to ask new employer for money back and decline job offer?

[albapunk]

Attended interview in June for Company X that is part of a chain. They offered the job on the spot and asked me to bring in a postal order for a PVG and would book me on to a training course the following week, all good!

Email about the course comes out with blank dates and times, I reply stating the email was blank and try and phone the local office but I am told the person I need to speak to is busy and will call back. Company X head office calls 2 days later to ask why I didn't attend training so I explain the situation and I'm booking onto the next course which is 3 weeks away, this worked better in the end as it gave me time to pull the PVG money together.

Attend training course and pass, fill out and pay for PVG in office and I'm told it will take up to 3 weeks. It's not 5 and a half weeks since then, almost 9 weeks since I attended the original interview. I've contacted Disclosure Scotland and they have no record of my PVG application ever reaching them. Contact Company X and I'm fobbed off by my local office who keep promising to phone back, whilst main branch continue to call and remind me they are just waiting on my PVG...

WIBU to just ask for my PVG money back, as it clearly hasn't been sent in the in first place or they wouldn't continue to fob me off, and to decline the job and look elsewhere? Legally can I actually do this?

Company X is a legit company but others are experiencing similar problems as I am. I work 2 days a week in another job and can muddle by between me and DP until I found something else.

ps. haven't signed a contract yet as you do that on return of a verified clean PVG, which mine would be.

YANBU. It's fine to change your mind. The only thing you need be really careful of is that they don't charge you for attending the training course.

Is there an option to escalate your query about the PVG?

So many typos, urgh!

StorminaBcup the training course was unpaid as you get paid for on the job training so I'm not sure if they could charge me? It's mandatory you pass to continue with the job so technically it could be classed as part of the interview? I'll need to look into that.

I've checked with disclosure scotland and they can't do anything until they actually receive my form and that Company X are well known to them for this sort of thing, and tend to send large batches in at once and stuff often goes missing, all I can do is keep chasing Company X who continually fob me off which I imagine is to give them time to find the form or postal order that they've lost.

The whole company seems shoddily run despite being one of the largest in their sector in the UK.

They sound rubbish. Is it normal to pay for your own PVG? Assuming it's the same as a DBS clearance, they should fund that surely? Even if it's normal to fund it yourself, the vague training instructions and subsequent email would ring alarm bells for me - they sound like the type of employer who will have high expectations of you but won't give you the information or resources to do what's expected - and those are the worst employers (voice of bitter experience).

Also I'm pretty sure you can legally change your mind - you've not signed anything, and even if they claim you had a verbal contract, it was dependent on the PVG, which hasn't come back anyway.

Mackerel It's unusual to be asked to pay for your own up front, employers either take a little off your wages each payslip or will pay it fully but some can and do ask you to pay it completely yourself but yes same idea as DBS.

I definitely get that impression, I just needed a second job and they had a role I was interested in and what suited, it is in the care sector and part-time, ideally suited for my current situation but it seems too good to be true!

This will be a home care job? Ask for your money back, they sound awful to work for.

Agree. Cut your losses. You need to know you have support from your employers when you do this kind of work and they're not really projecting this (also speaking from experience).