A candidate's guide to screening

The feeling's mutual
A colleague looking up and smiling in a meeting.

We’ll need to do a few checks, known as screening, as part of your onboarding journey. We’re partnered with Morson Screening who independently manage this for us.  

Here’s what to expect… 

01. Morson Screening will contact you

Morson Screening will be in touch to kick things off, introduce you to the screening process and give you a link to the Access Screening portal. You’ll use this to provide all the information we need for your checks – but don’t worry, the portal will let you know what information you need to provide. Just make sure it’s correct or it could delay things. 

You can use Recite Me in the portal to change things like text size and colour, and use features like language translation and screen reader to suit your needs and preferences.  

If you need to contact them at any time, you can email them at royal.london@morson.com or call them on +44 161 786 7025.

02. Let us know what you’ve been up to

Depending on the role you’ve applied for, we’ll need either five or six years of history from you. 

If you’ve been working, we need your employment history and referee details. For periods of self-employment, we’ll need contact details for your accountant (to act as referee) or tax self-assessment information. Visit GOV.UK or revenue.ie for more information.

If you don’t want your current employer to be contacted for a reference right away, select ‘do not contact’ when you’re providing this information and they won’t be contacted until you give consent. If you don’t want Royal London to be mentioned in a reference request, select ‘do not contact’ and enter this as the ‘reason’. 

If you’ve been studying, we’ll need your academic history and full contact details of the educational institutions you attended. 

If you’ve spent more than six months abroad or you have a gap in your employment or academic history you will need to provide supporting evidence which explains what you were doing, how you supported yourself and any referee details if you have them. 

03. Confirm your identity and relevant background information

You’ll need to provide some identity documents (e.g. passport, driving license) and you’ll need to let us know about any pending or active criminal convictions too.  

When your criminal record check is requested, you may get an email from the checking service inviting you to set up an account. You don’t need to do this if you don’t want to.  

04. Morson Screening will complete your checks

A dedicated case handler will be assigned to complete your checks, which usually takes up to 15 working days from this point. Sometimes it may take a little longer, especially if enhanced checks are needed. 

If more information is needed to complete your checks, your case handler or another member of the Morson Screening team will get in touch.  

Your case handler will complete some basic checks for all candidates which include: 

  • An identity check and proof of address 
  • A basic criminal record check (UK) or limited civil and criminal court search (Ireland) 
  • An overseas criminal record check if relevant 
  • An employment and academic history check 
  • A right to work (UK) or eligibility to work check (Ireland) 
  • An analysis of your CV 
  • Adverse media, social media and internet 
  • Contacting your referees once you’ve given consent to do so. 


Some additional checks may also be completed depending on the role you’ve applied for, like: 

  • Adverse financial details, Financial Conduct Authority and Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS) (UK) 
  • Politically-exposed person (PEP) and sanctions  
  • Directorship  
  • Regulated referencing. 

05. Your new People Leader will be in touch

Once we’ve reviewed your screening pack, your new People Leader will contact you to arrange your start date.