Former employer not giving references

[EauDeChlorine]

Not sure what to do. When I resigned I got a nice email from them along the lines of Sorry you are leaving...valuable member of the team etc.
I now work in Civil Service. HR have been chasing the previous employer to no avail. I have tried to chase them myself and have been told that the person dealing with this has been sick for 2 weeks. The reference request was sent about 3-4 weeks ago.
I have informed by current HR department about that I had been told the person in question was off sick and given then the contact details for the companies MD.
I can’t think of anything else to do tbh. Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you

[ChicCroissant]

Companies don't have to give references so I don't think there is anything else you can do tbh.

[insancerre]

Character reference from somebody else?

[EauDeChlorine]

Due to the nature of the post character references have already been obtained and were all good.
I had no choice but to put the employer’s details down on the form. It was a recruitment on the form to put this down.
I’m worried this will have implications on my new job.

[Isleepinahedgefund]

Have you started work already? I can't imagine they would let you in without having reference that ticked their boxes.

[GrumpyHoonMain]

Can the HR dept give a basic reference ie time served / role etc?

[LLMD]

Will the new HR dept accept proof of employment in some other form?

Payslips or reference from a former colleague etc?

I work in HR and my organisation would accept that if a character reference went alongside it too.

[EauDeChlorine]

So far I have provided last 3 months payslips (before taking up the role) for vetting purposes. I have also sent in a copy of my P60 and the employer has also obtained a personal reference. I started my new job about 5 weeks ago.
I still have the copy of my employment contact from my previous employer but that is all I have.
I don’t understand why they are being so difficult now that I have left.

[EauDeChlorine]

Also it is not that they have said they won’t provide the reference. They are simply not responding. When I chased it myself a few weeks ago I got an email saying that it had been done yet because the person who deals with HR had been off sick for 2 weeks. If they were not going to respond then would they not just have said so? Why bother with the off sick scenario?

[Isleepinahedgefund]

What are they proposing to do if the reference isn't provided? Are they going to sack you?

[EauDeChlorine]

I don’t know tbh.
I’m hoping they will do a risk assessment if possible especially considering all the security clearances they already. I understand they are now trying to contact the MD of the company. Doubt anything will comeback but who knows.

[Isleepinahedgefund]

Did you go through an actual security clearance process (CTC, SC)? Sounds like SC (your pass would be yellow) if you needed to provide payslips - I’d imagine that would reassure them, as it’s more rigorous than usual baseline references etc and your former employer might have been contacted By NSV.

I would ask them what the stakes are ie what would happen if reference isn’t provided

I’ve never known anyone to start work in CS without sufficient clearance/pre employment checks already in place.