People who work for MI5 etc...how do they get mortgages etc where the employer details are asked for

[cakeorwine]

Inspired by another thread.

I assume people who work where they can't divulge who they work for have cover stories. But do the cover stories have "proper" employers with Pay slips, NI numbers etc - so if you had to apply for a mortgage, credit, renting etc, the person enquiring could see a pay slip and say, ok, I'll give you credit.

Are there "switchboards" so someone answering the phone call knows how to answer to say the company name?

Even James Bond needs a place to live and a credit history.

5 X martinis, shaken not stirred
4 x gadget pens
1 x MOT on Austin Martin
Something like that

No such thing as the Ministry for Agriculture - it's now DEFRA (ds works there - nothing secretive at all!)

I'm in the US (former Civil Service) and the agencies with this type of personnel have departments who handle 'life needs' for UC agents. They are set up with either an innocuous job for their agency or a fake job in another agency (either 'real' or on paper) and their paystubs etc reflect the, shall we say, 'dummy agency'. So if a mortgage was needed the UC would to go the bank, apply for a mortgage and show paystubs for the dummy agency, which would verify with any online system. Or their loan would be processed internally through one of the many the US Govt loan programs.

There are phone numbers to be given out if for some esoteric reason 'someone needs to verify something' and the personnel at that number know how to answer the phone and handle the inquiry. But normally at the point someone is pushing the UC for info or to provide more info than normal, they would 'back away' from whatever they were doing and get in touch with their own agency. The agency would usually either 'take it from there' or provide instructions to the UC as to how to handle the need.

UCs are very well taken care of from the day they are hired as UC until the day they retire. Even afterwards if need be.

@titchy if you’d bothered to read my post properly you’d have seen I said these were NOT UK?

I have a family member who worked at for the NCA but is now at MI5. There used to be a culture of secrecy but now they are encouraged to be more transparent without discussing specifics.

I know when they used to get family allowance (before they charged the levels) they had to deal with a separate department than that used by the general public. Plus every year or so they had to give full disclosure of finances to the Home Office - savings, loans etc.

Well, mostly they don't need mortgages as they tend to have the use of their wealthy family ancestral homes, in between living out of 7 star hotels in far flung and exotic (but dangerous) locations.

Don't be daft, we're not allowed to claim for alcohol.

I'm a civil servant. I tell people I'm a statistician but in reality it's way more interesting than that, but I can get away with 'oh, just a lot of spreadsheets', which usually doesn't illicit anymore questions,
I'm not a spy. I have signed the Official Secrets Act, but that was decades ago, I don't think my employer makes people do this any more.

(As many of the answers on this thread have illustrated) you don’t have to hide working for GCHQ- they’re a huge local employer.
M15&6 have loads of admin, HR, finance IT etc people so you’d never know they whether they were operational. it doesn’t need to be as secret as all that

But surely if you had to buy a martini on a special mission that involved going to a carribbean casino then you shouldn't be out of pocket??

And is there a limit on any casino expenses you can claim?
Do you get to keep the winnings?

If you worked at GCHQ you’d have an unfair advantage in a casino - being a maths genius.

@TaggieO You said your latter example was non-uk - it sounded like your first example was a UK person. Apologies for the misunderstanding!

No Unions allowed at GCHQ, there's a staff association (thanks Maggie Thatcher 🤬)

The ban was lifted in 1997

Let's hope Mumsnet doesn't get hacked and emails leaked again after this thread 😂

I know from a close relative that not only do they get a mortgage, they got a key workers discount on a new build!

They’re not all maths geniuses! Amazing linguists, amazing listeners (some are blind) etc.

I don't know for sure. But I assume they earn more than regular 'civil servants' do. So payslips etc would likely be suspcious if the job titles were too generic and if the same for a long time it would have been released somehow by someone by now.

As part of my job I once went to a very nice inconspicuous house that when I went inside was clearly worth a fortune. As part of my job I had to ask the couples occupations. The husband wasn't there. Wife was a stay at home parent. When I asked his occupation her response was a very quick "I can't answer that". I moved on and didn't think much of it. It wasn t until later when speaking to colleueges I realised there were two different names for him. I also learnt he spoke many different languages including Arabic he also wasn't present for months at a time. Pretty sure he was something secret service or criminal investigationy. He had a charm about him that was quite engaging. I could see him very easily fitting in somewhere to gain information. But whatever he did I got the impression it paid well!

I wonder what the children know?
What did you do at work today, mummy?
How was your day?

DH worked for HMRC and his tax was dealt with by the same office that deals with celebs and, I assume, spies. It was extra secure to prevent the regular tax office bods from using the info they gained from colleagues.

I got s letter saying as I'm the higher earner I need to pay back some child benefit. However, I'm not, and even if I was, the tax office that deals with me isn't allowed to see his tax info so he contacted them and said ummm... what do you think you're doing...

So I imagine some of the protection works like that - a special arms length office.

Can James Bond be chased for child maintenance?

But they do have a life also, and families you know?
we have an uncle like that
so apparently their salary finds their bank account :D

I don't know but someone will know his tax code!
Probably the same one that knows DH's. And there the resemblance ends.

Payslips same as anyone else. Life insurance is expensive tho

In the last 15 years or so, I've been the one to do final sample checks and sign off payroll at my various employers, so I've seen a fair few payslips in my time.

Payslips usually only have things like your name, employee number, NI number, gross pay elements and deductions in the period and year to date numbers.

I don't think I've ever received or seen a payslip with my job title on, though my department may have featured. In the case of MI5, I imagine the department is probably Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) or Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Given the above, I would have thought an MI5 payslip looks just as boring as anyone else's.