Job offer but im scared of the CRB check.

karl515

Hi
I just got offered a job in IT support for a big company but i have found out they will do a CRB check. I have a caurion for theft which i got 5 and a half years ago when i was 19 (the whole caution was a bit harsh but anyway) and i have not been in any trouble before or since that incident.

Im scared to hand in my notice at my current job incase the job offer gets withdrawn after they find out about the caution. They asked on the application "Do you have any unspent convictions/cautions to which i ticked NO as it should be spent by now. Basically can anyone offer any advice of have been in a similar situation as i'm worried sick and very confused as what to do.

Thanks.

Savvy_Sue

If they are only doing a 'standard' CRB check then I think the caution should be spent. If it's an enhanced check, nothing is ever really spent. So I'd be a bit proactive here, and find out who gets to see the disclosure when it comes back. (It should be someone within HR, I'd have thought, with a large company like BT.)

I would then either phone them and ask if it is standard or enhanced. Whichever it is, you could then go on to say that you had a caution, and be prepared to give the circumstances (both for what you were doing and why you accepted the caution); OR write to that person, marking it Private and Confidential, giving the same info.

It is far better to 'disclose' before the check is done than to not 'disclose' and something appears which the company were not expecting.

Do a search of the board for CRB and you'll find more advice, especially for future applications.

BTW, you're wise to wait for an unconditional offer before resigning!

andythecal

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

BTW, you're wise to wait for an unconditional offer before resigning!

I second this. The key here is "unconditional" - sometimes they send an offer "subject to references" and I know of people who have resigned based on this and then been turned down the day before they were due to start.

I would imagine your offence should be written off by now, but I know from experience where they've not been and they've come back to bite people in the bum.

No sense worrying about it though, you can't do anything either way, just play the waiting game.

GotToChange

Slightly aside: the types of job asking for CRB checks seem to be expanding without real reason as far as I can see (seriously, IT support?). Was the original purpose of these checks to weed out people convicted of offences regarding children? Just another potential filter....
OP, I wish you luck.

Oldernotwiser

I thought that cautions (unlike convictions) were never spent.

scooby088

Cautions never really get taken off your record but it is upto the chief constable what is disclosed on a CRB check, and it may still be disclosed after 5 years. but under the rehabilitation of offenders act 1974 you dont really need to disclose it on any application form.

MrsAtobe

GotToChange, I work in the top tier of IT support, and I've got more clearances than I can shake a stick at! One of the systems my company looks after deals with vulnerable children, so I can understand the need for caution. As we theoretically have access to the data, then yes, we need clearance to work on that system.

GotToChange

I see....

But I maintain that CRB as a blanket check can cause a problem. If a job involves access to information about or contact with children or other vulnerables, then checks should reflect that...not rule them out for some other reason (i.e. a shoplifting caution in mis-spent youth).
The OP doesn't mention what kind of IT support the role is, so, again, should it be the case that they are ruled out completely on the basis of a CRB check - at all? I maintain that a person who "fails" a CRB, enhanced or otherwise, will not get past the application stage (i.e. making mention of a conviction, arrest or caution), although if anyone has a story to disprove my theory, am happy to hear it.

Gordon_Hose

Cautions are "spent" as soon as they are issued (http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/privacy/spent-convictions-and-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders/how-a-conviction-becomes-spent.html), and will not show up on a basic CRB check. However they will show up on standard and advanced CRB checks.

So it all depends on the level of checking the employer is doing.

Savvy_Sue

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Cautions are "spent" as soon as they are issued (http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/privacy/spent-convictions-and-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders/how-a-conviction-becomes-spent.html), and will not show up on a basic CRB check. However they will show up on standard and advanced CRB checks.

So it all depends on the level of checking the employer is doing.

Didn't realise there were 3 levels, only knew of standard and enhanced - what's this 'basic' level?

MrsAtobe

Savvy_Sue, the following site gives details on the three levels:http://www.cbscreening.co.uk/crb-checks.

GotToChange, I agree that the results of these checks need to be interpreted. I have not failed one yet, but the security office where I work have always tld me to be honest on them. For example, I had a speeding fine that got taken off my license when I moved house 16 years ago, which still gets a mention .