Civil service job offer problems 8 September 2022 at 5:18PM edited 8 September 2022 at 5:18PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 7 replies 425 views

L21P

Posting on behalf of my partner. He's had a job offer for a relatively senior civil service role pending for 2-3 months, they have just agreed a start date early next year due to long notice periods. They have now said he will have to start on a temporary contract until the security check is complete. If its not satisfactory he will be terminated from his new job! He currently has a secure, permanent, well paid job which they are expecting him to quit at risk pending a check he has no control over. My questions are 1) is this normal 2) is there a way round it and 3) do right minded people ever actually do this (especially in the current climate)? Who are CS normally recruiting, graduates and people on career breaks? How else could this be acceptable?

Just looking for other people's experiences and still in shock! 

Thanks! 

sammyjammy

Its completely normal, only someone at risk of failing a security check would baulk at this.

L21P

sammyjammy said:

Its completely normal, only someone at risk of failing a security check would baulk at this.

Thanks for replying.
He hasn't been told what's involved yet so can't really make that judgement. He doesn't have anything to hide but you do read about people who have failed and have no idea why. I just wonder why anyone would take the *even very small* risk. In industry/private sector this is so unusual that it would be a complete red flag to avoid that company. 

MalMonroe

Hi, my brother has just retired from a job in the civil service and his wife retired from the civil service last year.

Both had to go through a similar process - and that was around 30 years ago so I'd guess it's fairly normal. In fact, following interview and strenuous testing, my brother had to wait for three months to be told he was acceptable.

Has your partner received a firm job offer or is it provisional, pending the outcome of the security check? 

They will usually provisionally offer a job and then it takes a few weeks for all the security checks to be completed. For a senior post it will take around three months, sometimes up to 18 weeks according to information online.

Unless the security check throws up anything extremely unacceptable, your partner should be okay. And hopefully won't be required to hand in his notice at the job he has now until he's cleared.

Anyone who endures the strenuous and challenging CS recruitment process is a star, in my opinion! It's far too strict and regimented for me but I do admire anyone who can do it. And once in, it's a job for life - or at least it was for both my relatives. With a great pension at the end. 

I think your partner is to be congratulated. Basically it is normal for the CS and yes, people do it. 

If your partner has any doubts whatsoever though, maybe he could contact the CS and ask if he could have a chat with someone who could help him and give him all the facts. Then, with more information, he'll be able to consider/reconsider his decision. They don't mind people asking very relevant and important questions.

L21P

MalMonroe said:

Hi, my brother has just retired from a job in the civil service and his wife retired from the civil service last year.

Both had to go through a similar process - and that was around 30 years ago so I'd guess it's fairly normal. In fact, following interview and strenuous testing, my brother had to wait for three months to be told he was acceptable.

Has your partner received a firm job offer or is it provisional, pending the outcome of the security check? 

They will usually provisionally offer a job and then it takes a few weeks for all the security checks to be completed. For a senior post it will take around three months, sometimes up to 18 weeks according to information online.

Unless the security check throws up anything extremely unacceptable, your partner should be okay. And hopefully won't be required to hand in his notice at the job he has now until he's cleared.

Anyone who endures the strenuous and challenging CS recruitment process is a star, in my opinion! It's far too strict and regimented for me but I do admire anyone who can do it. And once in, it's a job for life - or at least it was for both my relatives. With a great pension at the end. 

I think your partner is to be congratulated. Basically it is normal for the CS and yes, people do it. 

If your partner has any doubts whatsoever though, maybe he could contact the CS and ask if he could have a chat with someone who could help him and give him all the facts. Then, with more information, he'll be able to consider/reconsider his decision. They don't mind people asking very relevant and important questions.

Thanks for replying. He has received a firm job offer but subject to the security check being ok, which he hasn't started and doesn't know much about. He would need to resign tomorrow without an unconditional job offer and potentialy start without full clearance.  If something is thrown up by the check he would be dismissed and we would struggle to pay the mortgage on one salary and he's thrown away his current secure job for nothing. Hope that make sense!

He's a hero in my eyes, my current employer took 5 weeks from application to firm offer and it made me twitchy and impatient!!! 

TELLIT01

Whether or not the job was officially described as temporary, there is little job security until 2 years of employment.  During that period they could terminate his employment without having to provide any explanation.  Checks are going to be looking for things like criminal record, potentially any social media info which could be seen as anti-establishment etc.  It all depends on the specific job role.  When I worked at DWP a bunch of people were taken on before all checks had been completed, and one of them was literally marched off the premises when something untoward was discovered.  It can happen, but is unlikely.

Marcon

Thanks for replying. He has received a firm job offer but subject to the security check being ok, which he hasn't started and doesn't know much about. 

What level of security clearance is required for this post - there are varying ones, and he could easily check online what is involved at the different levels: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/709162/Vetting_Clearance_Guidance.pdf

Andy_L

L21P said:

Posting on behalf of my partner. He's had a job offer for a relatively senior civil service role pending for 2-3 months, they have just agreed a start date early next year due to long notice periods. They have now said he will have to start on a temporary contract until the security check is complete. If its not satisfactory he will be terminated from his new job! He currently has a secure, permanent, well paid job which they are expecting him to quit at risk pending a check he has no control over. My questions are 1) is this normal 2) is there a way round it and 3) do right minded people ever actually do this (especially in the current climate)? Who are CS normally recruiting, graduates and people on career breaks? How else could this be acceptable?

Just looking for other people's experiences and still in shock! 

Thanks! 

1 Yes
2 No
3 Yes

It is unusual for people to fail the security check - people who know they will fail self-select themselves out of applying.