The PC Guys(tm) partner with Staffvetting.com

Stringent vetting criteria will ensure that only carefully screened personnel will be allowed access to customers' premises and data

Staffvetting.com, a trading division of risk management specialist Security Risk Management Ltd, has today announced that it is working with The PC Guys(tm), the UK's fastest growing independent computer IT support and computer repair company, to provide the company with certificated staff screening that meets the requirements of NQA3000, the new all-industry security standard directly related to employment screening.

Although The PC Guys already had a number of vetting procedures in place, including routine Criminal Records Bureau (CBR) checks, the company realised that it would be difficult to maintain these procedures in-house as the company continues to expand across the UK. Having been recently purchased by Tesco Holdings Ltd, the company is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years.

Despite this rapid expansion, however, The PC Guys is still run as an independent company that employs its own call-centre and engineer staff. As such, The PC Guys decided to outsource its vetting procedures to Staffvetting.com, who are specialists in this area, to ensure that its internal systems were not overstretched, and in order to guarantee that there would be a comprehensive paper trail that could be used to provide tangible evidence of all staff vetting procedures.

When internal vetting and HR systems are overburdened, the temptation is to cut corners or take shortcuts, says Brian Fenwick, Director, StaffVetting.com. The PC Guys, however, made a proactive decision to protect their very high standards in this area. The certified screening being provided for The PC Guys will give the company, and more importantly its customers, complete reassurance that best practice in the area of staff vetting has been duly and consistently applied.

Staffvetting.com is the first company to offer a UKAS-accredited NQA3000 Vetting Certificate which meets BS7858:2006. Certified compliance with the NQA3000 standard extends the existing screening criteria of BS7858 - which already includes Address Verification, Credit Check, five-year Employment Verification, Criminal Record Check and Personal References - and also provides the option of a further check to screen for any current or past links to terrorism. As such, with NQA3000 screening, companies who enlist of the services of Staffvetting.com can certify and provide verification that that their employees have been investigated to a qualified level.

Staffvetting.com has already security screened the first group of The PC Guys' employees - all of whom passed the required checks without incident - and expects to screen many more in the coming months as the company continues to expand its operations nationwide. In addition, any future employees of The PC Guys will need to be certified to NQA3000 standard as part of their offer of employment.

Our number one priority has always been to deliver the very best customer service, and staff vetting is just another way of backing up this commitment to our customers, says Rod Brown, Managing Director, The PC Guys. Most people simply assume that the PC technicians coming into their homes or businesses have been carefully screened and found to be trustworthy. As a responsible director of a company, I need to respect and honour that trust, and have therefore taken the appropriate steps needed to protect our customers' data, as well as their premises and personal safety.