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This is very much still a statutory protection. Absences relating to pregnancy should be recorded separately and shouldn't count towards any reviews or triggers in an absence policy.
If you are subscribed to xpert HR, they have a very good outline…
We did criminal record checks at a previous role (working at a call centre on behalf of a couple of banks who insisted on it being done as part of the new start screening), it took about 2 weeks if memory serves me correctly and if the form was filled…