As a part of the Deploi screening, candidates must deliver evidence that proves their activity in the last five years. We know it can seem a little daunting to try and provide evidence for what you've been doing over the last five years - especially if you've done many different things. This article should give you all the information about what to include to ensure screening is completed as smoothly as possible.
The simple rules for success
To complete and approve a candidate for work, we need supporting evidence in the form of documentation for each activity.
Candidates cannot have gaps in their activity history of more than 31 days.
If a candidate submits an activity without documentation, know that it will delay the application process as we will need to return and ask for evidence.
Below are categories that cover the major activity types for the five-year work history check. Please refer to the relevant sections and use the information to guide what documents you should provide to complete screening.
Other activities (Gym, religious practice, caring for family)
Finally, for any candidates using emails as evidence, we have important guidelines on how to save these and how to use emails as evidence. Any candidate using emails to prove their activity should be aware of these, and here’s some guidance.
You only need to provide supporting evidence for the dates undertook for each activity. For example, if you were self-employed between March and December 2019, you should provide documents supporting self-employment just for that period.
Employed
If candidates have been employed in the UK, there are several ways you can get your five-year HMRC history. Here are the methods, along with instructions to follow:
Please find step by step instructions below and kindly follow each step carefully, please do not actually print this document, this button is used to save it in a usable format.
We require this as a one document PDF::
Click on the following link and start now: https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account/sign-in/prove-identity
If you don't already have a login then click Create sign in details and follow the steps
If you already have a login then you can Sign in
Click Pay as you earn
Click PAYE Income Tax History
At the the top of the page, click "Print this page"
Be sure to set this to save as .pdf, do not actually print this off as then your end date will still be required.
Please note that the "print" step is very important as this will then show your name as well as payment dates.
Here’s an example of how this should look. If it does not look similar to this page, it will not be accepted:
Calling HMRC
Generally, the best and most thorough way to prove your entire PAYE employment history is by providing your HMRC records with clear dates. If you are unable to do this, you can call them instead.
Please call HMRC on 0300 200 3300 and request your five-year employment history to be posted to you.
Both the phone call and request are free; it costs nothing to get it.
You can call them Monday to Friday, 8 am to 6 pm.
The call will take about five minutes, and the form generally arrives within five days.
If you choose to provide other documents, you must provide multiple pieces of supporting evidence for each activity.
For example:
Two Bank Statements and a P60
P60s and P45s
Payslips and Contract of Employment
This documentation should be dated within 31 days of the date you are trying to evidence.
Self-Employed
To confirm any periods of self-employment, you will need to provide proof of start and end dates using a combination of the following:
HMRC Tax Returns for the past five years.
A mixture of bank statements and invoices to support the periods stated in your application.
A letter from an Accountant confirming that you're self-employed with full dates.
You can access your Personal Tax records using your Government Gateway ID.
Travelling
To confirm your time spent travelling, you can provide the following documents:
Passport Stamps
Travel Itinerary
Visa Application Letters
Travel Tickets (plane, train, coach, etc.)
Bank Statements (showing payments to travel agencies/companies)
Studying and education
Studying and education
To confirm any period of education, we can accept the following documentation:
Reference letter from the school confirming dates of attendance
Certificates and Module Breakdowns
Proof of Start Date: Enrolment letters
Leaving: Certificates
Acceptance Letters can be provided but only when provided with other evidence.
If you are still studying, confirmation from your place of study (for example, a university or college) can be accepted as long as it contains the following:
Letter. This must be on letter headed paper and contain an official stamp from the place of study.
Email. This must have their email visible and it must be addressed to you directly.)
Please make sure either of the above are not older than 31 days and that they contain the full date of sending, including year.
If you have been in education, please send letters from the university/college/school with your name and course start/end dates.
Job seeking
Often while people are job seeking, they receive some type of Government Payment (Job Seekers Allowance etc.) We can use this as evidence of supporting documentation for those periods of time.
Please provide proof of Government payments by providing either all your Bank Statements for the relevant periods stated or by showing payment confirmation from Department of Work and Pension (DWP) through the DWP website.
If you weren't receiving Government payments during that time, you can instead provide:
Screenshots of emails showing applications to work or responses from employers declining/arranging interviews etc.
We can also consider supporting evidence from companies confirming they were helping you to find employment. In order for these emails to be considered, we need them to show the full date, including the year and the full email addresses of who it was sent to and from.
We can only accept emails saved as a .PDF as long as it provides the following information:
We need to be able to see the email addresses of both who it was sent to and received by
We need to be able to see along your name
We need to be able to see the date it was sent on in full, including the year.
In order to do this, you should be able to follow the print options
Android/Microsoft
Select the Email
Click the printer button or select print from the three dots
When choosing where to print to, select Print To PDF or Save As PDF
Click Print
You can then name and save the PDF
IOS + macOS
Click File
Click Print
In the lower left-hand corner, you’ll see a small dropdown menu that says PDF
Click that menu, and you can either select Save as PDF or Save PDF to iCloud
By doing this, it should allow us to accept your email as evidence.
Activity gap
There might have been periods in the past five years where you've had time away from work or school, or don't have proof that this happened.
If this is the case, let us know:
If you were doing anything that you might be able to prove. Whether this is looking for jobs, seeking asylum, volunteering etc.
