Background Checks

Internal Avantguard Checks

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External Screening and The SIA

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Internal Avantguard Checks

We understand that trust is really important when you are choosing a security provider. You need to know that your building, assets and staff are in safe hands so before you hand over your keys and codes, here's some information about the checks that we at Avantguard carry out during our recruitment, interview and induction process.

Face to face Interview - this sounds like a rather basic thing to point out but so often in this industry, security personnel are recruited over the phone, by a faceless company who simply tell them where to be on a given date and time. We meet every candidate face to face for a proper interview before we even think about offering a position and then there's a whole process of checks and balances that we go through as part of the induction and training process.

Security Industry Authority (SIA) Licence - since 2003 it is a legal requirement for Security Personnel to hold a valid SIA licence and we always make sure that we see the original licence and then check against the SIA Register to ensure that it is genuine and hasn't been revoked.

Right To Work - as an employer, it is our legal obligation to make sure that our employees have the appropriate right to work in the UK, including Home Office status, and official documents.

Identity Documents - we need to be certain that the person we are employing is genuinely who they say they are, so we follow SIA and Disclosure Barring guidelines on gathering identity documents.

Basic Competency - during the interview process we ask our candidates to complete a basic security skills test so that we are confident they can read sufficiently to follow instructions, write sufficiently to produce incident reports and identify security flaws and risks.

External Screening and the Security Industry Authority (SIA)

As well as the internal Security checks that we carry out here at Avantguard, we also have a number of external organisations carrying out various checks to ensure that individuals working in Private Security and working for Avantguard are trustworthy and honest.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is the regulatory body for the private security industry and is responsible for the licensing of individuals who work in Security, as well as enforcement action against those in breach of the Private Security Act 2001. Licensed individuals are must:-

Undergo appropriate training and achieve the relevant qualification
Submit an application for approval by the SIA
Be subject to a Standard DBS (Criminal Record Check) obtained by the SIA
Be subject to various identify and background checks

For more information about what the SIA do and the checks that they carry out, visit their website or take a look at their guidance for Security Buyers.

SIA Home Page SIA Buyers Guide Publication

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Vetting & Screening by Gallinet Ltd

All employees of Avantguard are fully employed on a PAYE basis and vetted in accordance with BS7858.

Avantguard use the services of an external company (Gallinet Ltd), who specialise in Vetting and Screening of individuals working in Private Security and hold Gold Standard accreditation from the National Security Inspectorate. The screening includes:-