Reference request

Always take up references, regardless of how “perfect” for the job a prospective employee appears to be. It’s not unknown for candidates to lie on application forms or at interview or to have overstated their abilities. Use our reference request to seek a reference from a previous employer.

For future reference

Always ensure you seek at least two written references, one of which should be from a previous employer, preferably their current or most recent employer. If this is the new employee’s first job, ask for a reference from their school, college or university. Our Reference Request will help you seek a reference from a previous employer. With other referees, simply ask them to give their opinion as to the prospective employee’s personality, character and suitability for the post including, in particular, their honesty, integrity and reliability. Be aware of the relative value of personal references. They may be of little use if they are given by a family friend of the employee. Ensure that the employee does not provide details of either a relative or one of their contemporaries as a referee. You might later find that the employee actually wrote his or her own reference! Always obtain the prospective employee’s express authorisation before requesting references.

Data protection

Employees and job applicants have the right of access to information held about them under the Data Protection Act 1998 . Although they have no legal right to obtain access to a reference from the business that gave it, no such exemption exists once the reference is in the hands of the business to which it has been provided. Thus, an employee or job applicant about whom references have been obtained can apply to you to have access to them. In these circumstances, you are not obliged to comply with the employee’s request unless either the author of the reference has consented to its disclosure or it is reasonable in all the circumstances to comply with the request without the author’s consent.

In determining whether it is reasonable to comply with the request without the author’s consent, you should consider:

• any duty of confidentiality you owe to the author

• any steps you have taken with a view to seeking the author’s consent

• whether the author is capable of giving consent

• any express refusal of consent by the author and the reasons given for withholding consent. You may still disclose it, or a substantial part of it, if you deem it is reasonable to do so with, for example, the author’s name deleted or containing the factual information (such as employment dates and absence records) but with opinions withheld.