If there are any documents or people that might be able to verify that. (Be aware, this cannot be a friend or family member).
How you supported yourself at this time.
Parental cover
We understand there are many reasons that parents need time off from work to look after their children.
To prove a period of time spent looking after your children, we would need evidence of the following:
Bank statements clearly showing that Child Benefit is in payment
Working Tax Credit letter confirming the 'child element' is payable
Child Tax Credit letter (provisional version is acceptable)
If you have received child benefit for less than a year, we will need you to prove each month.
If you have received child benefit for more than a year, we will need evidence of the start, middle and most recent within 30 days for this to be accepted.
You can use this Government site to learn more.
Financially supported by your family
If you were in receipt of financial support from your family, be that your parents or another family member or friend, we cannot accept this as an activity.
If the time period is less than six months, then we may be able to accept a Statutory Declaration but please speak with us prior to purchasing this document to ensure that this would be acceptable.
Volunteering
If you have spent time volunteering at an organisation or charity, then we can accept the following documentary evidence to support this time:
We can accept references from emails or addresses that are in the public domain (this means that we can accept emails from the organisation as long as they have an email that isn't @hotmail, @gmail or similar.)
We can accept documentation that shows both their start date and end date from the organisation or charity
We can accept any contractual agreements that you have signed at the start of your volunteering
We need to see both the start and the end so if you only provide one - we will ask you to provide the other
Activities outside the UK
The BS7858 vetting process requires us to evidence the last 5 years of your activity history, regardless of the country that you were living in.
This means we accept documentation from all countries in all languages as long as we can successfully translate it. If we cannot successfully translate it, we may need your guidance to help us clarify where the information is and what it is saying.
Please follow the guidance in the rest of the article for proving your activity in the country you’ve been living, as the same applies to any country.
Refugee, Visa, Asylum or student applications
This is a tricky situation for us to clear as the documentation you can provide may be very limited.
However, we can accept the following:
University applications showing full details and full date, including your full name. For student applications, we will need evidence for every month from when you started the application if it is possible we can accept evidence of you completing the IELTS test, a TB test or any other relevant entry requirement.
Email confirmations from the appropriate authority showing full details and full date, including your full name
Documents from the application process that shows evidence of your application with your name on it and the date showing
We will likely need multiple documents to prove the duration, so consider providing a combination but ensuring that we have evidence for each year of the application process.
Home office letters confirming asylum/refugee status or applications
Other activities
If you were attending a regular subscription, for example going to the gym, then you can provide us with documentary evidence in the form of bank statements or invoices/receipts.
This can also include religious practices such as attending educational activities at the mosque, but we would need a letter confirming it from the mosque's email address.
You can also evidence leisure activities such as regular payments for piano lessons as long as you have receipts or other documentation that shows you have paid or attended that can demonstrate this.
Please note: photographs of you at an event cannot be accepted and should not be sent to us.
Covid-19 Lockdowns
From the start of 2020, the global pandemic had a massive effect on the world and lockdowns were in place in many countries.
However, the NSI does not consider Covid-19 lockdowns as an activity and therefore, neither can we.
The lockdowns did not prevent people from completing some activities, such as job applications and therefore, we would require evidence of activity for this time outside of lockdown alone.
If you received financial support from your family, such as your parents or another family member or friend, we cannot accept this as an activity.
If the time period is less than six months, then we may be able to accept a Statutory Declaration but please speak with us prior to purchasing this document to ensure that this would be acceptable.
Self study
If you have been studying an online course and can prove your modules etc, then you can provide this documentary evidence to us to support your online study. Please also include proof of enrollment and any certificates.
If you have been self-studying through reading with no affiliation to any organisation, then this cannot be accepted, and we would advise that you consider putting one of the other activities listed as long as you can prove it.
Statutory Declaration
If your gap is 6 months or less (this can be in one go or spread out over five years), we can use a Statutory Declaration to clear you.
This is a legal document signed by a notary public or solicitor that says "this is what I was doing at this time". It generally costs between £5 - £15.
If you have a gap you cannot prove, or weren't doing anything you can prove with documentation, we will recommend you get a declaration signed.
We cannot clear you with any non-verified gaps of more than 31 days, so anything you can do to verify all activities will help you pass your check.
We understand every situation is different, and gathering this information isn't always straightforward. If you're having issues or experiencing difficulty proving your five-year history, our team may be able to help you.
How to provide emails as evidence
We have some important guidelines for candidates using emails as evidence. We can only accept emails saved as a PDF as long as it provides the following information:
We need to be able to see the email addresses of both who it was sent to and received by
We need to be able to see all of your name, and the email has to be addressed directly to you and not a group.
We need to be able to see the date it was sent on in full, including the year
To make sure emails have all these details, you should be able to follow the print options on your device. This will let you download and save the email so it contains all the following evidence:
Android/Microsoft
Select the email
Click the printer button or select print from the three dots
When choosing where to print, select Print To PDF or Save As PDF
Click Print
You can then name and save the PDF
IOS + macOS
Click File
Click Print
In the lower left-hand corner, you’ll see a small dropdown menu that says PDF
Click that menu, and you can either select Save as PDF or Save PDF to iCloud
Doing this should save the email with all the details needed for us to accept your email as evidence.