Zinc and BPSS: Understanding Baseline Personnel Security Standard Checks and Compliance

## Explaining the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) is a UK Government pre-employment screening standard for individuals working in or with government departments, the armed forces, or certain contractors. BPSS is not a formal level of UK National Security Vetting (NSV) and is therefore administered by the employer. ## Checks required for BPSS vetting - **Employment history**: 3 years, with any continuous or cumulative gaps of 6+ months verified - **Identity verification**: Either in person or via a certified digital verification service (e.g. Zinc) - **Right to Work in the UK**: Must be established - **Basic criminal record check** - **Address check**: Only required when conducting a DBS check - **International criminal record checks**: Required if the individual has lived outside the UK for more than 6 months during the vetting period ## Zinc and BPSS Zinc is primarily a vetting platform, not a fully outsourced vetting service. Customers use Zinc to run background checks that meet their chosen screening requirements. Upon completion of BPSS checks, no government-issued certificate is produced. Instead, employers must create and securely retain a BPSS Verification Record confirming that all required checks have been completed. This record is the official evidence of BPSS compliance and may be shared internally or with downstream agencies if appropriate. Some fully outsourced screening providers issue their own 'BPSS certificate' or 'final report.' This terminology is internal to those providers and is not an officially recognised government document or process. Most screening providers, including screening technology platforms such as Zinc, do not produce certificates. ## What employers can do Once satisfied that the results meet BPSS requirements, employers can create their own record in any suitable format. For example: - A brief compliance sign-off letter - **For Zinc customers**: an internal note on the candidate's report in the **Comments** field, which then appears on the downloaded PDF report. This is suited to an overall compliance statement covering all checks. The wording could be, for example: _"All checks have been completed in accordance with UK Government Baseline Personnel Security Standard 6 Version 7.0 6 June 2024."_ For reference and employment history checks specifically, you can also add notes directly against each individual reference card on the report — for example, to record how an employment gap was verified or to document a conversation with a referee. These notes are timestamped, permanently recorded, and included in the downloaded PDF alongside the check content. See [Adding Notes and Reviewing References on a Candidate Report](https://help.zincwork.com/hc/hm54ky7yrc/article/1af6858a-reference-level-notes) for further guidance. Employers should ensure all compliance records are securely retained as official evidence of BPSS check completion. Zinc provides tools to help maintain these records safely and compliantly.