Overseas Check Timescales and the Home Office

Can you assist me with this question?

Your site mentions that overseas checks they need to be completed for people who have lived/worked overseas. Your website says that many schools and HR policies specify '3 months or more in the last 10 years', but the Home office website says over 12 months.

The discrepancy here is because these are two separate issues.

Safer Recruitment

Safer Recruitment in Keeping Children Safe in Education says that 'schools should do any further checks they think appropriate so that any events the occurred outside the UK can be considered’. This often means obtaining a police check or a certificate of good conduct. There is no guidance on timescales and so schools have to decide their own policy. In my experience, they often decide something like 'checks will be completed for people who have lived/worked overseas for 3 months or more in the last 10 years'.

This is for any person who has lived and worked in any country other than the UK.

Tier 2 visas

In April 2017, the Home Office said that anyone arriving in the UK as a Tier 2 visa applicant working in specified health, education or social care sectors must provide a criminal record certificate for any country (except the UK) where the person has lived for 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years, while aged 18 or over.

Tier 2 visas are only needed for overseas citizens arriving to work in the UK from outside the European Economic Area* (EEA).
(*European Economic Area includes all EU countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway

School policies

The school needs to bear in mind the two different situations.

(1) Anyone from outside the EEA, must provide a police check for any country (except the UK) where the person has lived for 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years, while aged 18 or over.

(2) Anyone from the EEA needs a police check for any country they have lived or worked in (except the UK) for a time period that the school decides, for example, '3 months or more in the last 10 years'.

It may be sensible to decide that the timescale should be the same for anybody whichever country they come to the UK from, in which case the Home Office one might be the best way to go. However, it is not statutory that they should be the same.