Sending copies of Passport/ID documents to Recruitment Agencies

LLOYDA01

For most people, this is not an issue of wishing to conceal their identity, or of having something to hide. Its an appreciation of the genuine need to take whatever steps possible to protect themselves against the very real practice of identity theft.

I am a senior IT consultant, and after 18 years with one employer happened to see a job with a major UK bank advertised on a recruitment agency website.

I sent off my CV with a covering letter email, and have since interviewed and been offered the job. As you would expect, banks are especially stringent about conducting ID and background checks, and all of these checks were completed with photocopies of my passport stored by them before the job was offered.

The recruitment agency have then requested my passport to take a copy, as well as a signed form to say I agree to them passing it on anywhere they wish, but this is only after I have secured the new job and the new employer has completed all of the ID and background checks necessary (including references from the employer of 18 years that I am leaving).

Should proving my eligibility to work with the company that are employing me be enough to satify legislation?

brightonman123

i would only feel safe by showing docs yo agency staff in person.. getting them by email means (imo) they havent properly checked to see if genuine..?

liney

LLOYDA01 wrote: »

For most people, this is not an issue of wishing to conceal their identity, or of having something to hide. Its an appreciation of the genuine need to take whatever steps possible to protect themselves against the very real practice of identity theft.

I am a senior IT consultant, and after 18 years with one employer happened to see a job with a major UK bank advertised on a recruitment agency website.

I sent off my CV with a covering letter email, and have since interviewed and been offered the job. As you would expect, banks are especially stringent about conducting ID and background checks, and all of these checks were completed with photocopies of my passport stored by them before the job was offered.

The recruitment agency have then requested my passport to take a copy, as well as a signed form to say I agree to them passing it on anywhere they wish, but this is only after I have secured the new job and the new employer has completed all of the ID and background checks necessary (including references from the employer of 18 years that I am leaving).

Should proving my eligibility to work with the company that are employing me be enough to satify legislation?

If the agency does not check elegibility to work in the UK for any permanent placements and the client companies are aware that this is their process so have to perform the checks themselves, then that's fine.

The issue is that you have to take these documents at the same stage in the application for every candidate regardless of Nationality. Would you want to get to the end of an application to find that the person you have selected does not have a valid Visa? You can't only request British passports upon offer because that would be racial discrimination for which there is no upper limit for compensation.

It worries me that being a consultant for 18 years you would not know this, to be honest.

liney

brightonman123 wrote: »

i would only feel safe by showing docs yo agency staff in person.. getting them by email means (imo) they havent properly checked to see if genuine..

You are supposed to have seen an origional document, although if you can only see a scan initially, but have the interviewer check it in person if they get to that point I doubt you will hang.

Src1_3

:A

dmg24 wrote: »

If you are not going to believe anyone, why not go and do your own research?

I hate to think what you would be like when you get a job!

Given that ID fraud is so prevalent these days, giving copies of passports to Recruitment agencies who are simply introducing the jobseeker to the potential employer is foolish and I would not do it.

The only reason Recruitment agencies want passport details is so that they can charge the potential employer for CRB checks.

There is absolutely no purpose for it anyway. If the person is offered the position and accepts it then they would provide a passport directly to the employer for ID purposes anyway.

Yorkie1

I would decline to email a copy, simply for the reason that email is not secure and it is personal data. I would, however, be more than willing to provide the original in person for it to be copied and stored securely by the company.