Question Re:Employment agency

littleminx_2

I have been registered with an agency since June, with the promise of lots of work, only to be told one of my references from a previous employer is incomplete. I am now registering with another agency and also filling out lots of applications for Teaching Assistant posts, my question is , are the agency obliged to provide me with my refs and my CRB, which i paid for myself?

Many thanks

InsideInsurance

Do you mean a reference for the work you did for the agency or the references they received from your former employers?

TBH, the answer to both is no they are under no obligation to.

For the CRB I dont know the legalities. From what I understand your new employer has to do one anyway and cannot accept a previous one done elsewhere but I could be wrong

littleminx_2

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, i meant refs from my college tutor and my mentor while i attended my placement at a school.

Really miffed that i have only just paid for my CRB and do not get to keep it.

scooby088

OP you should also be sent a copy of your CRB, an agency who employ you should pay for it or you apply and the cost reimbursed to you. As for references it's very rare that an employer would let you see them, but I would imagine that you could use a freedom of information request if you really want to look at your references.

InsideInsurance

scooby088 wrote: »

but I would imagine that you could use a freedom of information request if you really want to look at your references.

Freedom of Information only applied to public sector/ body and cannot involve personal data. So unless the agency is a public body this isnt close to an option.

If you mean the Data Protection Act and Subject Access Request, then you can request from the agency (as they received the references) but there are circumstances under which they can refuse to release them. You have no rights at all to seeing them from the people that wrote the references as they are excluded under the DPA

Who?_me?

The new agency will contact your referees again, if you think that there may be a problem, contact your referees yourself and check that they are OK to do them.
The CRB you paid for, you will get a copy of in the post to your home, and you can use that with other agencies, the first agency should offer portablity on it, which means you sign a form to say that new agency can get the CRB of the origional agency. You just take a copy of your CRB to your new agency. It is only employer direct ones that you often can't use for other businesses.
All agencies promise lots of work, and none of them deliver, all jobs advertised you will find have magically disappeared to someone else, but they have lots more, or so they will tell you. Register with lots of agencies, bug them to get work, but you really need to check with your referees that they are willing and able to do them. They may never have been asked for them.

scooby088

InsideInsurance wrote: »

If you mean the Data Protection Act and Subject Access Request, then you can request from the agency (as they received the references) but there are circumstances under which they can refuse to release them. You have no rights at all to seeing them from the people that wrote the references as they are excluded under the DPA

Yes that's what I meant bit confused there.