Advice for vetting applicants
About Non-Police Personnel Vetting
Warwickshire Police holds the contract for the National Contractors Vetting Service.
We conduct checks on people who do not work for the Police, but through their work, require access to Police sites, assets, data and/ or systems, across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
About The Vetting Process
Being granted NPPV clearance is a privilege that also comes with a high level of responsibility, and so the vetting unit conducts a series of background checks on the applicant, their family, and close associates (depending on the level of clearance) to ensure each applicant meets our criteria.
Vetting case officers are experienced decision makers who use the National Decision Model, the College of Policing Code of Practice, and the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice on Vetting (2021), for guidance in making their decision. Using these documents for guidance ensures that our vetting decisions are consistent with national standards. You can find these documents online on the College of Policing website.
You may be contacted by your vetting case officer if they need to clarify some information that you have provided on your application. They could contact you by telephone, text, and/or email, so please make sure you provide reachable contact details when filling in your vetting application form and ensure to monitor your junk/ spam folder and voicemail inbox throughout the vetting process. Delays in getting back to your vetting case officer, may hinder the vetting process.
Be assured that all the information you provide is treated confidentially and is not shared outside of the vetting unit. We never discuss the information you give us with your employer. We may share your personal data with other police vetting units if you make an application to them. You can read the Warwickshire Police privacy notice on the Warwickshire Police website.
Equality Act 2010
We are required by law to review our policy and procedures to ensure our vetting decisions do not have an adverse impact on any particular group of people; for that reason we ask you to tell us about your Protected Characteristics, e.g. Gender, Sexual Orientation, Ethnicity, etc.
This information is not considered as part of the vetting process: it is used by Chief Police officers to ensure our systems are fair and transparent. By providing this information you will help us to analyse if our systems and processes are fair.
Honesty Is The Best Policy
Having been the subject of a police investigation or having received a Conviction, Caution or other finding of guilt, (e.g. fixed penalty notice for disorderly conduct) is not an automatic bar to securing Non-Police Personnel Vetting (NPPV), but failing to disclose material facts such as these at the earliest opportunity, leads us to have concerns about your honesty & integrity and that could mean you will fail the vetting process.
When we say investigation, this includes circumstances where you have been asked questions by a police officer, police staff, investigator, PCSO or special constable who is investigating an allegation. Their questioning may or may not have led to you being arrested; it may or may not have led to any formal action being taken, but it’s likely to have been recorded by the police so we want you to tell us about it.
If the police have ever been called to an incident and you have been spoken to about that incident, it’s likely that the police have recorded that encounter; we want you to tell us about that incident (no matter how far in your past).
If you have ever subjected to a formal stop check by a police officer, special constable or PCSO, it’s likely that they have made a record of that encounter and we want you tell us about that experience.
If you’ve ever been accused of anything – regardless of the outcome or what police officers said at the time – please share the details with us.
Finance
Dependant on the level of clearance you have been submitted for, you may be asked questions about your finances. These are required so that we can make a risk assessment about your vulnerability to bribery or corruption. Most people carry debt in the form of mortgages, car loans, credit cards, etc. We will not be making an assessment based upon the size of the debt you choose to carry but, your ability to manage that debt.
We will use a credit reference agency to assess how you manage your finances. It is not unusual for us to discover that people have County Court Judgements (CCJ) in their name because the person who is owed the money has lost contact with the debtor.
You may feel it would be a good investment to pay for a credit reference check online – so that you can assess your own finances, before the vetting case officer does.
If you see something on your personal credit rating that you want to address before you submit your vetting application it may reassure the Case Officer that you are managing your finances effectively.
Associates
Dependant on the level of clearance you have been submitted for, you may be asked to provide details of your partner, parents, siblings, children (over the age of 10) and anyone living with you (who doesn’t fit these relationships) so that we can assess if their past behaviour could lead to concerns about your vulnerability to corruption or coercion. This includes friends or acquaintances who have come into the conflict with the criminal justice system.
It is your credit to disclose what you know about family, friends and associates criminal offending. Because they have a criminal record or are currently under investigation is not an automatic refusal; there are things you can do to reassure us that you are unlikely to be vulnerable to corruption or coercion. E.g. you may not live at the same address (or are in the process of moving out), you may see them infrequently or have no contact.
If you’re honest and open with the vetting case officer dealing with your vetting application, it may be that we can allow your vetting to be cleared with reasonable and proportionate conditions – designed to protect you.
More people fail the vetting process because they withheld some information. Withholding material facts will in all likelihood result in your vetting application being refused so don’t be tempted. Don’t take advice from serving police officers, solicitors or friends who have been through the vetting process, they may not fully understand police vetting. If in doubt, please email the vetting unit so that we can clarify what is required of you.
Things To Do Before You Start Your Vetting Application
Firstly, you will need to have been a resident in the UK for a minimum of 3 years, for NPPV, and 5 years, for NPPV+SC, prior to submitting your vetting application. The residency criteria and grounds for appeal are available on the residency appeal form.
