Referees¶

The Personal Referees section of each profile displays referees provided by the applicant, in addition to referees added manually by users within your organisation. You may request references from referees to cover gaps in an applicant's history or to provide a personal recommendation.

Manually Adding a Referee¶

To add a new referee, scroll down to the Personal Referees section of the profile. Click Add new referee and a new section will open on the profile, where you will be asked to enter details for this referee, including the capacity in which they know the applicant and how many years the applicant has known the referee.

You will be able to change or update the information of any referee within this section. Click Save Changes to save any updated information.

Tracking Activity¶

VettingGateway keeps track of changes made by users and applicants, ensuring you can view a history of actions taken within the system. In addition to tracking actions, custom notes can also be added.

Each change entry contains the user who performed it, the details of what happened, and a timestamp.

Viewing Activity¶

Throughout the interface you'll see the activity icon beside trackable items. Click the icon and the activity window will appear.

A list of change entries and notes will display, ordered by newest first. You may search and filter the result set using the fields and dropdowns directly above the items.

Some actions are performed automatically by the system, in which case the entry will be marked as Automated action. You may sort by human-only and automated-only entries using the filter fields.

Adding Notes¶

Click the Add Activity Note button and the note form will display with the following fields:

Note Enter the message for this note.

Activities If appropriate, check each activity describing the note. Where relevant, VettingGateway takes this selection into account when determining the priority of outstanding tasks against a profile.

To save the note, click the Save activity note button and you'll see the note instantly within the activity history panel.

Requesting References¶

You may request a gap reference from a referee within the dropdown menu. For a full guide to reference methods and importing returned references, see Sending Reference Requests.

Upon clicking the Request Reference link, a pop-up window will appear showing the gap reference request form with the following fields. Please select the method of contact for this reference:

Online The referee will be sent an email containing a link into VettingGateway, where they may complete their reference.

Email The referee will be sent an email containing the questions for the reference. The referee can reply to this email directly with their answers.

Hardcopy A PDF will be generated containing the reference details, which can be sent by post to the referee.

Which Gaps Should This Referee Cover? Tick the time periods you would like the referee to provide a reference for.

Confirm Referee Details Confirm the referee's contact details, such as their name, email, and address (depending on the chosen method of contact).

Once you've completed the above fields, click the Request Reference button to send the request.

If you've chosen the Online or Email method, a reference request email will be dispatched to the referee and the page will reload. For the Hardcopy method, you'll be taken to the generated PDF, which will be ready for printing.

After sending the reference, the status of the period will change to Requested, Awaiting Response.

Mark as Not Needed¶

When a referee is no longer required to complete the profile, you may mark them as Not Needed. This signals to VettingGateway that the referee can be ignored.

To perform this action, click the Mark as Not Needed button in the dropdown menu.

Change Status¶

To manually change a referee's status, click the Change Status button and a pop-up window will appear containing the status form. Select the new status from the dropdown list and then click Save Changes.

Self-Employment Periods and Referees¶

When an applicant declares a period of self-employment in their career history, VettingGateway will prompt them to provide a contact who can verify that period. This is typically their accountant, bookkeeper, or a regular business client.

Why an Accountant Name May Appear¶

The name shown in the Referees section for a self-employment period is whoever the applicant nominated when completing their profile. If an accountant or business contact appears where you might expect an employer name, this is correct — the platform uses the same referee workflow for both employed and self-employed periods.

If the name shown is unexpected, this does not necessarily indicate an error. The key requirement is that the named referee can confirm the dates and nature of the self-employment period.

The process for requesting a reference for a self-employment period is the same as for any employed period. Navigate to the Personal Referees section of the applicant's profile, locate the referee associated with the self-employment period, select the appropriate contact method, and submit the request.