New Employment Pre-Screening - my rights - Please help?

jedeye99

Hello All.

I have been offered a new job in the IT sector by a well established and large British company.  As part of the on-boarding process, they have a pre-screening process carried out by another private third-party company for basic criminal checks also known as DBS and some basic financial checks such as CCJs etc.

As part of this process, they have asked me to provide ID documents such as passport, proof of address and record of previous 3 years of employment in the forms of pay-slips, P45, P60 etc for the start and end dates.  I have obliged with their request and have provided them with payslips and P45s, including P60 for all three of my past employment in the past 3 years.

However, there had been a gap of over 4 months between April 2021 and July 2021 where I was in between jobs and was not working and was just having some family time whilst I was looking for new work.  My new employer wants me to provide this third party private company who has offices in India when you call their customer service numbers, my "detailed bank" statements for those 4 months period to demonstrate and confirm that "there were no undisclosed employments or income".

Considering this third party company have people and offices working in India. I have serious concerns around data privacy and data protection as to who is processing this data, where it is stored, how it is shared etc.

Secondly, since this is not a full proper Security Clearance that is required for working in sensitive roles and carried out by government agencies, I am concerned that this demand by my new employer falls above and beyond the scope of this pre-screening employment checks.  To demand that I must prove them by disclosing my detailed bank statements for those 4 months to a private third-party company that I have not hidden any undisclosed income, despite the fact that I signed the electronic declaration on their online portal that I have provided and declared everything in full and truthfully and to the best of my knowledge, they are, by implication, accusing me of dishonesty and lying.  I am not sure if this is a legal request for me to prove my innocence without they have any evidence on me or against me.  All my DBS checks have come back ok and employment record and tax affairs are valid and nothing conspicuous.

My question to the good people of the forum is that is it legal and within law for a company to demand this level of scrutiny and investigation carried out by a private third party company where I have concerns over data privacy and data protection for basic DBS checks?  For the records, I have held in the recent past full security clearance.  I do not wish to disclose my bank statements to this new employer on the point of principal that in my understanding, I do not see how this is required in law.  I feel their policy goes above and beyond the scope of this screening process and invasion of my privacy and makes me feel like I am being treated as a suspect and criminal when I am not.  

Any and all expert opinions will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks very much.

TBagpuss

I think that they have to comply with GDPR in any event. However, if the purpose of the exercise is to show you don't have any additional employment then  you could supply redacted bank statements - e.g. black out details of money going out of the account, and the balance, so the statements as disclosed only show the source and amount of payments into the account, as presumably only money going in is relevant. You could also black out the first part of the bank account number as that would not be needed provided that they show your name and address so they can verify that it is your account. 

it does seem excessive and I think you can legitimately ask them why this is necessary given that the job is not one which requires high level checks. 

It seems odd that you are expected to disclose your income at all, it's legitimate for them to want your employment history but npt normally your full financial background .

Whether it is unlawful, however, is a very different issue and I suspect not.

TELLIT01

The request does seem excessive but assuming it's not illegal to demand this information you either need to comply or give up on the job.  As has been said, black out your bank details and all information about expenditure. 

Undervalued

jedeye99 said:

Hello All.

I have been offered a new job in the IT sector by a well established and large British company.  As part of the on-boarding process, they have a pre-screening process carried out by another private third-party company for basic criminal checks also known as DBS and some basic financial checks such as CCJs etc.

As part of this process, they have asked me to provide ID documents such as passport, proof of address and record of previous 3 years of employment in the forms of pay-slips, P45, P60 etc for the start and end dates.  I have obliged with their request and have provided them with payslips and P45s, including P60 for all three of my past employment in the past 3 years.

However, there had been a gap of over 4 months between April 2021 and July 2021 where I was in between jobs and was not working and was just having some family time whilst I was looking for new work.  My new employer wants me to provide this third party private company who has offices in India when you call their customer service numbers, my "detailed bank" statements for those 4 months period to demonstrate and confirm that "there were no undisclosed employments or income".

Considering this third party company have people and offices working in India. I have serious concerns around data privacy and data protection as to who is processing this data, where it is stored, how it is shared etc.

Secondly, since this is not a full proper Security Clearance that is required for working in sensitive roles and carried out by government agencies, I am concerned that this demand by my new employer falls above and beyond the scope of this pre-screening employment checks.  To demand that I must prove them by disclosing my detailed bank statements for those 4 months to a private third-party company that I have not hidden any undisclosed income, despite the fact that I signed the electronic declaration on their online portal that I have provided and declared everything in full and truthfully and to the best of my knowledge, they are, by implication, accusing me of dishonesty and lying.  I am not sure if this is a legal request for me to prove my innocence without they have any evidence on me or against me.  All my DBS checks have come back ok and employment record and tax affairs are valid and nothing conspicuous.

My question to the good people of the forum is that is it legal and within law for a company to demand this level of scrutiny and investigation carried out by a private third party company where I have concerns over data privacy and data protection for basic DBS checks?  For the records, I have held in the recent past full security clearance.  I do not wish to disclose my bank statements to this new employer on the point of principal that in my understanding, I do not see how this is required in law.  I feel their policy goes above and beyond the scope of this screening process and invasion of my privacy and makes me feel like I am being treated as a suspect and criminal when I am not.  

