How Beaakon verifies every specialist: the full methodology

Why does Beaakon verify at this depth?

Because the alternative is the directory-listing default, and the directory-listing default is not safe enough for SEND.

A general therapist directory can rely on the assumption that a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered psychologist or a counsellor on a Professional Standards Authority (PSA) accredited register has already been pre-screened by that body. The register did the work. For SEND, that assumption stops being safe at the point you reach the specialists who matter most to families: SENDCOs (the teacher at your child's school in charge of special needs), specialist SEN teachers, advisory teachers, autism education specialists, EHCP advocates. Their qualifications are real. There is no central public list to look them up on.

The point of this page is to describe what we put in place where the public register stops, and to be honest about the chain of evidence we use in its place.

We also verify the specialists who do hold statutory registrations against those registers. Trust should not be conditional on which type of professional a family ends up booking.

What does the verification process involve?

Four strands, run in parallel, completed before any profile is set live.

A human on the Beaakon team reads every application end to end. No application is approved on automated checks alone. The median application is reviewed within 48 hours of submission. The longest single bottleneck in practice is school references during half-term breaks, which can extend the timeline by a week or two.

How do we verify identity?

Two things have to match: the photograph on a government-issued ID document, and a live selfie taken at the point of application.

The ID document is one of a UK passport, a UK driving licence (full or provisional), a non-UK passport with a UK right-to-work document, or a UK Biometric Residence Permit. Driving licences must be in date. Passports may be up to six months expired, in line with the general identity-verification convention.

The biometric match is run automatically and reviewed by a human if the automated check returns a borderline confidence score. We retain the verification record after sign-off. The live selfie itself is destroyed after the match is recorded.

We do this for two reasons. First, identity is the strand that ties everything else (the DBS, the qualifications, the references) to an actual person. Second, it makes name fraud expensive. Stolen credentials are common. Matching a stolen credential to a face that matches a stolen ID is much harder.

How do we verify the Enhanced DBS?

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is the government body that runs criminal-records checks for people working with children or vulnerable adults. The relevant level for SEND work is the Enhanced DBS for the Child Workforce, with a check of the Children's Barred List included.

We verify two things.

1. The certificate is real. Every DBS certificate carries a unique reference number, an issue date, and a name. We check the certificate the specialist provides against those three fields. We sight either the original paper certificate or the original PDF as issued by DBS, not a screenshot, scan, or forwarded image.
2. The certificate is current. A DBS certificate has no formal expiry. Most schools and trusts treat anything older than three years as stale, and our policy follows that practice. Where the specialist is signed up to the DBS Update Service (a free subscription a specialist can join when their certificate is issued), we re-verify status with the specialist's permission before each renewal cycle and at any status-change notification.

For specialists not on the Update Service, a fresh Enhanced DBS is required every three years. We track the date.

How do we verify qualifications, and against which registers?

This is the section that does the authority-transfer work. The register or body we use depends on the qualification claimed.

Two patterns to draw out from the table.

Where a statutory register exists, that register is the source of truth, and we record the registration number internally against the specialist record. If the registration lapses or is suspended, we are either notified by the register (the HCPC and GMC both publish status changes) or we discover it at our next scheduled re-verification.

Where no statutory register exists, the verification is a chain: certificate sighted, awarding body asked to confirm, at least one external reference who can speak to the specialist's work in that specific role. The chain is what does the work of a register that does not exist.

How do we verify SEND-specific competence?

A qualified clinician is not automatically a SEND-experienced clinician.

A speech and language therapist who has spent ten years in adult stroke rehabilitation is HCPC-registered and qualified, and they are not the right person for your child's selective mutism case. Where a specialist lists a SEND specialism (autism, ADHD, AuDHD, EBSA, SpLD, sensory processing, ARFID, PDA-profile autism, EHCP work), we ask three things:

1. Years of direct SEND practice in that area. Self-declared, asked for in numerical terms (years and approximate case volume), not as a sliding scale.
2. The specialist's current setting, where relevant. A SENDCO still in post at a school has current statutory practice. A retired SENDCO has experience without current statutory exposure; we record both states and surface them on the profile.
3. At least one item of evidence in the form of CPD, course attendance, or a published case study in that specialism within the last three years.

We do not score these. We display them on the profile so a parent can read them before booking.

How do we verify experience and references?

At least one professional reference is required to publish a profile.

For school-based specialists (qualified teachers, SENDCOs, advisory teachers), one of the references must come from a school the specialist has worked at, named at the level of the role (Headteacher, Deputy Head, SENDCO line manager, or Head of Department) rather than a colleague.

We contact each referee directly. By phone where the role involves direct work with children, by verified email otherwise. We ask the same five questions of every referee:

1. In what capacity did you know the specialist, and over what period?
2. Did the specialist work directly with children with SEND?
3. Would you, or did you, refer parents to them?
4. Are you aware of any safeguarding concerns or professional misconduct?
5. Is there anything we should know that we have not asked?

We retain reference notes for as long as the specialist is listed, and for two years after delisting.

How does insurance verification work?

Specialists working directly with children must hold current professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance.

We sight the policy schedule, confirm the cover level (a minimum of £1m public liability and £1m professional indemnity for direct-practice specialists), and record the renewal date. We re-verify at renewal.

