Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Work

Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.

Original poster

Ridiculous security request

88 replies

Aposterhasnoname · 21/07/2023 11:38

DH has a new job, they’ve brought a security company in to do back ground checks. Way over the top for the type of job, but whatever. Having been asked for, and miraculously providing, the contracts and resignation acceptance letters for his last four jobs, they are now asking for “proof of school years”, WTF, it was over 40 years ago, they already have his O level certificate.

Anyone got any experience with this, what’s likely to happen when he can’t provide anything? It was a bog standard secondary, it’s not like he’s claiming he went to Eton or anything.

OP posts:
Topseyt123 · 22/07/2023 17:24

I'd not have a hope in hell of being able to produce much of that information.

I do have some of my O Level and A Level certificates buried somewhere in this house. I think anyway. Nothing else. I left school with the sixth form of 1984 and my old school has long since closed due to a merger with others in the area.

Who the hell keeps their school place offer letters for decades? I started primary school in 1970, secondary school in 1977 and uni in 1984. That and the names of the schools and universities is all I could give.

Worldgonecrazy · 22/07/2023 22:35

twentyonepoundnote · 22/07/2023 16:59

Where are your certificates? What do you do if an employer wants to see them?

Show quote history

I have had several permanent, temporary, and voluntary roles in the 40 years since I left school, a couple of which have involved higher security clearance. Not one has ever asked me for my o level certificates. I’m not even sure if the examination board still exists!

Worldgonecrazy · 22/07/2023 22:37

Just checked and the exam board went out of existence in 1997.

AdoraBell · 22/07/2023 22:44

Sounds completely OTT OP

JanglyBeads · 22/07/2023 23:37

Exam boards amalgamate usually, so the records will be held by another board now.

AllotmentTime · 22/07/2023 23:47

If the company itself is UK based, can he get in touch with them and point out that the security co they've hired is OTT and not attuned to UK systems? I would think that would be the way to go. If I hired someone who then was given a load of impossible hoops to jump through that I hadn't sanctioned, I'd want to know.

LucyLongbody · 23/07/2023 05:12

Bloody hell, I work for MoD and the vetting wasn't this ridiculous.
No way could I prove school years, I didn't keep my O Level certs.

User894532765 · 23/07/2023 05:52

I have my O level certificates from 1974 and I had to produce them for one job in about 2015, I think if they are old like mine they can be difficult to get copies of. I haven't got a degree though and they are my highest qualification so maybe more likely that an employer would want to see them.

CatMattress · 23/07/2023 05:54

As someone else has suggested, are you sure they don't mean university? Perhaps worth emailing to say that secondary schools don't operate like that here and remind them he didn't attend university.

What a bananas request though!

Capitulatingpanda · 23/07/2023 06:00

This sounds ridiculous and my company had fairly detailed security clearance. I forgot to put an address that I had lived at for less than 6 months many years ago on my form and it got flagged that I hadn't given that address and I nearly didn't get cleared for job.

WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter · 23/07/2023 06:02

Has he got any dodgy school photos and some swimming certificates? Maybe some old pictures from the nativity....

How daft. Offer of school place indeed.

Stravaig · 23/07/2023 07:03

Sounds like they've sub-contracted security to idiots who can't apply intelligent thought to work out which level of check is appropriate.

I'd contact the new employer to say he's being asked for a ridiculous amount of information which isn't remotely relevant and no sane person could provide anyway; is this going to be a problem; undertone, rethinking working for you.

47times11 · 23/07/2023 07:13

I had this recently for a temporary (8 weeks worth) weekend job I wanted to take to boost our holiday savings. Just above minimum wage. HR came back to me to ask for my school certificates from 40 years ago. They also questioned why I could not give them my GCSE results. The answer that I am from an entirely different country that does not do GSCEs did not satisfy them. Apparently my proof of an uninterrupted working life in the UK since 2006 and proof of my 3 degrees was not enough.

It took the most ridiculous amount of too-ing and fro--ing with HR. And 3 weeks into when the contract was supposed to have begun they were still insistent they needed proof of my high school results.

Quoria · 23/07/2023 07:27

I had to produce Standard Grade (like GCSE/O level) certificates in my late 20s for teaching - to show I had a C in English, even though I had a First in English from university, and I have for other jobs so I'm surprised others don't have those certificates. Know that wasn't what the OP was about though.

I've never had an acceptance of resignation letter from any job across several sectors and definitely wouldn't have kept one if I had. What a waste of paper and space.

Saverage · 23/07/2023 07:51

In 38 years of working I've never had to show O level certs (or any others). I have no idea where they are at this point. I've never worked in the public sector though, I imagine it might be more common there to ask for certificates.

ememem84 · 23/07/2023 08:07

I’ve had similar when working for an American firm. I had to give my last 4 jobs as references.

at this point i had only had 2 other jobs. I listed the first one from graduation from uni then the second one.

this was all after I had started work. But it was insane. They couldn’t quite grasp that I hadn’t had 4 jobs.

Whitegrenache · 23/07/2023 08:35

I worked in big pharma as a sales rep for years and this was standard request. They wanted evidence of my degree and schooling as well as other professional regulatory qualifications

Whitegrenache · 23/07/2023 08:36

Never had to prove resignation letters Confused

TrueScrumptious · 23/07/2023 08:41

JanglyBeads · 22/07/2023 12:11

It does all sound bonkers and not attuned to UK! However just to say, if you have to get proof of attendance at a now-demolished school you'd need to contact the education authority (county council or unitary authority) - they'd have the records.

And exam boards can provide duplicate certificates for a small fee.

Even the exam boards don’t exist any more.

Shinyandnew1 · 23/07/2023 08:43

I had to produce my gcse and A level certificates for my most recent teaching job which I thought was crazy. I’d been teaching 20 years, and already had to give them my DfE number, degree and PGCE certificates!

I can’t think what more proof you can have, and why does it matter which school you went to, as long as you can prove you have the exam certificates!?

hoophoophooray · 23/07/2023 08:46

I'm SC cleared for security work in this country and didn't have to produce anything like that. Degree certificate as it was relevant to the job for HR, my professional chartership was checked online. No one gave two hoots about what secondary school I went to

MoralOrLegal · 23/07/2023 08:47

I have no idea where my O-level/GCSE/A-level certificates are. Work wanted to see my degree certificates, but not earlier than that!

sunsethorizon · 23/07/2023 08:47

NeverDropYourMooncup · 22/07/2023 12:37

If the school still exists, do you reckon they're going to have kept paper records for every student from 1980? That would mean having storage for somewhere around 4000 files (with a population of 1000 every five years, assuming zero in year leavers or joiners) until computerised systems became more common in 2000. And GDPR states that you should only keep records where necessary - they couldn't possibly predict the invention of the internet and US based companies being appointed to demand items that don't exist in the UK education systems two generations later.

Show quote history

I actually once had a temp job in a school which involved destroying paper records of previous students (this was many years ago, before GDPR, but they had a policy of only keeping them for five years I think).

hoophoophooray · 23/07/2023 08:47

And I resigned my last job during covid and the only official email I got from them was the one telling me how to return my IT kit. Deffo didn't keep that.

ivykaty44 · 23/07/2023 08:52

I worked in a county archive and we’d get these types of requests occasionally for employment purposes

if the records have survived and then been deposited with the county archive you could request to see if they have any type of register if class - but of course there will be GDPR restrictions… and that’s if they hold the registers, which is doubtful but possible

does your dh have or his parents have any school reports?