Can an employer tell whether u have previously claimed benefit?

piquet_D

Hello folks,

i'm applying for a job with a financial services company and the employer wants to do a routine full background check -which is outsourced to another company.

i claimed IB for an extended period when i was hospitalised a few years back.

is there anyway the background check company can find this out? everything i did was legit and i have nothing to hide -it's just that i've already submitted a CV to the company which doesn't mention this period of illness and i'd rather they didn't find out about it.

thanks.

dickydonkin

As far as I understand, new legislation does not require you to disclose any previous illnesses and a CV should generally not disclose ailments - this is usually asked for in an application form, although again, I suspect that this may now be a breach of the new regulations although I stand to be corrected on this.

SarEl

dpassmore wrote: »

As far as I understand, new legislation does not require you to disclose any previous illnesses and a CV should generally not disclose ailments - this is usually asked for in an application form, although again, I suspect that this may now be a breach of the new regulations although I stand to be corrected on this.

That doesn't actually answer the question. The employer hasn't asked the OP to disclose illness (and actually, they can indeed ask if a job offer has been made - they are unlikely to do a background check on anything other than a successful candidate) - the employer is carrying out a full background check. And the answer is that it depends how good the background check is and what you told them you were doing to cover the fact that you were hospitalised. Background checks generally check employment records and dates to ensure no gaps, and may also want explanations of gaps (which may or may not be easy to verify). In other words they check that what you told the employer on your CV / application is true. It is therefore unlikely that they would be able to find out that you were in hospital - but it is possible they may be able to find out that you were not doing whatever you claimed you were doing at the time. Whether they do or not, as I said, depends on who thorough they are, and that's something nobody here can tell you.

I suppose the relevant question is - how did you cover this period and explain it on your CV?

piquet_D

SarEl wrote: »

I suppose the relevant question is - how did you cover this period and explain it on your CV?

thanks for the replies so far.

i've put it down as a period of self-employment. i was self-employed before the illness happened and after -so i put it down as a period of continuous self-employment.