inyourroots® Employer Verification Policy

This policy covers organisations seeking to publish an opportunity, offer mentoring, take part in a youth-facing event or display a verified status through inyourroots®.

A business may appear as an unclaimed or claimed directory listing without being verified. The service must label those states clearly and must not display a verified badge until the review is completed.

Depending on the service and opportunity, we ask for:

• Legal and trading name.
• Registered address and contact details.
• Company or charity registration number where applicable.
• A named contact responsible for the profile or opportunity.
• A description of the opportunity, duration, location, pay or compensation and eligibility.
• At least two pieces of supporting evidence for the business profile where the current verification workflow requires them.
• A named safeguarding contact and safeguarding information where young people may be involved.

The live verification workflow requires a reviewer to check:

1. The organisation’s website is live and matches the business name.
2. The Companies House record is checked where applicable, including the name, active status and obvious red flags.
3. At least two submitted proof items are reviewed.
4. The safeguarding section is completed, including a named safeguarding lead.

The reviewer records the checklist and chooses one of three outcomes: verified, needs more information or rejected. The system must not unlock the verified action until the required checklist is completed.

Email or account controls are used to establish the organisation’s contact route. We do not claim that every employer receives a separate telephone verification or reference check. References, additional documents and deeper checks may be requested where the risk or evidence makes that appropriate.

We aim to review a complete submission within seven days. If information is missing, the organisation may be asked to correct it and resubmit.

Opportunities involving people under 18 or regulated activity

Baseline business verification does not by itself prove that every individual, placement or activity is safe or that a DBS check has been completed.

Before an opportunity involving under-18s or regulated activity is made available, we require safeguarding information appropriate to the setting and activity. This may include the employer’s safeguarding arrangements, named supervision, risk controls and evidence of DBS checks where the role legally or operationally requires them.

An opportunity must not be presented as approved for regulated activity based only on a general employer badge.

We may review a listing or verification status when:

• The organisation changes key information.
• A verification record becomes out of date.
• A young person, partner or member of the public raises a concern.
• Public information indicates a material risk.
• The organisation submits a materially different type of opportunity.

We investigate safety reports promptly and may pause a listing or verified badge while doing so. We do not claim a fixed periodic recheck frequency until one is operationally scheduled and recorded.

Employers must:

• Keep information accurate and tell us when it changes.
• Ensure opportunities are genuine, lawful and suitable for the stated age group.
• Comply with employment, data-protection, equality, safeguarding and health-and-safety law.
• Maintain appropriate safeguarding arrangements where under-18s or adults at risk are involved.
• Never charge an applicant a fee or require an applicant to buy something as a condition of applying, except where the law clearly permits a disclosed charge.
• Never pressure a young person to provide private contact details, money or an unsafe private meeting.
• Use only information the young person has deliberately shared and not use inyourroots® as an automated filter making legal or similarly significant decisions.
• Report safeguarding concerns through the route in the inyourroots® Safeguarding Policy.

Failure may result in conditions, removal of content, suspension or termination.

The service is intended to show an employer only information a young person has deliberately shared through the controls available. Internal match scores, health, disability, accessibility and neurodivergence information are not intended to be included by default.

We do not launch employer filters based on strengths or behavioural profiles unless their purpose, lawful basis, equality impact, human oversight, explanation and challenge route have been assessed and documented. A requirement such as a particular strength appearing in a person’s top results must not be used as an unexplained automated gate.

Technical controls on recording access, downloads and age restrictions are still being verified. We do not describe an unverified control as guaranteed.

An employer may appeal a refusal, condition or removal within 14 days by providing further evidence or explaining what it believes was wrong. We conduct a fresh review and respond in writing. Where the original reviewer is the only internal reviewer and independence is necessary, we may seek appropriate external input.

A young person concerned about an employer can use the inyourroots® Complaints Procedure or contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Frankie Brookton, at frankie@inyourroots.com. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.

Employer and verification information is handled under the inyourroots® Privacy Policy.

We keep the verification record, evidence reviewed, decision and relevant correspondence while the organisation is active and for six years after the relationship or final decision ends, unless a shorter period is appropriate for unnecessary evidence or a longer period is required for an active legal or safeguarding matter.

We minimise retained identity documents and sensitive evidence and restrict access to people who need it for verification, legal or safeguarding work.

Contact support@inyourroots.com.

This policy is reviewed annually and after a significant safeguarding incident, verification failure, legal change or material change to the employer service.

Inyourroots Ltd · Company number 17285309

Suite A82, James Carter Road, Mildenhall, United Kingdom, IP28 7DE

ico.org.uk