Any and all expert opinions will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks very much.

With very few exceptions, which as far as I can see don't apply here, a potential employer can ask for whatever information they like.

It is not a case of "how this is required in law" as you put it, but rather a case of does the law prohibit this request? 

I am sure you are not "a suspect and a criminal" but they don't know that and are trying to protect themselves but finding out!

MacMickster

I suspect that they want to check that your explanation for the gap in your employment history is correct and that you aren't simply hiding an additional employment which ended badly, and from whom you don't want them seeking a reference.  If you had such an employment then your bank statements would likely show your wages being deposited.

If you supply the requested statements then be prepared to have to explain and provide evidence of the source of any deposits shown on those statements.

Of course, you don't have to agree to submit the requested bank statements but, equally, the company don't have to proceed with their offer of employment to you.  Only you can decide how much your privacy is worth to you.

Marcon

MacMickster said:

I suspect that they want to check that your explanation for the gap in your employment history is correct and that you aren't simply hiding an additional employment which ended badly, and from whom you don't want them seeking a reference.  If you had such an employment then your bank statements would likely show your wages being deposited.

If you supply the requested statements then be prepared to have to explain and provide evidence of the source of any deposits shown on those statements.

Of course, you don't have to agree to submit the requested bank statements but, equally, the company don't have to proceed with their offer of employment to you.  Only you can decide how much your privacy is worth to you.

....although that pre-supposes an applicant only has one bank account, of course....!

OP - if you really don't want to disclose this information, explain your concern to your potential employer, ask if this information is required simply to prove you weren't working, and if so, could you provide confirmation by making a Subject Access Request to HMRC and sending them the relevant information from that?  https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/DPU_SAR_NI?_ga=2.230026460.1544670040.1621021753-1315656139.1609178084

jedeye99

Hi Thank you to all and each of you who provided with the advice and opinion.  Much Appreciated!  I am a little surprised, I must admit that there seems to be a consensus among all the opinions offered that an employer can request or ask for whatever information they want and then withdraw the offer if one fails to comply.  Where is the line drawn then?  For instance, can an employer arbitrarily demand for a full health record from your GP for any number of years based on the fact that they may suspect that the new potential employee is hiding an illness or disability and then make the threat that the offer will be withdrawn if not complied?  I do not see much difference between the two scenario, in principal.  This also leaves the validity and logic of legal declaration in question that one signs digitally online.  Basically, it implies that we do not believe you, and although we have not found anything out of the ordinary in our checks but you must comply with this and this additionally to satisfy our further suspicions.  Surely, they can initiate a full SC clearance carried out by the government agency, if the role demands this level of scrutiny and one should be obliged to comply as required by law.

Undervalued

jedeye99 said:

Hi Thank you to all and each of you who provided with the advice and opinion.  Much Appreciated!  I am a little surprised, I must admit that there seems to be a consensus among all the opinions offered that an employer can request or ask for whatever information they want and then withdraw the offer if one fails to comply.  Where is the line drawn then?  For instance, can an employer arbitrarily demand for a full health record from your GP for any number of years based on the fact that they may suspect that the new potential employee is hiding an illness or disability and then make the threat that the offer will be withdrawn if not complied?  I do not see much difference between the two scenario, in principal.  This also leaves the validity and logic of legal declaration in question that one signs digitally online.  Basically, it implies that we do not believe you, and although we have not found anything out of the ordinary in our checks but you must comply with this and this additionally to satisfy our further suspicions.  Surely, they can initiate a full SC clearance carried out by the government agency, if the role demands this level of scrutiny and one should be obliged to comply as required by law.

The general principle of English law is that you can do anything you like unless there is a law to prohibit it.

An employer is not allowed to discriminate on a limited number of protected grounds (race, religion, gender etc etc although even within these there are some limited exceptions). Beyond that, choosing who to employ or promote etc is, by its very nature discrimination - just not unlawful discrimination. 

To that end they can ask (almost) whatever questions they like. That said there are some questions it would be unwise to ask as, although not unlawful in themselves, they could leave themselves open to claims of unlawful discrimination.

DullGreyGuy

jedeye99 said:

Hi Thank you to all and each of you who provided with the advice and opinion.  Much Appreciated!  I am a little surprised, I must admit that there seems to be a consensus among all the opinions offered that an employer can request or ask for whatever information they want and then withdraw the offer if one fails to comply.  Where is the line drawn then?  For instance, can an employer arbitrarily demand for a full health record from your GP for any number of years based on the fact that they may suspect that the new potential employee is hiding an illness or disability and then make the threat that the offer will be withdrawn if not complied?  I do not see much difference between the two scenario, in principal.  This also leaves the validity and logic of legal declaration in question that one signs digitally online.  Basically, it implies that we do not believe you, and although we have not found anything out of the ordinary in our checks but you must comply with this and this additionally to satisfy our further suspicions.  Surely, they can initiate a full SC clearance carried out by the government agency, if the role demands this level of scrutiny and one should be obliged to comply as required by law.

