Withdrawal of Employment offer - Advice needed

Undervalued

The OP has said

I am an administrator for a recruitment company

so it seems unlikely (although not impossible) that her employment is exempt under the act.

I suspect (hope for the OP's sake) that the firm have made a bit of a bobo here!

ljrees

our temps range from receptionists to public sector workers. But as I place these they would all pass out CRB checks!

ljrees

Have looked on disclosure scotland at it looks as though they follow the rules of the residing country when processing CRB checks. Does anyone know what the differences between disclosure scotland and DBS checks are? In the email from HR they said the rules for DBS do not apply, but I do not know enough about this to go back to them. I really want to fight my corner on this one and am unsure where to start.

pioneer22

Does the contract or application form say the role is exempt from the rehabilitation of offenders act?

ljrees

No it doesn't and as I am already temping in the role I didnt have an application form, only an offer letter and contract, neither of them mention this blanket policy they keep referring to.

ljrees

this is on the offer letter - Pre-Employment Screening
As a policy, AMS conducts pre-employment screening on all our candidates before they join us. This offer
is conditional on your successful completion of that screening, to the satisfaction of AMS. We use an
external supplier to conduct these checks on our behalf, and we do ask that you co-operate fully with their
requests for information. Should we receive notification that you have not passed this screening process,
we reserve the right to terminate your employment with immediate effect. In such circumstances, no
payment in lieu of notice will be made.

Pre-employment screening
The most critical step is to start your pre-employment screening. This is essential for AMS as we have a number of
internal and client obligations to ensure our employees are appropriately screened before they start work. Delays in
screening can lead to your start date being pushed back.
You should have received an email from our screening partner, Verifile, with links to the online screening system.
Please follow the online instructions carefully as the screening process cannot begin until you have provided all of
the required information. Please make sure you scan and upload the signed declaration of consent together with a
proof of address (copy of utility bill or bank statement dated in the last 3 months). Verifile will contact you if any
additional information or clarity is required.
Required documentation
Please complete and return the following documents:
 Offer – needs to be signed and dated
 Contract – needs to be signed and dated
 Personal Information Form – This information allows us to set up a HR record for you and feeds into
payroll / benefits / technology set up.
 P46 (this needs to be filled out if you don’t have a P45) – This is required to set up payroll. A P46 is
only required if you don’t have a P45 available.
 AMS Employment Declaration – This is part of the pre-employment screening process.

patman99

Where do you live/work ?. If in England/Wales, then surely your employers should be using DBS rather than Disclosure Scotland.

ljrees

i work in England. Am unsure why they said DBS rules do not apply, surely the law is the law?!

whitewing

It very much sounds to me that the company is at fault.

The question is, what do you do about it?

If you are temping, are you doing that via an agency? If so, maybe you need to clearly and dispassionately talk it through with the agency. (They would stand to lose financially if you lose the temping or permanent job, presumably).

There is also a case for doing nothing and seeing if the company make the right decision by themselves. The advantage here being that there is no conflict between yourself and the company.
If the company do terminate the contract then ask to be reinstated, and give well-researched reasons, potentially getting your MP involved as this will affect other constituents. Even if you are not 100% clear of the legalities, you could still put your specific questions as to the legalities in a letter to them so they have to look into it. Just be very careful to keep the communication ultra-professional and neutral.

System

The reason for using DS is that it is possible for both the person and their employer to obtain a basic disclosure just by requesting it and paying the fee. With the DBS the employer has the hassle of jumping through hoops and getting their organisation approved for requesting data from DBS.