There are very few occasions in life when we willingly hand complete strangers the keys to our castle. Yet every day, millions of us do exactly that.

We invite plumbers, electricians, builders, heating engineers and other tradespeople into our homes, often leaving them alone with our families, our possessions and everything we have worked a lifetime to build. They are there for a legitimate commercial purpose, but they are also in a position of extraordinary trust.

So here’s the question every customer should know to ask: Has the company carrying out the work even bothered to perform a Basic DBS background check? The answer if they put that enquiry to WEFIX London is an unequivocal YES! But that’s not the case with all major home service companies, including Pimlico, despite what might be expected.

In most cases there is no legal requirement for them to do so. Unless the work falls into a handful of specific regulated categories, businesses are generally free to send employees or contractors into people’s homes without even this most basic level of vetting.

Legal? Yes. Sensible? That’s another matter entirely.

Any company that genuinely values its customers should regard Basic DBS checks as an absolute minimum standard. It protects customers, gives families greater peace of mind, reassures insurers, demonstrates professionalism and helps build a culture of accountability and trust. It also protects the company itself from the reputational catastrophe that follows when the wrong person slips through the net.

But there is another uncomfortable truth. Customers may never know whether a company carries out DBS checks, but unscrupulous trades people do make a point of finding out which companies will let them onboard without checks.

A business known for carrying out little or no vetting risks becoming precisely the sort of place that attracts individuals hoping to exploit the cover of legitimate work. I think that is why firms like Pimlico need to be exposed publicly for their lack of action in this area. After all, what better disguise could a dishonest person have than a company van parked outside a customer’s home?

The overwhelming majority of tradespeople are hardworking, honest professionals who would never dream of abusing the trust placed in them by customers. They deserve to work alongside colleagues who have demonstrated the same basic level of integrity. Basic DBS checks are not an accusation against good tradespeople—they are a badge of reassurance for them.

The answer here lies in transparency. Imagine a publicly available register identifying companies that carry out Basic DBS checks on the people they send into customers’ homes and workplaces. Much as licensed taxi and private hire drivers have become the norm, customers would quickly recognise which firms take public safety seriously. Those choosing not to appear on the register would inevitably face an awkward question: if most reputable companies are prepared to carry out a simple, inexpensive background check, why aren’t you?

Making Basic DBS checks a legal requirement for tradespeople entering private homes would undoubtedly represent the gold standard. Until then, giving consumers clear information about which companies vet their workforce would dramatically improve public safety, strengthen confidence in the industry and make it far harder for the dishonest minority to hide behind the respectable appearance of legitimate employment.

Trust should never be assumed. It should be earned long before someone steps through your front door.