What industry is your potential employer in?

For example the Financial Conduct Authority expects that all financial service company employees (from post boy to receptionist to CEO) are "fit and proper". The recommendation, in part, to show this is that investigations are made into any period of unemployment over 28 days. 

As has been highlighted, the main concern is that you are hiding the fact you were sacked for gross misconduct by not listing a job and claiming it was a career break. They will ask for all bank account statements for the period to see how you were funding yourself... savings, fine... some undeclared salary coming in? More questions will be asked. 

In theory they could ask for access to medical records however disability discrimination is illegal and so assuming we are talking a job in IT or an office etc then you would be hard pushed to justify the need and avoid allegations of discrimination. Even if the claimant cannot prove it was discrimination it gives the ammunition to argue the case and that costs enough to defend. 

MalMonroe

jedeye99 said:

Hello All.

I have been offered a new job in the IT sector by a well established and large British company.  As part of the on-boarding process, they have a pre-screening process carried out by another private third-party company for basic criminal checks also known as DBS and some basic financial checks such as CCJs etc.

As part of this process, they have asked me to provide ID documents such as passport, proof of address and record of previous 3 years of employment in the forms of pay-slips, P45, P60 etc for the start and end dates.  I have obliged with their request and have provided them with payslips and P45s, including P60 for all three of my past employment in the past 3 years.

However, there had been a gap of over 4 months between April 2021 and July 2021 where I was in between jobs and was not working and was just having some family time whilst I was looking for new work.  My new employer wants me to provide this third party private company who has offices in India when you call their customer service numbers, my "detailed bank" statements for those 4 months period to demonstrate and confirm that "there were no undisclosed employments or income".

Considering this third party company have people and offices working in India. I have serious concerns around data privacy and data protection as to who is processing this data, where it is stored, how it is shared etc.

Secondly, since this is not a full proper Security Clearance that is required for working in sensitive roles and carried out by government agencies, I am concerned that this demand by my new employer falls above and beyond the scope of this pre-screening employment checks.  To demand that I must prove them by disclosing my detailed bank statements for those 4 months to a private third-party company that I have not hidden any undisclosed income, despite the fact that I signed the electronic declaration on their online portal that I have provided and declared everything in full and truthfully and to the best of my knowledge, they are, by implication, accusing me of dishonesty and lying.  I am not sure if this is a legal request for me to prove my innocence without they have any evidence on me or against me.  All my DBS checks have come back ok and employment record and tax affairs are valid and nothing conspicuous.

My question to the good people of the forum is that is it legal and within law for a company to demand this level of scrutiny and investigation carried out by a private third party company where I have concerns over data privacy and data protection for basic DBS checks?  For the records, I have held in the recent past full security clearance.  I do not wish to disclose my bank statements to this new employer on the point of principal that in my understanding, I do not see how this is required in law.  I feel their policy goes above and beyond the scope of this screening process and invasion of my privacy and makes me feel like I am being treated as a suspect and criminal when I am not.  

Any and all expert opinions will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks very much.

Well I'm wondering if this is a job for MI5 or some secret spy agency? Or if they're paying a one million pound salary p.a. The points I've highlighted above would be of concern to me. Many people have had breaks in their working life, me included. We just explain that's what happened. We had a break. It should not be a cause for concern, nor be a big deal. Suspicious employers may think you were in prison during that time but the DBS check should have cleared that up since it's pretty rigorous. See info in the following link. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about

An employer can ask prospective employees whatever they like. It doesn't mean that prospective employees have to provide any information they are uncomfortable about disclosing. And an employer has to be open and transparent about their reasons for asking for that information, as well as being consistent and treating all prospective employees in the same way. 

If you are not happy with this employer (I wouldn't be) then you can ask them why they are so nosy and whether or not all prospective employees have to provide such information. 

It seems very strange that this employer is prepared to pay for not only a DBS check but also for a separate company to carry out checks on prospective employees. Without any explanation as to why. It seems like a big waste of money to me.

You could always contact acas to see what they say.  https://www.acas.org.uk/contact

I'm afraid if it were me I'd not be wanting to work for this particular company. If they are so meticulous and particular about recruitment, can you imagine what working for them will be like?  Especially if they were, in a roundabout and sneaky way, suspecting that I'd lied at any point.

I agree with you when you say "I feel their policy goes above and beyond the scope of this screening process and invasion of my privacy and makes me feel like I am being treated as a suspect and criminal when I am not." It's not on. If you were being appointed as a bodyguard to the King, then yes, maybe. But I don't think you are. Are there any other available jobs in the IT sector?

Obviously this is all my own thought and opinion but I'd definitely ask them why they need to duplicate checks (DBS AND a third party company) for starters. 

Good luck with everything. 

tightauldgit

TELLIT01 said:

The request does seem excessive but assuming it's not illegal to demand this information you either need to comply or give up on the job.  As has been said, black out your bank details and all information about expenditure. 

Not only excessive but also a bit pointless - all of my payments for spying work for the Chinese government go into a separate bank account which I don't use for Tescos shopping.