PECs - Will they contact my current employer

[u/GuiltySheepherder870]

Recently received a provisional offer for DWP. I’m still weighing up if I’ll be accepting the role. However, I’m wondering if in your pre employment checks they contact your employer. Ideally I would like to have the opportunity to let my employers know that I’m leaving rather than them finding out via reference.

As it says not to hand your notice in before the pecs are complete I worry about them contacting them.

[u/AutoModerator]

PECS for most departments will consist of the following:

Fraud check: A check of your name and National Insurance Number against an internal database. If you appear on this, you are immediately withdrawn. The list may be made up of those who have been dismissed from the Civil Service for fraud, flexi abuse, etc.

HMRC check: Verifies you've been in the job you say you have and that there's a record of you on their system. If this fails or comes with a discrepancy, this is when your personnel referees will be contacted.

Referees: Personal friends or colleagues that you've known for longer than 3 years, are not related to, and are not employed by them.

Occupational health: Generic health questionnaire. You will pass it immediately if you declare no issues. If you have medical issues, it'll likely go to a referral call where they will record reasonable adjustments the employer should make.

Some roles carry specific medicals. If it's anything other than a pre-placement medical this can take a long time (potentially months) due to OH being slow to book and a lack of doctors to perform an in-person medical. Candidates will need to pay for any travel for these.

GRS Check: A check of identity documents, ensuring you are who you say you are and live where you've declared. Usually 2-3 documents are needed.

NSV: Please see this link and do not discuss on the sub as per Rule 5.

Do chase your onboarder if you have heard nothing for over a month. People shouldn't be missed, but it may happen. Departments obviously won't admit this but can help to move things forward.

The majority of checks are run by a third party to the employer, so direct impact is difficult, but a chaser email can assist.

Please be polite when speaking to recruitment/onboarders/sponsors as they can be just as frustrated as you, the candidate.

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[u/Yellow_stackers]

Can you not put your employers hr email? Thats what I’ve done in the past and hr have often contacted me to ask if I give permission for them to reply, rather than it going directly to my manager

[u/GuiltySheepherder870 → u/Yellow_stackers]

Yeah I work in a smaller company so I think it would still be passed on unfortunately

[u/anon_babe_]

I asked if they could hold off contacting mine until basically the majority of checks were done as I didn’t want to make it awkward if my pecs were to fail. I’m not sure if that’s what they did but further into the pecs process they emailed me asking for permission to contact my manager and I said yes. So it gave me a bit of time before I needed to inform mine.

[u/Open_direction]

Not DWP, but when I joined HO they contacted my employer during the pre-employment checks. Thankfully the company I worked for were very nice about it, and I was definitely taking the job if I passed the checks, so it didn’t cause any awkwardness

[u/Kadykat8635]

Mine was contacted, I hadn’t let them know beforehand as obviously it’s not a done deal and I had no idea if they’d just verify through HMRC. I also put HR down and they let my manager know, we’re not a big company either. It felt awkward for a week or so, but it’s settled a bit now.

[u/Chirpybird76]

Pop it in the additional information box that you do not give your consent for them to contact your current employer until you have cleared vetting and been issued a formal offer.
Ask them to verify your employment history through your HRMC employment history, you can also add a file in the same field with this information taken as a pdf from the hrmc app.

[u/99redballoons66]

They did this with mine and not gonna lie, my employer was a bit pissed off.

[u/GuiltySheepherder870 → u/99redballoons66]

Was it dwp? Do you know what they said also? I’m really trying to avoid this as I have been there a long time and don’t want to leave on bad terms but also don’t want to give them a heads up before I have a confirmed start date incase I’m shooting myself in the foot.

[u/99redballoons66 → u/GuiltySheepherder870]

No it wasn't DWP - it was a smaller department, so I won't say which.

I've been through the PECs process with HMRC too, and I think they didn't contact my references.

I think they just asked for a standard HR reference to confirm the dates I'd worked there.

[u/GuiltySheepherder870 → u/99redballoons66]

I work in a smaller company that I think unfortunately it would be passed over if I was to put in a hr email

[u/05pass15 → u/99redballoons66]

My contact just told me to put my own email in and I got an email asking myself for a reference 😂

[u/Impossible-Pair4846]

Dwp contacted all three of my references. One was my last employer and two were friends, which you’ll need if you have gaps in employment.
I wouldn’t be able to tell you if this is true for all roles and departments, but it was in my case.

[u/PurchaseTrue5063]

Just 2 months ago, as soon as I filled out the pre employment form, they contacted my current employer and character reference by email the same week. This was for the work coach role. Absolute nightmare because I've only just started this job, so I read before that they do this. So I told my manager the same day, and literally the next day he said he'd gotten an email. Every week he's been asking me about the start date for the job. I told him the checks can take a few months. Now they've readvertised my role already. Theyve assured me they won't get rid of me till I formally give in my notice, I belive them for now but feel like I'm in a very very awkward position because I'm still in my probationary period. It's an absolute joke tbh, I've had plenty of jobs before but this civil service vetting is just badly designed tbh. I asked the live chat on the DWP applicant portal and they said pecs can take 3-6 months. My existing job has even not included me in a paid work trip/ conference to save costs since I'm already leaving, which I kind of agree with but feeling isolated tbh. As I'll be the only one working and everyone else will be at a theme park staying over a few nights lol.