Darlington Building Society

Find out how Darlington Building Society transformed their compliance process and eliminated background check stress — leaving more time to improve their candidate experience.

About...

Darlington Building Society has been working with their local community for almost 170 years to help members save for the future and realise their dream of owning their own home. Offering savings accounts and mortgages, they’re committed to constantly re-investing in the community around them.

zinc logo
Save 90 minutes
per employee
zinc logo
Screening takes days,
not weeks
zinc logo
Integrated HR tools that work for you
No items found.

Background check experience

Challenges

Small team, big regulatory requirements — and a background checking provider that wasn’t cutting it. Sound familiar?

That’s the challenge the team at Darlington Building Society was facing in 2023. From SMCR compliance to regular-rechecks for the entire company, they were responsible for ensuring compliance with all FCA regulations. 

But their old provider didn’t offer clear guidance on what documents were acceptable, took at least four weeks (usually longer) to return checks, and didn’t update the team on progress — good or bad. References were sent as manual emails and took an especially long time, if they came back at all. 

They could never be sure of employee start dates, and were always concerned about what would slip through the cracks. “We need to make sure that the person we’re bringing in doesn’t have anything that would be a concern,” said Meg, so due diligence was key. 

If candidates needed support, all their questions went through the small team at Darlington. When the team reached out to their incumbent provider, it took too long to get a response — in one case, as long as 13 weeks. 

“It didn’t feel like we were a priority at all,” said Meg. The support team meant to help them was so large that they often got conflicting answers and no clear direction. 

Once employees were hired, the trouble wasn’t over. With SMCR re-checks yearly and all employees being re-checked every five years, Meg and the team spent months on prep work: collecting documents, hand-signing them, and scanning them into the system. 

It was all too much. As Talent Partner, Meg was responsible for everything from recruitment and onboarding to talent retention, employee engagement, and benefits. With only one other team member, their time was a precious resource that couldn't be wasted.

Solution

When looking for a new solution, Darlington Building Society went through a tender process. They found that while a lot of providers did some of what they needed, only Zinc checked every box. 

Efficiency for their team was a priority, as was a great candidate experience. With Zinc, they didn’t need to do any heavy lifting to order checks. It was as easy as putting in the candidate’s details, getting sign-off from the hiring manager, and sending the right check package. 

Plus, Zinc’s direct HMRC integration revolutionised the way they confirmed employment dates and, in some cases, eliminated the need for manual referencing. 

As soon as the team was up and running on the platform, they saw a difference.

Results

“I can’t tell you how much Zinc has changed the way we work as an organisation,” said Meg. 

Her advice to anyone considering Zinc? “Just try it, and see the difference.”

Greater security and support

Today, the team at Darlington trust the results they’re getting back, and the expertise of the Zinc team.  

Meg particularly highlighted social media checks, where Zinc’s thorough reports offer a stark contrast with the surface-level results from their old provider. “I feel we’re a lot more compliant,” said Meg. “The level of confidence in the checks we’re getting back has massively increased.” 

When they do need support, getting in touch with Zinc feels like a personal experience. “The team is knowledgeable every time I speak to them. And if they’re not, they’ll do everything in their power to find somebody who can help,” said Meg. Rather than getting passed around by administrators in a call centre who don’t have the right background knowledge, Zinc’s team can confidently advise her about regulations, ensuring Darlington stays compliant. 

Better candidate experience

Zinc empowers candidates to understand what’s going on and do it themselves, easily. Instead of putting the burden on HR, candidates submit everything in one place and stay updated on the results. Or as Meg described it: “They can sit down, have a cuppa, and do it in ten minutes.” 

If candidates do have questions, they’ll get a response in under two minutes from a chatbot. Since implementing Zinc, they’ve seen great feedback from candidates who loved how smooth the entire process is. 

Without having to spend time manually submitting documents and fielding candidate q’s, the team was able to tackle their entire onboarding journey from start to finish.  “It helped us to be able to shift our focus on changing the way we work internally, and change the onboarding process,” said Meg. “It’s a lot slicker now.” 

Less admin, faster results

Today, Meg can count on a two-week check turnaround time for most employees. She’s not stuck chasing manual references or left in the dark about progress. 

“The backup of having the HMRC check is brilliant,” said Meg. “Before we’d have to get the candidate to download it themselves and send it back to us. It’s much, much easier now.”

Re-checks used to be a massive project, and now they’re a quick bit of admin that easily fits around other priorities. What took an entire day now takes less than an hour: Meg and her colleagues spend just a couple hours a week working through the backlog, and the entire re-checking process is done within the first few months of the year. 

Meg says using Zinc has saved them both money and time. “When you operate the way we do, like a charity, every penny counts — whether we can put more into a community scheme or take on another hire.”

Company details
Industry
Finance
No items found.
Integration
Company size
‍200 employees

Loved by the world's leading companies

marshmallow logo hello fresh logo octopus energy logo 
bolt logo
beauty pie logo

Case study: Darlington Building Society

Peace of mind in less time: How Darlington Building Society transformed compliance with Zinc

9,630

minutes saved

107

candidates checked

4.37

Average turnaround time in days

“I can’t shout about Zinc enough, because it really has revolutionised the way we work. The level of time and effort we need to put in has dramatically reduced.”

Meg Nicol

Talent Partner

About

Darlington Building Society has been working with their local community for almost 170 years to help members save for the future and realise their dream of owning their own home. Offering savings accounts and mortgages, they’re committed to constantly re-investing in the community around them.

