BS 7858:2019 is the British Standard for screening people who work in secure environments. If your company guards buildings, monitors CCTV, holds keys, or places staff anywhere trust matters, this is the standard your clients, your insurer and your ACS assessor expect you to follow. This guide explains what it actually requires, step by step, without the jargon.
What BS 7858 is, and what it is not
The full title is Screening of individuals working in a secure environment. Code of practice. It tells an employer how to check the background of someone before, and shortly after, giving them access to premises, assets, people or information that need protecting.
Three things it is not:
- It is not a law. No statute forces you to screen to BS 7858. It becomes binding through contracts: client agreements, tender conditions, SIA Approved Contractor Scheme expectations and insurance policies routinely require it.
- It is not the SIA licence. A licence proves an individual passed the SIA's own checks and training. BS 7858 is the employer's separate duty to verify identity, history and integrity.
- It is not a one-off form. It is a documented process with evidence, decisions and a file that must survive an audit.
Who has to be screened
The standard applies to anyone in relevant employment: a role with access to a secure environment. That obviously covers security officers, door supervisors, keyholders and control room staff. In practice it increasingly also covers cleaners with out-of-hours access, maintenance engineers, IT contractors and temporary staff, because access is what creates the risk, not the job title. It applies equally to permanent, part-time, temporary and subcontracted people.
The screening process, step by step
- Informed consent. The applicant agrees in writing to be screened and to data being processed for that purpose.
- Identity verification. Documentary proof of who they are, checked and copied.
- Right to work. The separate legal check every UK employer must do, evidenced in the file.
- Address history. Typically the last five years, verified against documents.
- Employment, education and gap history. The core of the standard: a continuous account of recent years, with every job verified with the employer and every gap explained and evidenced. Gaps are where problems hide, so auditors look here first.
- Character referees. Independent people who can vouch for the applicant, contacted and recorded.
- Financial probity. A check for serious adverse financial history such as undisclosed CCJs or bankruptcy, because financial pressure is a recognised insider-risk factor.
- Criminal record declaration. A declaration consistent with the role and, where applicable, a basic disclosure.
Every check produces evidence, every evidence item goes in the screening file, and the file gets a documented pass or fail decision by a named person. That file, kept and retained correctly under UK GDPR, is what an assessor actually inspects.
Conditional employment: the 12-week rule
Screening takes time because referees are slow. The standard recognises this: you may start someone in conditional employment before screening completes, provided preliminary checks are done first (identity, right to work, a clean start on the history) and the remaining checks finish within a strict window of 12 weeks. During that window the person should be supervised appropriately and the risk understood. If the file cannot be completed in time, conditional employment ends. Treating "conditional" as "forgotten" is one of the most common audit failures in the industry.
Failing screening is not always a verdict
The standard is clear that an incomplete file is not the same as a bad person. Sometimes the required positive evidence simply cannot be obtained: a former employer no longer exists, a referee never answers. The decision and its reasons still get recorded. That distinction protects both the applicant and you.
What auditors actually check
- A sample of screening files, tested for completeness against the checklist above.
- Gaps: every unexplained week in a history is a finding waiting to happen.
- Conditional employment cases: were the preliminary checks done, was the 12-week limit respected.
- Subcontractor arrangements: your duty does not disappear because the person is on someone else's payroll.
- Data protection: retention periods, secure storage, and consent paperwork.
- Training evidence: that the people running screening actually understand the standard. This is where a certificated course, recorded on a training matrix, earns its keep.
Learn it properly, free
We built a complete, certificated free BS 7858:2019 course: 11 modules covering every clause in plain English, worked examples of the six key screening forms, an AI tutor in every module, and a final exam with a downloadable certificate anyone can verify. The companion BS 7858 study guide PDF is free too.