employer wants proof of time off?

sann420 · 30 April 2018 at 11:56PM

Hi All,

I have recently joined an Investment bank in the IT department.

At the end of 2016 I left my then employer and was jobless for about 10 months. During this time I did travelling etc but never claimed any benefits. Then I joined another company for a couple of months where things didn't work out and I got a job with my current employer.

Now my current employer has done all the criminal checks etc + employment refs + education checks and they have all come through fine.

But now they want me to be accountable for the 10 months that I did not work. Since I did not claim any job seeker allowance during this time my employer wants me to go to HMRC and get a employment history certificate and submit it to them.

My question is: Are they within their rights to ask for this ? and what is the point of this? I have asked them repeatedly why they need to know what I was doing during my time off and they just keep saying its for compliance reasons.

With the current environment of data leaks etc I do not feel comfortable giving them this info without a solid reason. Am I within my rights to question this request specially given that their verification department operates out of a non EU country and all my personal info will be dispersed all over the world for no good reason.

I do not have anything to hide but its a matter of principle. I try to give out my personal info only on a well needed basis and they have not given me a valid reason apart from internal compliance.

I have checked this website https://www.gov.uk/employers-checks-job-applicants and it does not mention any sort of request by employer to show employment history from HMRC etc.

What are your thoughts on this?

Cheers,

[Deleted User] · 1 May 2018 at 2:46AM

Just give it to them if you want to keep the job!

They can ask anything they want that isn't for discriminatory purposes. They want to check where you where and what you were doing to protect themselves in case you are a money launderer or worse.

t0rt0ise · 1 May 2018 at 6:59AM

My job asked for this too for a few weeks before starting the job. I got the relevant details from the tax office. It arrived very quickly. The alternative they would accept was bank statements showing no salary going in.

seashore22 · 1 May 2018 at 7:01AM

I think that your new employers want proof that you haven't just missed out a previous employment for some reason, which is fair enough really. Some people will do this to hide an employment issue which may impact getting a new job.

Not saying that it's what you have done, but it makes sense to give your new employers what they have asked for. Why wouldn't you?

getmore4less · 1 May 2018 at 8:12AM

Then I joined another company for a couple of months

that was on the employment history you submitted to the current application.

The company has your employment history, the HMRC records won't add any more information(or will it?).

micky2phones · 1 May 2018 at 8:38AM

Just tell them what you told us, you say IT job does or could that have anything to do with DATA, as theres a big change due.

Plus all the hacking cases, maybe they are being careful ?

seashore22 · 1 May 2018 at 9:36AM

micky2phones wrote: »

Just tell them what you told us, you say IT job does or could that have anything to do with DATA, as theres a big change due.

Plus all the hacking cases, maybe they are being careful ?

I really, really think it's to do with employment history. As simple as that. Being unemployed and not claiming benefits for that period is relatively unusual and if the op doesn't cooperate it will look even worse. It's a pattern that makes alarm bells ring to an employer and, if there's nothing to hide, op would be silly to dig their heels in.

TELLIT01 · 1 May 2018 at 9:43AM

If the OP went travelling they wouldn't be able to claim benefits, but I understand why the employer wants more information. HMRC info could indicate that there had been employment which hasn't been declared.

seashore22 · 1 May 2018 at 9:48AM

TELLIT01 wrote: »

If the OP went travelling they wouldn't be able to claim benefits, but I understand why the employer wants more information. HMRC info could indicate that there had been employment which hasn't been declared.

Exactly. The employer sees two scenarios here - the op was unemployed and decided to go travelling or they were employed and have decided to leave it off their CV for whatever reason The employer wants to see which it is and decide whether they want to employ the op after all. I imagine if the op carries on being obstructive they will be unemployed again very soon.

shortcrust · 1 May 2018 at 9:54AM

They want to see if employment history has been omitted, like the two month job that didn’t work out.

Is the OP worried about data security, or worried they’ll have to explain why they’ve fiddled their CV?

Gavin83 · 1 May 2018 at 10:11AM

I guess it depends on how much you want the job. As long as you've been 100% honest with them (I assume you have?) then you'll be fine.

employer wants proof of time off?

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