CHECKS to ensure people have a legal right to work here are not always being carried out by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Despite being the largest employer in the region, with around 6500 staff members, an internal audit found that the local authority sometimes slipped up when recruiting new workers.
Failing to ensure that all its employees have a legal right to work in the UK puts the council at risk of a civil penalty of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker.
A governance and HR audit report, due to be tabled at the council’s audit, risk and scrutiny committee next week, reads: “The audit found that in three cases from a sample of 30 the recruiting manager accepted a UK driving licence as evidence that someone had the right to work in the UK.
“This is not correct (A UK driving licence may be issued to non-British nationals and is therefore not an accepted form of ID).
“Legislation requires the council to have evidence of verification documents for any employee who joined the council since March 2008. The audit found a few examples where these documents had not been retained.
“Human resources have developed comprehensive guidance for managers to follow. There is a requirement that recruiting managers will be fully familiar with the guidance even where they are only recruiting occasionally.”
It continued: “The audit found that for 70 percent of the recruitment exercises reviewed the recruiting manager had not completed the training.
“Of the nine managers who had completed the training, in four cases this was over three years ago, there being no requirement to repeat this training on a regular basis.
“There is therefore an increased risk of error for managers who only recruit occasionally.”
It is now being recommended that managers are given corporate training around recruitment and selection.
Their senior line managers should also conduct more regular reviews to ensure that managers “carry out and complete their training responsibilities as per the mandatory requirements.”
