Lost money due to government dept "losing" my SC

[malvolio]

not in all cases.
I have left a client, and returned to the same client, within a year, and continued to use the same SC.

Why is this so hard to understand. Clearance - any clearance at any level - is fundamentally a risk assessment. Returning to the same client means the risk assessment is still valid provided you haven't a short holiday in Afghanistan or something out of sight of the security services. So why waste time running the whole process when they only need to check your recent history?

Secondly, "within a year" is pretty significant. It is a convention that clearance stands for 12 months after you leave the post, purely to save paperwork and scarce effort. It is not a given (as I have said repeatedly) and may not always be transferable (as I have also said repeatedly).

Thirdly, they will have run a check (or two), it's just that haven't told you they have. Equally if the client isn't a Department or an inside the wire agency, they tend not to be very precise about SC rules anyway; certainly any Department won't take a commercial SC on trust but will require a re-vet.

Finally - and rather more to the point - we are talking general cases, in the vague hope that people will begin to understand the process. One-off edge cases don't help.

[d000hg]

You opened your first mail with a comment about sarcasm from me. For a change you've actually asked a fairly reasonable question and I've provided a reasonable answer in my opinion. All was going well.

So why throw this stupidity in and derail what must be the first post this year that might actually stay in prof forums? Just no need.

You only reduce yourself back to an idiot for even mentioning it so why did you do it?

No, he's played you for an easily-baited fool who can't resist starting a fight in the professional forums.

[Lance]

No, all cease immediately you leave the post it applies to. See my earlier post(s).

not in all cases.
I have left a client, and returned to the same client, within a year, and continued to use the same SC.

[malvolio]

depends.
I have seen some for contractors that are 7 years.
But all cease 1 year after you've left TTBOMK

No, all cease immediately you leave the post it applies to. See my earlier post(s).

[Lance]

If you got it in 2017 then it'd have expired after 5 years anyway wouldn't it, so you'd have needed to reapply this year anyway.

depends.
I have seen some for contractors that are 7 years.
But all cease 1 year after you've left TTBOMK

[smatty]

If you got it in 2017 then it'd have expired after 5 years anyway wouldn't it, so you'd have needed to reapply this year anyway.

[northernladuk]

Haven’t you whined about this before?

He has but this time he's capped it off with a question about legal options.

[SimonMac]

Haven’t you whined about this before?

[malvolio]

OK fair enough.....

BUT you've got to admit, an agency will call you for a new role and ask "So do you have SC thats been used within the last 12 months?" On the basis of your answer being yes then they will put you forward on the basis that you have existing SC.

I appreciate what you're saying, but, from personal experience only, if you get the role its a case of transferring. I get that your clearance might not fit the new role but how often does this happen?

I get that this is maybe not the way the system should work but thats what happens in practice?

It happens more than you might imagine, especially if you are moving across Departments such as Home Office to MOD. And SC clearance within commercial companies (i.e. "outside the wire" companies who are not bound to a Department) are so sloppy about it it doesn't really matter; go from Capita to a real Department role and you will be re-cleared regardless of what Capita think you have.

And you are not telling me you believe what an agent thinks is right, are you...

[psychocandy]

No, not at all. The clearance belongs to and is dependent on the role. It is possible that the basis for the first clearance does not satisfy the risk analysis for the second one.

The one year doesn't exist, it is merely a convenient practice. You could still get binned anyway if your clearance doesn't fit the new role.

And if the previous SSO has no record of your clearance for whatever reason you don't have clearance.

And I've told you this at least twice....

OK fair enough.....

BUT you've got to admit, an agency will call you for a new role and ask "So do you have SC thats been used within the last 12 months?" On the basis of your answer being yes then they will put you forward on the basis that you have existing SC.

I appreciate what you're saying, but, from personal experience only, if you get the role its a case of transferring. I get that your clearance might not fit the new role but how often does this happen?

I get that this is maybe not the way the system should work but thats what happens in practice?