Recruitment

Discrimination

In advertisements for new staff and during interviews, you must not say anything that could be seen as discrimination against any prospective employee on grounds of sex, gender reassignment, race, colour, ethnic background, marital status, disability, trade union membership and/or activity, age, religion/belief (England, Wales and Scotland) or religious belief or political opinion (Northern Ireland) or sexual orientation.

You should record your reasons for not offering a job to any unsuccessful applicant, ensure that this information is retained and that it cannot be interpreted as showing an intention to discriminate.

To avoid a potential claim of discrimination, the employer should treat every applicant in the same way.

Sometimes a job will require an applicant of a particular sex, race, age, religion/belief or sexual orientation. As long as this is a genuine requirement or qualification for the job then it will not be unlawful to discriminate against certain sectors of society.

If you feel that this may apply to you then we advise that you seek legal advice.

Application form

Each candidate should be asked to complete a job application form. Completed application forms are useful in compiling personnel records, assisting the objective selection of suitable candidates and providing a framework for interviews.

For more information on application forms, including your responsibilities under data protection laws, see our Job application form section.

Checking entitlement to work in the UK

You must check whether candidates you may employ have a right to work in the UK, before they start working for you.

For more information on right to work checks, including on whether you need to do follow-up checks, see Right to work checks.