Pre-Employment Screening Question - Urgent!!

xxSTARxx

Hi, I'm 19 and I started a new job as a Remortgage Legal Assistant in a Conveyancing firm on 07/03/2011. At interview I had to bring all of my ID (birth certificate, both parts of driving licence, national insurance card and a former payslip confirming NI number). When I started the job, they said they needed to see them again as "they weren't copied properly" which I think means they've lost them. Anyway, they also wanted my previous 5 year address history - fine. A detailed list of activities of the last 5 years. I sent them a list of my school/college and other jobs and the dates attended. They said there was a gap between my two temporary jobs that was unaccounted for, I explained I was unemployed and looking for work. They then said I had to get in touch with the jobcentre to get them to confirm in writing the periodI claimed for. Anyway, in order to prove my 5 year address history they asked to see a bank statement for every year. I haven't had an account for that long, but they said 3 years would be alright. They said they only need to see the address and not the transactions. I spoke to my bank about getting the statements and they were surprised that I'd been asked for them. They said that they could do a letter instead, detailing my address and how long I'd been with them. Company said this would be unacceptable as it goes against their "client specifics". They said instead I could have: council tax bill, utility bill (I live with my parents, so I don't have any of these!) Or car insurance details going back 5 years - think about it, do they really expect me to have had a car when I was 14?!?!?

Anyway, they emailed me again today to query the gap in my activity list from my last job ending in October 2010 to my new job starting in March 2011. I explained I was unemployed and seaking work, but that I wasn't signing on at the jobcentre in this period. They then said I would HAVE TO provide DETAILED bank statements showing regular transactions during that period to explain how I supported myself (for when their clients audit them). Thing is, my parents supported me and I have barely any transactions during that period (mainly just christmas shopping!) My question is are they LEGALLY entitled to demand to see all of my transactions on my bank statement? I think this is personal information that they have no right to ask for. Can anyone give me some guidance here please?


(P.S: This is for "pre-employment screening" checks, I'm currently in my 4th week with them - in that time I've already been allowed access to hundreds of peoples account numbers and mortgage details, this doesn't sound right to me!)

purplerose

Wow, that's a lot of checking. I don't know if it's a case about them being legally entitled to check this stuff. It's more a case that this is their recruitment procedure and the job offer is based upon you passing their pre employment screening checks and if it's company policy then that is the way they do things.

You can choose not to provide this information and then likely be refused the job. I have certainly heard of people who have been in jobs and then been asked to leave because something in their screening checks hasn't been right. Legally they have the right to refuse the job offer based upon screening checks so long as you were made aware of the possibility that it could be withdrawn when the job offer was made.

Your bank should be able to provide the statements but they might charge you for them so it could be worth asking them again. If you can get these I would submit your bank statements to date even if you didn't use your account much lately. Also speak to the employer again explaining that your parents supported you during this time and ask if they are able to suggest a solution. I would also ask them to bear in mind that you are only 19 years old and as a result you do not have much of a financial history. Surely they'll have encountered stuff like this before if they have hired any teenagers in the past.

Anyway, for better advice from people who are more clued up than me I would say give Acas a call and see what they say about it. http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2042

Jane10

Are the people contacting you from the firm's actual HR department, or are they a separate company that conducts pre-employment screening checks on the firm's behalf?

If the latter, I used to work for one of these companies and we had a very strict criteria of what we needed to ask for, but this was generic and not always reasonable (e.g. would have to ask a 60 year old senior executive for details of his old secondary school because we *had* to check out his highest level of education). We'd provide the client's HR Department with whatever information we'd managed to get on a person, but it was then completely up to the client whether to hire the person or not (and I know that there were many cases where they hired people even if not all of their background checks could be verified).

In your case, where you have a perfectly acceptable reason for not being able to provide the paperwork, it may be best to directly call the HR Officer at your actual employers and explain the situation to them, as they will hopefully show some common sense and tell the screeners to leave off this!

Even if none of what I've written applies to you, and it is your employer's HR office itself who are directly asking for the info, I'd still suggest calling them to explain that you are simply unable to provide them with details of regular transactions at that time, because you were receiving parental support. Good luck!

Annisele

I have a long running grumble with my employer's HR department over a similar issue. In my case, ignoring them is working just fine so far.

Six months after I started my job, HR told me that I wasn't allowed to work for my employer until I'd had a CRB check. Fine - I've no objections to that - but before I handed over any of my documents I asked HR what they were going to do with my documents and where they were going to send them. They didn't answer, so I didn't hand over any documents.

Since then, HR have asked me for the documents every six months or so, and I've repeated my question. I know I'm being really petty, but (IMO) the guy in HR was really rude to me so I'm not inclined to make his life easier. Plus I think they have to drop it pretty soon.

I made sure my line manager knew, just in case there really was a requirement that I'm CRB checked - and to see if I could wrangle garden leave out of it If there is a CRB requirement, neither my line manager nor his manager has ever heard of it; they both think HR messed up my references when I joined, are now trying to fix it before anybody audits them.

Savvy_Sue

Annisele wrote: »

Six months after I started my job, HR told me that I wasn't allowed to work for my employer until I'd had a CRB check. Fine - I've no objections to that - but before I handed over any of my documents I asked HR what they were going to do with my documents and where they were going to send them. They didn't answer, so I didn't hand over any documents.

They shouldn't be sending your documents anywhere. If your HR dept is in the same building as yours, they could look at them, check them against your CRB application, and then sign the form and send it off. If it's in a separate building, I'd frankly expect them to train one person in each building to check documents before sending the CRB forms off.

So have any of your colleagues been required to have a CRB check?

Annisele

Nope, nobody else has had a CRB check (at least, not that they know of). I think HR is making it up.

Edit: I work in an office, and I never meet members of the public (vulnerable or otherwise).

Savvy_Sue

Annisele wrote: »

Nope, nobody else has had a CRB check (at least, not that they know of). I think HR is making it up.

Edit: I work in an office, and I never meet members of the public (vulnerable or otherwise).

Any finance or trust issues involved?

There ought to be a policy on who needs one, I'd have thought. Try asking for that next time. Also, we put "Enhanced CRB disclosure is required" in our adverts, and all our offer letters are "subject to receipt of satisfactory references and Enhanced CRB disclosure", so it's not a nasty surprised for anyone ...

For the OP, I agree with checking with HR whether they really expect a 19 year old to have four year's worth of bank statements / utility bills etc.

Sambucus_Nigra

I would have a word with the recruiting manager and explain the missing issues. Be prepared to put it in a bullet pointed letter copied to manager and person asking for it. You can't have detailed everything asked for if you are only 19!