Accessibility, training & cost: why hiring external investigation firms makes more sense

As Universities recognise and respond to reports of sexual misconduct, the way that universities investigate reports of sexual misconduct has come under increasing scrutiny.Recent Freedom of Information Act requests has revealed that to meet the increasing requirements required to investigate these high stakes sensitive reports, some Universities have chosen to employ individual investigators from a specialist background at the cost of £35-50,000 per annum per investigator. Others have chosen to utilise the services of external investigations companies, such as Intersol Global.What are the differences Intersol Global brings universities over the option to employ individual investigators?AccessibilityIntersol Global gives the Higher Education Sector access to a team of 18 specialist impartial external investigators, enabling investigations to be commenced immediately, no waiting until one or two investigators are available.Training and experienceAll Intersol Global investigators are trained, qualified, and experienced to conduct a wide range of high stakes investigations including trauma-led investigations, all Intersol Global’s investigators have decades of unrivaled investigative experience. Intersol Global’s investigators' skillsets match or exceed those of the university-employed specialist investigator.SecurityIntersol Global give their clients access to Polonious a secure case management system Certified with ISO 27001 and 9001, to ensures that all sensitive and confidential data is held securely and robustly under global regulatory requirements and security best practices. Polonious is trusted by banks, insurance companies, and large enterprises all around the world. Intersol Global is ICO registered and has data-sharing agreements in place across Higher Education. Intersol Global’s security of data matches that of the university.CostUniversity-employed individuals are paid annually irrespective of the number of investigations they conduct. Universities utilising the services of Intersol Global only pay for the actual days worked on the investigation on either a pay-as-you-go arrangement or on a retained services arrangement using an invest to save model, which reduces the cost of individual investigations.ResultIntersol Global’s external impartial investigator fills the role of the investigator/investigation manager in the university’s discipline process. Intersol Global’s investigators ensure that the investigation process is fair, balanced, and without bias, producing high-quality investigation reports. The high-quality reports give the university’s decision-makers the detailed evidence they require to make sound decisions that will stand scrutiny. In our view, we do this at a lesser cost and in less time for the university than them employing individual salaried investigators.“Intersol Global has halved the time it takes to finalise an investigation and deliver them for half the cost”