Specialists not in direct practice with children (training providers, EHCP advisors working remotely, parent advisors) hold reduced cover appropriate to their role. We are transparent on the profile about which type of cover is in force.

What happens when a check fails?

Three failure modes, with three different consequences.

A document failure (an out-of-date DBS, a referee unreachable, a certificate the awarding body cannot confirm) pauses the application. We come back to the specialist with the specific item and a window to resolve it. Most are resolved within a fortnight.

A competence-fit failure (the specialist's qualification is genuine but does not cover the SEND specialism they want to be listed under) means we either narrow the scope of the listing to what we can verify, or we decline.

A safeguarding failure (a barred-list match, a prohibition order in force, an unresolved safeguarding referral, or a reference that raises a safeguarding concern) ends the application. Where a statutory duty applies, we refer in line with the duty owed under section 11 of the Children Act 2004. We do not list, and we do not provide the specialist with a reason that would compromise an ongoing process.

How often is a specialist re-verified?

Verification is not a one-off. Every record carries a re-verification calendar.

• Identity: re-verified on any document change (legal name change, expired ID).
• Enhanced DBS: re-checked every three years for specialists not on the Update Service. For those on the Update Service, re-checked at each status-change notification and on a routine cycle.
• Statutory registration (HCPC, GMC, NMC, TRA): re-checked annually, and at any notification of status change from the register.
• Insurance: re-checked at every renewal date.
• References: refreshed where the specialist takes a substantively new role, or every five years, whichever is sooner.

A specialist whose check has lapsed cannot take new bookings until the check is current. Bookings already paid for are honoured pending the re-check.

What you can ask us to confirm before you book

If you are about to book a specialist and want a check confirmed in writing, email verify@beaakon.com. We will tell you:

• The professional register and registration number the specialist is verified against, where one exists.
• The date the specialist's DBS was last verified.
• The date of the most recent re-verification of the specialist's qualifications.
• The scope of insurance the specialist holds.
• Whether the specialist is currently in active practice in the role they list (in-post SENDCO, retired SENDCO, currently in independent practice, and so on).

We will not share the substance of references, the specialist's personal contact information, or any safeguarding information held confidentially under statutory duty.

What we do not claim to do

A directory cannot verify everything a parent might want verified. Being transparent about the boundary is part of the verification.

We do not claim to:

• Assess clinical judgement. A specialist's approach to your child is for the consultation and the work itself, not for a verification check.
• Predict fit. Fit is a function of your child, the specialist, and the issue at hand. We can verify credentials. We cannot tell you whether your child will warm to the person.
• Replace your own due diligence at the point of booking. You are entitled to ask a specialist about their training, supervision, recent CPD, and current caseload. A good specialist will answer those questions without flinching.
• Pre-empt every concern. If a concern is raised about a specialist after we have verified them, we act on it. We cannot foresee every concern in advance.
• Substitute for an EHCP-specific legal opinion. Where you are in formal dispute with a local authority over an EHCP, an EHC needs assessment refusal, or a Section I placement appeal, regulated legal advice from IPSEA, SOSSEN, or a SEND solicitor is still the right route. A SEND consultant is a complement, not a substitute.

Frequently asked questions

Is “Beaakon-verified” the same as “DBS-checked”?

No. A DBS check is one of the four strands. Identity, qualifications, and references are the other three. A specialist with a current Enhanced DBS but unverifiable qualifications would not be listed.

Can I see the qualification certificate of the specialist I want to book?

We can confirm, by registration number where one exists, that we have verified the qualification. We do not republish the certificate itself, for the specialist's own data-protection reasons. Where you would like to verify a specialist's HCPC, GMC, NMC, or TRA status yourself, all four registers are public and free to search.

What if the specialist I want to book is not on a public register?

That is the common case for SENDCOs, specialist SEN teachers, and SEND consultants. The verification chain for them is: certificate sighted, awarding body or DfE-approved provider asked to confirm, and at least one professional reference contacted directly. See the qualifications table above for the per-route detail.

What happens if a parent raises a concern about a specialist?

A concern raised by a parent goes to a named member of the verification team within 24 hours. Where the concern is safeguarding-adjacent, we suspend the specialist's profile pending review. Where the concern is about fit or style rather than safeguarding, we record it, discuss it with the specialist, and refund the booking in line with our refund policy regardless of the outcome.

Is Beaakon a regulator?

No. Beaakon is a directory. The regulators for SEND-relevant professionals are the HCPC, the GMC, the NMC, the Teaching Regulation Agency, and the PSA-accredited registers for counselling and psychotherapy. We verify against those bodies. We do not replace them.

What if a specialist disputes a verification finding?

A specialist whose application is paused or declined can ask for a written explanation of which check did not resolve. Where the reason is a third-party register (a HCPC suspension, a TRA prohibition order), we point the specialist to the body that holds the underlying record, because the underlying record is what binds us. We do not adjudicate other bodies' decisions.

Where do I report a concern about a specialist I have already worked with?

Email verify@beaakon.com. If the concern is safeguarding-related and a child is at immediate risk, call 999 or contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000. If the concern is about regulated professional conduct, the relevant register (HCPC, GMC, NMC, TRA, BACP, UKCP) has its own complaints route, and we will help you find it.