FAQs

The length of time it takes to complete your compliance checks will depend entirely on your individual circumstances. We ask that you allow 4 weeks for the full process to be completed, however, certain situations may delay your compliance.

Providing all referee details at initial registration and ensuring all your documents are in order ready for your face to face interview will assist in avoiding delays in your registration.

We have an obligation to schools to ensure we are providing applicants who have necessary fitness to carry out their work responsibilities, but we also want to ensure that we’re not sending you into an environment which could pose a risk to your health and safety. All successful applicants at interview stage will be sent an online Fitness to Work questionnaire to complete. This will be assessed by our occupational health provider and results will be sent to Opus Teach to review.

A certificate of good conduct is similar to a DBS check. If you have lived overseas for more than 6 months, you will need to provide us with a certificate of good conduct from the country you lived in. This must be done prior to interview with us.

More information on how to obtain a certificate of good conduct can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation is the trade body for the UK recruitment industry. Holding the REC accreditation is the assurance that we abide by a strict code of professional practice and must evidence our continued compliance every 2 years.

A disclosure and barring service check is essential to ensure that you are suitable to work with vulnerable groups. The update service allows us to carry out regular checks on the status of your DBS check. Where you are not registered with the update service, we will need to carry out a new disclosure and barring service check every 12 months or where you have had a break in assignments of 3 months or more.

This can cause significant delays with your availability. The update service allows us to carry out a ‘real time’ check on your disclosure and barring service check and avoids any disruption to your availability.

More information regarding the update service can be found at https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service .

Your face to face interview is an important part of the registration process. You will be interviewed by a suitably trained and experienced educational professional.

Reference checks are part of our very robust compliance process. They form part of an overall view of your suitability to work for Opus Teach. Any reference that raises concern will be discussed with you and used as part of our overall recruitment decision.

There are several combinations of document that you can provide when carrying out a DBS check. Many of these will be requested as part of your registration, however, more information on acceptable ID documents for a DBS check can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/documents-the-applicant-must-provide.

Due to the nature of the work history of our supply teachers, it is not always possible to obtain a full employment referencing history. We therefore request details of a personal referee, who has known you for a significant period, to verify your work experience or any breaks in employment.

Your personal referee should be someone that you have known for at least 3 years. They will need to be able to confirm your work experience or any breaks in employment. Your personal referee cannot be related to you and will need to have access to a verifiable email address such as a work email.

Our process includes the following checks:

• Right to work in the UK
• Proof of identity
• Qualification verifications
• Interview with an educational professional
• Referencing
• Health checks
• Suitability and availability to work for Opus Teach.
• Disclosure and Barring Service checks to include update service checks.

All of the above are essential to our compliance process to ensure that we adhere to safe recruitment practices.

At interview, you will need to present your right to work documents. All applicants must evidence their right to work, regardless of their nationality or residency status.

The documents we will accept as evidence of right to work in the UK are:

Full birth certificate/adoption certificate accompanied by proof of national insurance number.

UK or EEA Passport.

Non EEA Passport containing a valid visa.

Valid biometric residence permit.

If you are unsure whether you need a visa to work in the UK, you can check this at https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa .

Put simply, we need to ensure that you are who you say you are. We will also need to evidence this to the schools that you work for. To do this, we check your identity using proof of address and photo ID.

We understand that you may have worked as a supply teacher for some time; this could mean that it will be very difficult to supply details of each individual assignment.

So that we can obtain references to assess your experience and suitability, we ask that you provide as much information as possible. If you have worked for the same school/local authority or agency for a significant period, please provide details of these.

If we need more information, we will discuss this with you throughout the registration process.