The education sector in the UK is witnessing a remarkable 163% increase in right-to-work checks, driven by talent shortages and regulatory pressures.
- Teacher attrition rates reached historic highs in 2022-23, with 40,000 educators leaving their positions, prompting schools to seek international talent.
- The intensified scrutiny aims to prevent illegal hires amid increasing fines, which are set to triple for regulatory breaches, posing a challenge for institutions.
- Educational institutions face a dilemma between thorough vetting and swift hiring, risking talent loss to competitors with faster recruitment processes.
- With background check failure rates over 15%, schools struggle to secure qualified teachers while maintaining compliance with stringent regulations.
The education sector in the United Kingdom is grappling with a substantial surge in right-to-work checks, which have increased by 163% over the past three years. This dramatic rise aligns with significant teacher shortages, exacerbated by a record number of departures in the 2022-23 academic year, when 40,000 teachers left their positions. To address this void, educational institutions are increasingly turning to international hires.
Amid this influx of foreign talent, strict regulations have been enforced to mitigate the risk of employing individuals without the right to work. The associated penalties for regulatory breaches are poised to triple, heightening the pressure on hiring teams. These sanctions reflect a broader governmental effort to curtail illegal employment practices, ensuring that all hires meet necessary legal criteria.
Institutions now find themselves caught in a bind, balancing the need for rigorous background checks with the imperative to expedite hiring processes to remain competitive. Overly lengthy vetting procedures, while intended to ensure compliance, risk deterring capable candidates, who may seek opportunities elsewhere if faced with protracted delays and lack of communication.
Further complicating recruitment efforts is the high fail rate of more than 15% in background checks, according to research from the screening platform Zinc. This indicates a significant number of applicants are found ineligible, posing a potential risk to institutions that must comply with legal hiring practices. Moreover, many large employers report taking up to a month to complete these checks, with only 9% managing to do so within a week.
The dynamic underscores the precarious position educational institutions occupy, where the urgent need for teachers must be reconciled with compliance obligations. Luke Shipley, CEO and co-founder of Zinc, remarked on the critical balance between speed and due diligence: “Educational institutions are caught between conflicting interests. The consequences for not doing one’s due diligence in the interest of speed are getting more dire.”
The challenge for educational institutions is to refine recruitment strategies that secure top talent swiftly while adhering to stringent regulatory requirements.
