Employment Background Check

CaoimheK101

Hi there,

I have just been offered a new job and the employer has said that they will run a background check which could take up to 4 weeks. I have never heard of this before – the job is in media.
I am only in the UK 1 and a half years and so, do not have much of a credit score built up – will this hinder me? She did mention that they would run a credit check too which seems a bit strange to me?

Thanks in advance!

sangie595

A background check isn't a credit check - it's a check on criminal and employment history. I can't see that they will be able to learn very much if you are from overseas. But that could be a problem as many companies would fail someone whose background isn't checkable.

TBagpuss

Employers are now required to check that employees have the right to work in the UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide. It may be that this is (at least in part0 what they are doing.

Credit checks are becoming more common, particularly for employees in the finacial sector or those who will be handling money. Some employers may chose to do the same checks for all new employees.

I would anticipate that the credit check would mostly be to see whether you appear to have financial probelms which might mean you were a bigger risk in terms of getting depertate and trying to steal from your employer. I am not sure what exactly would sho on a credit check of this kind, but if you are concerned, you could speak to the new employer and say that it may be sparse due to you only having been in the country for 18 months - you might be able to offer to provide your own report which may be more detailed (I know if you apply for your own record, it lists your credit cards etc and shows any missed payments etc - I suspect thatone obtained by an employer would be less detailed and might not clearly distinguish between a low score due to limited hsitory and a low scoredue to lots of debt and defaults.)

CaoimheK101

Sangie595 - Thanks for this but the company in question has confirmed that as part of their background check, they will host a credit check - which I thought peculiar! We shall see what happens!

CaoimheK101

Thanks TBagpuss!