If you do not think you meet the residency criteria, but feel you have grounds for appeal, please liaise with your company sponsor, and submit a residency appeal prior to submitting your application. We would ask that you email the vetting unit with your completed residency appeal form, providing full details, including dates you were out of the UK, the location, and the purpose of your travel. The appeals are heard every month, and you will be notified of the outcome and if your application can be submitted.
Before you begin completion of your vetting application you may need to gather some information to ensure you can provide full responses to the questions. You may not be able to save your application and return to it at a later stage, so you will need to be prepared to complete it in one sitting.
Please ensure you have your personal information to hand, including your last 5 years address history (including university and overseas addresses) and dates of residency. Financial information may also be required.
Dependant on the level of clearance you have been submitted for, you may also be asked for details of your family, partner & co-residents. This can include, full names, previous names, place of birth, date of birth, relationship status, partners, and address history. All efforts should be made to obtain all the information asked for on your application.
Completing The Vetting Application
The Police vetting process must be completed online following warwickshire-webforms.corevetconnect.co.uk. The link will have also been provided to you, in your ‘Application Created’ email.
You have 90 days to complete your application form. Your company sponsor does not have the option to reset your application expiry date, so it is imperative you complete your application within the 90-day timeframe.
You will need to provide your details, including your last 5 years address history (including university and overseas addresses) and dates of residency. Financial information may also be required dependant on the level of clearance you have been submitted for. You may also be asked for details of your family, partner & co-residents. This can include, full names, previous names, place of birth, date of birth, relationship status, partners, and address history.
All efforts should be made to obtain all the information asked for on your application.
When completing your application form, please put as much information you know into the relevant sections (not free text box). The details need to be individually typed in each field. For the information you don’t know, please manually type ‘unknown’ or if it’s a date please manually type, 01/01/1924. (If you have provided the individuals DOB, you will need to enter the ‘start date of address’ as their DOB). This needs to be entered in each individual field that you don’t know. You will then be required to provide an explanation or clarification on why you cannot provide the information, and this needs to be typed in the free text box.
If a relative/co-resident has passed away, you can select the deceased tick box. This will make the address box non-mandatory, and you can leave this blank. You will still need to enter full details including their full name, any previous names, place of birth and DOB.
All vetting applications received are quality checked. If the vetting application is not fully completed, it will be rejected for further information during the quality checking stage. Your application can be sent back to you multiple times if further information is required. Please ensure to monitor your junk/ spam folder as if your application is rejected and sent back to you, the vetting case officer will provide you with the rejections reasons and next steps via email.
The Vetting Decision
An applicant who is successful in their application for vetting clearance will be granted Non-Police Personnel Vetting (NPPV) at the level applied for. This is a nationally recognised certification and gives you access, through your contracted company, to Police premises, systems, and data. Your vetting case officer will not send you a confirmation of clearance notification. It is the responsibility of your company sponsor to notify you that your clearance has been granted.
If you have failed the vetting process, your vetting case officer will advise you of the reasons for your failure, via email, in the form of a letter. Your vetting case officer will advise you that you have a right to appeal this decision, only if one or more of the following grounds apply:
- Further information is available that was not considered by the decision maker
- The vetting rejection was disproportionate considering the circumstances or details of the case
- The decision was perverse or unreasonable
- No explanation has been given for the decision
Should you wish to submit an appeal, you must do so in writing within 28 days of receipt of your letter. You will need to complete the appeal form clearly identifying and supporting one or more of the grounds above. Once you have completed the form, you would need to email the vetting unit with your appeal.
Appeals are heard for half a day on a fortnightly basis. Once your vetting case officer receives your appeal, they will prepare the necessary documents and schedule your appeal onto the next available date. They will inform you of the date your appeal is due to be heard via email. Appeal panel hearings do not require your personal attendance. Your vetting case officer will notify you of the outcome via email shortly after the hearing.
NSVS Applications
If you have been submitted for SC or CTC clearance, you will receive an email from your vetting case officer, once your NPPV has been granted, advising you that you have been submitted to the UK Security Vetting, who process this element of the application. UKSV is the Government agency that processes National Security Vetting applications.
The initial email from your vetting case officer contains important information including the number of days you have to complete the e-form and details of exactly how you should enter your details. Please follow this guidance carefully as your application must match the information provided by your vetting case officer.
Your vetting case officer can re-send the activation link to the form to you if you get locked out, but once you have opened the e-form and began filling it in, Warwickshire Police Vetting Unit has no further access to it.
If you experience any problems while filling the SC/ CTC e-form in, you will need to contact the NSVS/UKSV Enquiry Centre via the email address, which is contained within the email your vetting case officer sent to you, advising you had been set up for the SC/ CTC process. Warwickshire Police Vetting Unit will not be able to assist you as the SC/ CTC process is conducted by UKSV.
While your application is being processed, you may be contacted by a case officer from UKSV if they need further information or an explanation of something you have included on your e-form. Please respond as soon as possible, as failure to do so will result in UKSV withdrawing your application.
Once Warwickshire Police Vetting Unit hears back from UKSV to say your application has been processed, your clearance level will be updated on our system. Your company sponsor has access to our portal, so they will be responsible for notifying you that your clearance has been granted.
Warwickshire Police Vetting Unit
Police Headquarters | PO Box 4 | Leek Wootton | Warwick | CV35 7QB