Location

‍UK

Size

‍200 employees

Industry

Finance

Date Established

1856

Challenges

Small team, big regulatory requirements — and a background checking provider that wasn’t cutting it. Sound familiar?

That’s the challenge the team at Darlington Building Society was facing in 2023. From SMCR compliance to regular-rechecks for the entire company, they were responsible for ensuring compliance with all FCA regulations. 

But their old provider didn’t offer clear guidance on what documents were acceptable, took at least four weeks (usually longer) to return checks, and didn’t update the team on progress — good or bad. References were sent as manual emails and took an especially long time, if they came back at all. 

They could never be sure of employee start dates, and were always concerned about what would slip through the cracks. “We need to make sure that the person we’re bringing in doesn’t have anything that would be a concern,” said Meg, so due diligence was key. 

If candidates needed support, all their questions went through the small team at Darlington. When the team reached out to their incumbent provider, it took too long to get a response — in one case, as long as 13 weeks. 

“It didn’t feel like we were a priority at all,” said Meg. The support team meant to help them was so large that they often got conflicting answers and no clear direction. 

Once employees were hired, the trouble wasn’t over. With SMCR re-checks yearly and all employees being re-checked every five years, Meg and the team spent months on prep work: collecting documents, hand-signing them, and scanning them into the system. 

It was all too much. As Talent Partner, Meg was responsible for everything from recruitment and onboarding to talent retention, employee engagement, and benefits. With only one other team member, their time was a precious resource that couldn't be wasted.

Solutions

When looking for a new solution, Darlington Building Society went through a tender process. They found that while a lot of providers did some of what they needed, only Zinc checked every box. 

Efficiency for their team was a priority, as was a great candidate experience. With Zinc, they didn’t need to do any heavy lifting to order checks. It was as easy as putting in the candidate’s details, getting sign-off from the hiring manager, and sending the right check package. 

Plus, Zinc’s direct HMRC integration revolutionised the way they confirmed employment dates and, in some cases, eliminated the need for manual referencing. 

As soon as the team was up and running on the platform, they saw a difference.

“We run quite lean, so we only have people in our team who we need. Hiring time drastically reduced when we got Zinc in, and now we can pretty much guarantee two weeks.”

Meg Nicol

Talent Partner

Results

“I can’t tell you how much Zinc has changed the way we work as an organisation,” said Meg. 

Her advice to anyone considering Zinc? “Just try it, and see the difference.”

Greater security and support

Today, the team at Darlington trust the results they’re getting back, and the expertise of the Zinc team.  

Meg particularly highlighted social media checks, where Zinc’s thorough reports offer a stark contrast with the surface-level results from their old provider. “I feel we’re a lot more compliant,” said Meg. “The level of confidence in the checks we’re getting back has massively increased.” 

When they do need support, getting in touch with Zinc feels like a personal experience. “The team is knowledgeable every time I speak to them. And if they’re not, they’ll do everything in their power to find somebody who can help,” said Meg. Rather than getting passed around by administrators in a call centre who don’t have the right background knowledge, Zinc’s team can confidently advise her about regulations, ensuring Darlington stays compliant. 

Better candidate experience

Zinc empowers candidates to understand what’s going on and do it themselves, easily. Instead of putting the burden on HR, candidates submit everything in one place and stay updated on the results. Or as Meg described it: “They can sit down, have a cuppa, and do it in ten minutes.” 

If candidates do have questions, they’ll get a response in under two minutes from a chatbot. Since implementing Zinc, they’ve seen great feedback from candidates who loved how smooth the entire process is. 

Without having to spend time manually submitting documents and fielding candidate q’s, the team was able to tackle their entire onboarding journey from start to finish.  “It helped us to be able to shift our focus on changing the way we work internally, and change the onboarding process,” said Meg. “It’s a lot slicker now.” 

Less admin, faster results

Today, Meg can count on a two-week check turnaround time for most employees. She’s not stuck chasing manual references or left in the dark about progress. 

“The backup of having the HMRC check is brilliant,” said Meg. “Before we’d have to get the candidate to download it themselves and send it back to us. It’s much, much easier now.”

Re-checks used to be a massive project, and now they’re a quick bit of admin that easily fits around other priorities. What took an entire day now takes less than an hour: Meg and her colleagues spend just a couple hours a week working through the backlog, and the entire re-checking process is done within the first few months of the year. 

Meg says using Zinc has saved them both money and time. “When you operate the way we do, like a charity, every penny counts — whether we can put more into a community scheme or take on another hire.”

Checks

Without background check stress, the team at Darlington Building society have been focusing on building a truly exceptional candidate experience. With Zinc, they can be sure that every candidate is right for their business — and they’re compliant every step of the way. 

Address verification checks
Global instant verification reference checks
Adverse financial history checks
Global right to work verification
Adverse media checks
Employment credit checks
Social media checks
Global sanctions and watchlist checks
Education and qualification checks

Looking to make compliance less of a hassle? Book a call to find out what Zinc can do for you.

Book a demo with one of our experts to start saving time with Zinc.

See how Zinc has helped other businesses

Finance

Alfa Financial Software

With Zinc, background checks aren’t a major source of stress for the team at Alfa Financial. They’re able to comply with all their regulatory requirements, have documents ready for audits, and focus on other team priorities — without questions about background checks getting in the way.
Healthcare

Schoen Clinic

From slow and disjointed, to fast and efficient. See how Schoen Clinic transformed their onboarding process and reduced turnaround times by 50%.
Education

Degreed

After lacking security and functionality in their hiring process, the team at Degreed now has fast and frictionless processes. Explore the full transformation.