NHS Employment Check Standards: agency compliance checklist

What the standards are

The NHS Employment Check Standards are published by NHS Employers and set out the checks that must be carried out before anyone is appointed to an NHS position in England, including temporary and agency staff. They are reviewed every year; all six were reissued on 23 July 2026.

Whatever framework you supply through, the trust remains responsible for assuring safe working practice, so it will ask you for written confirmation and audit your files. NHS Employers’ own advice to trusts is that if in doubt, duplication is preferable to gaps.

The standards apply in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements.

The six checks

1. Identity

Accepted combinations: two forms of photo ID and one proof of address; or one photo ID and two proofs of address; or, with no photo ID, two proofs of address, two non-photo IDs and a countersigned passport photo.
Checking originals in person is best practice. A remote check by live video is allowed, but the originals must be seen as soon as practical, and an in-person likeness check must happen before the person starts work.
Trusts are told to get assurance from the agency that identity checks meet the standard, and to ask agency workers to bring photo ID on their first day.

2. Right to work

Done the Home Office way: an online check with a share code (the only route for eVisa holders), a digital verification service provider check for British or Irish passport holders, or a manual check of List A or List B documents. As the employment business, the agency is the employer for right to work purposes. See the UK right to work checks guide, which covers the 1 October 2026 changes the July standard does not yet include.

3. Professional registration and qualifications

Confirm with the regulator that the person is the registrant, their registration status and any restrictions or fitness to practise matters. The standard covers eight regulators, including the NMC, GMC and HCPC.
Check the Healthcare Professional Alert Notice (HPAN) system run by NHS Resolution.
See original qualification certificates, check their security features, and contact the awarding body if anything does not match.
The standard does not set a re-check interval; it asks for mechanisms to respond to regulator action. For nurses, see NMC PIN checks.

4. Employment history and references

References must cover three consecutive years of employment or training immediately before the application (six years for board appointments). The standard sets a period to cover, not a number of references.
References must be in writing and include the referee’s name, job title and main landline number. Gaps in history must be explained.
For agency workers, NHS Employers says employers seek a reference from the agency rather than from every placement.
For nurses and midwives, the NMC’s employer guidance asks for at least two professional references from the applicant’s last place of work as a nurse or midwife.

5. Work health assessment

Done by occupational health or another suitably trained professional. Agency workers can be assessed by a SEQOHS-accredited provider.
The trust needs written confirmation that an assessment was done and the worker is fit to start.
Health questionnaires before a job offer are unlawful under the Equality Act, apart from narrow exceptions.

6. Criminal record

Regulated activity requires an Enhanced DBS check with the relevant barred list.
Temporary workers and contractors who are not on the DBS Update Service need a new check at least every year.
Overseas checks are needed for any country the person lived in for 12 months or more, as an adult, in the last 10 years.
Agency contracts must state the DBS level required, and the agency confirms it in writing. See DBS checks for agency workers.

Immunisations and occupational health clearance

Immunisation requirements come from the UKHSA Green Book, chapter 12. For staff in direct patient care it recommends:

Routine immunisations up to date, including two documented doses of MMR or positive antibody tests for measles and rubella.
Hepatitis B for anyone who may have contact with blood or blood-stained body fluids, with antibody levels checked after the course.
Varicella for staff without a definite history of chickenpox or shingles who test negative for antibodies.
BCG for staff who may have close contact with infectious patients, and a flu vaccine offered every year.

Staff who perform exposure-prone procedures also need clearance for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, with informed consent. Trusts set local occupational health requirements on top, so check what each client expects.

Statutory and mandatory training

The Core Skills Training Framework (CSTF), published by Skills for Health, sets the subjects and refresher intervals that NHS organisations commonly expect agency workers to hold. In CSTF England v1.1 (June 2021), the subjects are conflict resolution; equality, diversity and human rights; fire safety; health, safety and welfare; infection prevention and control; information governance and data security; moving and handling; preventing radicalisation; resuscitation; and safeguarding adults and children.

Most refresh every three years. Information governance, resuscitation and level 2 infection prevention and control refresh every year, and level 2 moving and handling every two years.

The Oliver McGowan training on learning disability and autism is a statutory requirement for CQC-registered providers, and its code of practice says it should be retaken at least every three years.

NHS England has been reviewing statutory and mandatory training. Check the current CSTF version and your framework’s requirements before relying on these intervals.

Frameworks and audits

NHS trusts must buy agency staff through frameworks approved by NHS England, within its price caps. The approved list includes HealthTrust Europe’s Total Workforce Solutions and the NHS Workforce Alliance frameworks, such as RM6281 Clinical and Healthcare Staffing, run with the Government Commercial Agency (formerly Crown Commercial Service). Framework suppliers are audited against the NHS Employment Check Standards.

Frameworks are re-let on fixed terms: RM6281 runs to May 2027 and a replacement is being procured. Check NHS England’s list of approved frameworks for the current ones.

Frequently asked questions

What are the six NHS Employment Check Standards?

Identity checks, right to work checks, professional registration and qualification checks, employment history and reference checks, work health assessments, and criminal record checks. NHS Employers publishes them and reviews them every year; they were last reissued on 23 July 2026.

How many references does an NHS agency worker need?

The NHS standard does not set a number. References must cover three consecutive years of employment or training before the application. For agency workers, employers seek a reference from the agency rather than every placement. For nurses and midwives, the NMC asks for at least two professional references from the last place of work.

How often do agency workers need a new DBS check for NHS work?

Under the NHS criminal record checks standard, temporary workers and contractors who are not on the DBS Update Service need a new check at least every year.

Collecting these documents without the chasing

Getting Docs asks each candidate for exactly the documents they still owe, over WhatsApp or email, checks that what comes back is the right document and can be read, and files it onto the candidate’s record in your ATS. It does not carry out the checks in this guide for you: the verification and the decision stay with your compliance team. It makes sure the documents are in front of them.

See how it works for healthcare staffing (UK) and social care staffing (UK), or book a short call.

Related guides

NMC PIN checks: verifying nurses, midwives and nursing associates: How to check an NMC PIN, what each register status means for placing a nurse, the Employer Confirmation Service, revalidation and the fee from 1 October 2026.
DBS checks for agency workers: levels, fees and the Update Service: Which DBS check level an agency worker needs, who can request it, the fees from 5 October 2026, how to use the DBS Update Service, and how often to recheck.
UK right to work checks: a guide for recruitment agencies: The three ways to check right to work in the UK, how share codes and eVisas work, what to record, follow-up checks, and penalties, updated for the 1 October 2026 changes.

Official sources

This guide was checked against these sources on 2 October 2026:

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules, fees and document lists change: check the official sources above before you rely on any detail, and take advice for your own situation.