Security clearance. Mind your own business

[Nonofyourbusiness]

Name changed for obvious reasons.
Dh has been told that his security clearance needs renewing. He’s worked for the same employer for years, so no idea why it needs to be revised. Nothing has changed. He isn’t applying for a job with higher security.
Anyway, he needs me to fill in the section about my financial security. I agreed, thinking it would be the usual, ‘how much do you earn, what are your outgoings’, etc, but I was surprised to see questions on the value of my jewellery and car. Questions on my credit card limits and questions on investments, ISA’s, etc. Can I refuse to answer them. It’s none of their business. Neither of us have any debt and we both have healthy credit scores. I really don’t understand why they need such in depth info. Any ideas?

Is he in financial services?

even then, I think these things have got way out of hand.

Totally agree with you. I'd want to understand FULLY why they think they need this info (presumably if your husband is James Bond or something this could be argued to be relevant if they're worried about blackmail or something). I'd be thinking about GDPR , privacy and also they can get stuffed frankly. Or I'd lie and claim I was a zillionaire.

I'm guessing if you earn £10k a year but have £10billion of jewellery its pretty clear warning that they need to look at where its come from?

Could he be upgrading to (or put forward for) DV (Deep or Developed Vetting) clearance?

Financial questions could signpost to vulnerability of either partner for bribery if the clearance level is being raised.

DH has had various SC & DV clearances, it is what it is.

I had years of these sorts of question getting SC clearance and then DV.

The way to look at it is they already know, banks can be trawled, credit scores obtained, internet history looked into.

No point objecting to it, unless he wishes to change jobs.

For my security clearance they wanted the address of my Dad's ex girlfriend he split up with 20 years ago.

I was 42 at the time.

Could not understand how this was relevant.

Was that Joanna Bin Laden?

He’s not in financial services and he’s not James Bond 🙁. He has a certain level of clearance because of his job, but I still don’t see why they need all my financial info. I’ve told him, they can bog off.

I've just gone through it, I'm adopted, I can't answer the fucking questions. That took some back and forth. I don't want want to get my biological birth certificate thanks very much.

Then they wanted the value of my house contents, it's fucking ridiculous.

I am working on the most boring non secure projects but someone somewhere clocked OS

I'm a civil servant & mine has to be renewed every ten years. Each time I've been asked more & more questions about my finances, my parents & my partner.

It has to be renewed as circumstances change. It has to be in-depth because they're trying to see if I'm at risk of bribery or blackmail, either through my own circumstances or those close to me.

They need to know as they monitor that he and you are not under financial pressure and would be easy to bribe. Any major changes in your finances or life and you have to declare and redo an application. I'm on my 3rd in 18mths. I got married and unfortunately inherited money twice. So 3 notifiable changes for my security clearance.
Be prepared for him to not get clearance if you don't provide the information and the fall out from that if his job is dependent on it.

As @GPTec1 says, if they want to know, they’ll find out anyway.

Or, they could withhold clearance &, in the worst case, tootle pip job.

Obviously, I don’t want him to lose his job because he fails security clearance and I can understand that if you have financial pressure, you may be at risk to bribery, but I still don’t see why they need to ask such intrusive questions as our credit scores are fine. Perhaps the government could ask Siri / Facebook about our financial position. They seem to listen into everything.

I mean they know most of the answers!

If you're married then you have an impact on him, especially if you're in debt and being bribed etc. You can obviously refuse to fill it in, but double check it won't impact your DHs job.

Security clearance doesn't last forever, even in the same job role it'll need to be renewed periodically. It's invasive for a reason!

😂She was a special needs teacher.

It was utterly bizarre!

I've had to be security cleared by proxy for both my dh's and dsis job. It was invasive and uncomfortable.

Security clearance doesn't last indefinitely as things can change. Just because your circumstances haven't, doesn't mean everyone's does.
The more debt you have or the worse your financial circumstances, the greater a risk you are, as a family, for bribery. If you like an expensive lifestyle but don't earn to match, the greater the risk of bribery, corruption or coercion.
All the questions add up to a financial picture to assess the risk.
Been there, filled in the questionnaire, forgotten about it and moved on. 🤷‍♀️

Who is asking the financial questions - UKSV or the employer vetting team?

Renewal is standard every few years. The "extra" questions will vary by role and sector but financial status is increasingly important in recent years.

I understand the need for deep security clearance; I'm just surprised they'd give him a form to give to you. There should be a better system in place imo.

It's perfectly normal, if rather invasive and uncomfortable. We have had to go through this for my DD's security clearance for her job. If we hadn't agreed then she wouldn't have been offered her job, which she is doing brilliantly in.

'Access denied - you do not not level 2 clearance'
Have your own fun with them hahah

Well if you don’t provide it then he probably will fail, we had someone unable to work for 4 months recently as they didn’t answer certain questions. Security clearance needs updating every so many years as people’s circumstances change

I was furious when I had to supply all the financial information for my bloke’s deep vetting (military) but he’d have lost his job if I hadn’t.

Following

It's usually the sort of question asked of someone who could become susceptible to bribery or criminal activity