Accepting an agency worker is an act of trust. You are allowing a person you have not met — sent by an organisation you may know little about — to care for your residents or patients. The question of whether to trust that placement should not begin and end with the agency's hourly rate.
Here are the questions every care manager or NHS team leader should ask before using a staffing agency — and the answers that should give you confidence versus the answers that should give you pause.
Why this matters more than price
CQC inspections assess staffing quality as a core domain. If an agency worker is involved in a care incident — whether that is a medication error, a safeguarding concern or a dignity complaint — the question "who vetted this person and how?" will be asked. The answer needs to be robust.
The legal responsibility for safe staffing ultimately rests with the registered manager and the care provider. An agency cannot be held accountable for a care outcome in the way your home can. Choose accordingly.
Questions to ask about worker vetting
"Who personally interviews and assesses your workers — and what is their background?"
This is the most revealing question you can ask. If an agency cannot name the specific process and the specific person responsible for assessing workers clinically, that tells you something important.
At Giusto Care, every worker is interviewed and clinically assessed by our nurse director — a UK Registered Mental Health Nurse — before any placement. This is not a policy statement. It is what happens for every single person we send.
Other questions to ask:
- "How do you verify DBS certificates?" — The correct answer involves the DBS Update Service, which allows real-time verification of whether a certificate is current and unchanged. Simply accepting a printed certificate is not sufficient.
- "How do you take up references — by phone or by email?" — Written references are easy to fabricate. Verbal reference calls, documented, are the industry standard for quality agencies.
- "For nurses: how do you check NMC registration?" — Every NMC PIN should be verified on the live NMC register at the point of registration and tracked for revalidation dates. An agency that has done this can tell you the nurse's registration date and status without you having to ask.
- "How do you assess clinical competency?" — For nurses and specialist roles, this should involve more than reviewing a CV. Clinical interview, scenario questions and reference verification specific to the clinical area are the standard.
Compliance documentation
Before accepting a worker for the first time, you should receive — or be able to access — a compliance pack including:
- DBS certificate reference and Update Service confirmation
- Right-to-work documentation verification
- Two professional references (documented)
- NMC registration confirmation (for nurses)
- Training matrix with expiry dates for all mandatory certificates
- Moving and Handling certificate specific to people (not objects)
- Safeguarding training certificate with level and expiry date
If an agency is reluctant to provide this documentation or cannot produce it promptly, that is a serious concern. Compliant agencies have this ready and welcome the scrutiny.
Questions about quality and accountability
- "What happens if a placed worker does not meet our standards?" — There should be a clear, immediate process for raising concerns, removing a worker and providing a replacement. Find out what it is before you need it.
- "Can I request the same workers for future placements?" — Building a pool of approved agency workers who know your home is one of the most effective ways to maintain quality and reduce costs. Any quality agency will support this.
- "Can you provide a monthly summary of hours, costs and placements?" — Transparency about what you are spending and who is being sent is basic. If an agency cannot do this, it is a governance concern.
Red flags to watch for
- Agency cannot name who assesses workers or describe the process clearly
- No immediate answer on DBS verification method
- Workers sent without advance notice of their compliance status
- Unwillingness to provide a worker compliance pack before placement
- No process for handling concerns about a placed worker
- Very low headline rates with no explanation of how compliance is maintained
- Pressure to accept any available worker without considering match to your setting
If you would like to see what Giusto Care's compliance process looks like in practice — or to discuss your current staffing arrangements — get in touch. We are happy to walk you through our vetting process and provide example documentation before you commit to anything.