For these individuals, it is your statutory duty to carry out the same checks as all other staff.

In addition to undertaking a DBS check for staff that have lived overseas, it is also necessary for you to undertake further checks with the country where they lived if available.

These checks may include certificates from local police forces or embassies / overseas references, and you must ensure that you follow up on any information provided to you.

Documents that are not provided in English must be translated by a certified translator; do not ask the individual to provide a translation.

It is your statutory duty to undertake further checks that you feel are appropriate to surface relevant events that have occurred outside the UK.

For an A-Z list of criminal records checks for overseas applicants, see the guidance here.

Your checklist:

1. If the candidate has lived or worked overseas, carry out the relevant checks above from local police forces/embassies/references, and follow up on the information provided to you
2. Record the date your checks were made

If your school deems it good practice according to your processes, our Sign In Central Record profile also provides default fields for you to input the details of each overseas check you carried out and any notes, as well as who did the check.

Furthermore, you can attach all evidence scans to each staff record via the Documents tab.

What about an EEA Sanctions & Restrictions Check?

For candidates who have lived or worked in the EEA, it was your statutory duty to also carry out an EEA Sanctions and Restrictions check between 2016 and 2020.

• This checks for information about any teacher sanction or restriction that an EEA professional regulating authority has imposed on or after 18th January 2016 and before 1st January 2021, and which have been notified to the TRA.
• Whilst finding such restrictions does not prevent you from employing this candidate, it is your statutory duty to consider the circumstances that led to this restriction or sanction, and whether the candidate is suitable for employment.

From the 1st of January 2021, the EEA Sanctions and Restrictions check changed.

Professional regulators in the EEA will no longer share information with the TRA about sanctions imposed on EEA teachers.

Instead, teachers will be asked to provide a letter of professional standing.

That means that for all new staff, the EEA Sanctions and Restrictions check will not be conducted.

However, you do need to keep this section on your SCR to demonstrate that the checks were done for staff appointed from 2016 to 2020.

On Sign In Central Record the EEA Sanctions and Restrictions section will remain on the system so that you have access to historical check data, but we have tweaked it slightly so that the 'Are checks Required?' option is off by default for a new member of staff.

See the full guidance here: GOV.UK

New to using the TRA?

The Secure Access / DfE Sign-in portal via the Teaching Regulation Agency’s (TRA) Teacher Services is a free service available to all schools and colleges. Registration is required for first-time users and can be requested from Teacher Services.

How do I use the TRA?

Please consult A guide for using the TRA and proceed to this link to sign into the TRA. The school should complete the TRA checks (as appropriate to the role), print the teacher's record to retain in the personnel file and 'claim' the teacher on the TRA website. Alternatively, schools can save the teacher's record on Sign In Central Record.