The vetting standard
Every member, chosen.
Membership of the Bonsai Circle isn't automatic and it isn't cheap. Every applicant is vetted, properly, on paper, on record, before they walk into any room with our members in it. A basic DBS certificate. Companies House and adverse-media checks. Identity and address confirmed. Two references, taken up. A sponsor interview, minuted.
Most applications are approved. Some aren't. The point isn't to keep people out. The point is to know, for certain, who is in.
On application
- Basic DBS certificate. Applied for by you via gov.uk/request-copy-criminal-record, £21.50, copy submitted to us
- Photo ID and proof of address
- Companies House check on any directorships you declare
- Adverse media check
- Two professional references, taken up in writing
- Sponsor interview, structured, minuted
- Declaration of unspent convictions
- Declaration of any previous professional names used in the last ten years
On renewal, annually
- Fresh Basic DBS certificate
- Refreshed adverse media check
- Companies House re-check
- Confirmation nothing has changed on the original declarations
What we check, and why
- Basic DBS certificate
- Confirms there is no unspent criminal record a member should know about before they meet you.
- Companies House check
- Confirms the directorships and companies you declare are real, current and yours.
- Adverse-media check, via Thirdfort
- Surfaces anything already in the public domain that bears on your standing.
- Identity and address, via Thirdfort
- Confirms you are who you say you are, at a real and traceable address.
- Two references, taken up
- Two people who have worked with you vouch for how you work, in writing.
- Sponsor interview, minuted
- A real conversation on the record, so the decision to admit you is accountable.
- Enforced by a regulated law firm
- The same firm that vets you vets everyone else, to the same standard.
Bonsai Circle is an imprint of Bonsai Law Ltd. Read our safeguarding policy, privacy notice and terms of membership.