single central record (SCR) as evidence for your decision.
There's likely a higher risk if:
- Required DBS or other pre-employment checks weren't completed
- There have been safeguarding allegations/concerns about the individual
- You have performance concerns about the individual (depending on the nature of the concern)
There's likely a medium level of risk if:
You'll also need to take into account the length of service of the individual. For example, for long-standing employees you’ll now