• Pre-employment screening

    Candidates who are successful in obtaining an offer of a position at the university will be asked to complete pre-employment screening as part of our process. ​

    ​Offers of employment are subject to the satisfactory completion of all pre-employment screening checks. If you would like to know more or have any questions, please get in touch with our Recruitment Team at Careers@open.ac.uk.

Employment References:

Non-Academic roles below a senior grade:

  • We will seek to obtain employment references for all positions you have held within the last 3 years.

Non-Academic roles at or above a senior grade:

  • We will seek to obtain employment references for all positions you have held within the last 5 years.

Academic roles:

  • We will seek to obtain employment references for all positions that you have held within the last 3 years, in addition we will also require at least 1 academic reference to be provided.

Professor roles:

  • We will seek to obtain employment references for all positions that you have held within the last 5 years, in addition we will also require at least 1 academic reference to be provided.

I have a break in employment or have not got an employment history that covers the required period:​

  • If you’re a school or university leaver you can provide the details of your Head of School/University, outlining the period that this covers.
  • For all other circumstances, just let us know and we will work with you to find an alternative way to confirm and evidence your activity.

Health questionnaire:

  • We will ask you if you have any health conditions that you may wish to declare or if you require any reasonable adjustments to support you in your new role.

If you do, we will refer you to our health management partner Medigold who will work with you to understand your conditions/adjustments. Their recommendations will enable us to ensure that we can provide the right support and required reasonable adjustments, allowing you to join us without concern and focus on thriving in your new role.​

Some of our positions may require a satisfactory occupational health clearance to ensure you are fit to do the role. This is often required when roles include specific duties that would require a medical evaluation to be undertaken. Where this is required, it will be clearly outlined within the job advert.​

Right To Work

Candidates will need to evidence that they have Right To Work in the United Kingdom. For more information about this, please take a look at our Right to Work in the UK and RoI.​

Some of our positions may be eligible for visa sponsorship. Where this is the case, we will support you in obtaining your visa but will need to evidence that this has been issued and activated correctly before we are able to begin your employment.​

Disclosure of criminal convictions

We don’t let the past get in the way of future success and neither should you. We’re open to applications from everyone, no matter your background or history. If you are offered a role at The Open University, we will ask that you let us know about any unspent criminal convictions or conditional cautions that you may have, as defined in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

In addition, there are certain roles where we will ask you to declare spent convictions, pending charges, current investigations, bid overs, warnings, or reprimands. Please review the job description carefully, before applying, to ensure you are aware of the screening requirements of the role. Guidance on determining unspent or spent convictions can be found here - Check if you need to tell someone about your criminal record: Check if your conviction or caution is spent - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Criminal Record Checks

Some roles at The OU will require you to undertake a criminal record check. 

Criminal records checks assist employers in identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work, for example, work involving contact with children or other vulnerable groups. They also maintain barred lists of those individuals unsuitable to work with children or vulnerable adults. We obtain Basic and Enhanced level checks, with the level of check required determined on a role-by-role basis. 

If you reside in England or Wales, a criminal record check would be completed via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Find further information on the Disclosure and Barring Service here.

If you reside in Scotland, a criminal record check would be completed by Disclosure Scotland. Find further information on Disclosure Scotland here.

If you reside in Northern Ireland, a criminal record check would be completed via AccessNI. Find further information on AccessNI here.

If you reside in the Republic of Ireland, you would be asked to complete a Self-Declaration. The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the job for which you are applying.

I have a criminal record, will this prevent me from getting a job at The Open University?

In order to assess whether your criminal record is relevant to the role in which you have been offered, it will be assessed by a small, closed group of individuals within the university. They will consider the tasks that you would be expected to undertake and the circumstances in which the work is to be carried out and whether the criminal conviction should be considered. Where applicable, discussions will be held with you directly, to allow you to share any relevant information with us in order to support the review. It is important to note that your criminal record information will not be shared with your line manager or colleagues and will only be considered in relation to the post for which you have applied/been offered. Any information will be held securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act.