Security Clearance (SC) Q&A Read first before asking questions

[malvolio]

Recent experience for someone of my acquaintance was 3.5 weeks from submitting the form online to confirmation.

Yep, the SLA is actually 30 working days from submission, most appear to be beating that - provided everyone gets their bit of the paperwork submitted on time. Most delays are because things are sitting in Out trays these days.

[TykeMerc]

Recent experience for someone of my acquaintance was 3.5 weeks from submitting the form online to confirmation.

[psychocandy]

Here we go again. At least, its the client looking into this now.

Got a role which is SC. If you remember, last used SC 2+ years ago but it was until 2015 if I remember.

Malvy - they're checking into it but I guess they need to speak to the current holder of my SC - i.e. last employer
Any idea what current lead time is for SC in any case? I know a lot of clients think its months but I'm sure you said recently it was weeks even for a fresh application?

[psychocandy]

It's as if the 'SC expires a year after leaving a secure site' meme is put out there by agents. It'd be a good way of reducing the supply of suitable candidates, make the candidate search appear more difficult and thus justify higher margins. I'm racking my brains but I don't think I'd ever heard this 'fact' from anyone in authority and certainly didn't hear it whilst I was a civil servant (but then again nobody around me ever talked about leaving the department).

I called my last SC'd contract yesterday (which I left three years ago). It was a government department and I spoke to the security desk. I'm surprised they told me all the details over the phone with no authentication but they said my SC runs for ten years (which is two years away) giving me the exact date and they don't know anything about it lapsing after a year. To be clear they confirmed my SC as live and current three years after working on a SC site.

Annoyingly I might have to go through the same old agent who told me last week that I couldn't be put through because it'd lapsed since I'd not been on a SC site for over a year (because I'm not sure if other agents with this meme will believe me). I think if I get a quick contract back there, it'll be easier to convince other agents that my SC is live for contracts elsewhere.

Never met one agent who doesnt trot out this 12 months crap. Its just crazy the way it works.

I got one role a few months ago working on site (for a 3rd party) at place I'd worked as permie 2 years before. They told me no problem clearance sorted, can I start in 3 weeks? OK I said.

Friday before they call me. Sorry clearance not sorted its all off. Great...

Keep seeing the role on jobserve - they still havent got anyone (to be fair the rate was piss poor).

They could probably have cleared me from scratch in the 3 weeks before I started. Defies believe sometimes....

[malvolio]

rQUOTE=Tightfit;1863468]Precisely and that is the heart of the problem - the mentality that only current
Security Cleared people can apply. All because of the 'belly-ache' about how
long it takes those who never had an SC cleared before - to go through vetting.

Even worst are the DV Cleared jobs - I bet a number of inept candidates get
through their - all because they had DV from their Service days.
[/QUOTE]

The reason many HMG projects fail is partly because the work keeps being given to the same old people who are not a couple of generations behind the skills curve. I had an interview recently with a couple of corporate consultancy suits who were proud to tell me they have been working in the MOD for 10 years. They then failed to understand 90% of the issues they will be facing with what they were trying to achieve in a field I've been working in at an architecture level for the last three years. And the feedback I got was that I didn't have enough skills for the role...

Things may be slowly changing, however. Watch the skies...

[Tightfit]

Perhaps learn the system before you take it apart?

The clearance system works perfectly well, the problem is getting past the mentality that only cleared people can apply for cleared jobs and understanding that you can work while waiting or clearance to come through as long as you pass BPSS.

Precisely and that is the heart of the problem - the mentality that only current
Security Cleared people can apply. All because of the 'belly-ache' about how
long it takes those who never had an SC cleared before - to go through vetting.

Even worst are the DV Cleared jobs - I bet a number of inept candidates get
through their - all because they had DV from their Service days.

I still think SC is unfair and used as a carte blanche for most of the jobs that
have somehow survived being outsourced or off shored abroad. Not that's
wrong but I can think of a number of friends, one of them an Expat & born
and bred British citizen, who failed even to be considered for SC because he
spent sometime abroad ( In the EU !!! )
Makes me wonder whether Scotland and Scottish citizens will be declared
foreign for the sake of SC clearance following Independence ( if it happens ? )

[malvolio]

I don't know what most Contractors feel about SC Security Clearance
but personally I think the whole SC Security clearance business
should be overhauled as it's clearly 'not fit for purpose' in the
21st century.
Also their seems to be more and more vacancies for jobs and contracts
where I fail to see the need for the candidate having to be SC Security
Cleared, as the job has little or no connection with the Government,
Defense or the Defense industry. Maybe just inserted in their anyway
to scare off a flood of applications and CV's for the job.
Also 'Security Cleared Jobs' are by their very nature discriminatory
and worst of all means that the client seldom gets the best candidate
for the job, being lumbered with a compromise candidate instead.
With all the danger of substandard work etc, etc, etc.

What's needed is to put SC Security Clearance on a level playing field
and with the Government always looking at new ways of raising revenue.
Lets make SC Security clearance vetting accessible to all. That is
scrap the need for the candidate to be sponsored by the employer in
the first place and open it to all UK Residents, making the process no
more daunting than applying for or renewing a Passport.

Of course the Government would charge a fee for their services & we
don't want the Defense Vetting Agency flooded with applicants do
we ???
So how much should the Government charge for this service. Well
think of Visa's. Theirs the fast track SC for which your charged a
premium above the normal rate and the standard rate SC for which
you get the 'maybe in two to three months' turn around, if your
lucky that we have today.

So what will the fee be - well as I said we don't want the DVA flooded
with applicants, slowing the system down further than it does already.

Lets say £1500 for the Fast track SC and £1000 for the normal rate.
Expensive I know but remember the Governments dealing with a
budget deficit and worth it, if it lasts 5 to 10 years.
Of course the usual caveats apply for all candidates applying for
SC Security clearance as they do today. But you wouldn't apply
in the first place if you thought you were unlikely to clear the
SC vetting system.

Perhaps learn the system before you take it apart?

The clearance system works perfectly well, the problem is getting past the mentality that only cleared people can apply for cleared jobs and understanding that you can work while waiting or clearance to come through as long as you pass BPSS. The ministries know that, an awful lot of middle and senior hiring managers - not just agencies either - simply don't or choose to ignore it.

And the clearance belongs to the role, not the worker. Hence any idea of pre-clearance or speculative clearance is dead in the water; the Cabinet Office simply won't allow it.

[stek]

SC-land is no holy-grail.

All my SC roles have been inflexible, no-WFH, ineptly managed and CV-killers! And usually in some back-of-beyond place cos the Gov decided to spread the Civil Service stuff about the country in 70's.

Still, no Bobs, but plenty of other Gov. a-holes to eff it up instead...

[Tightfit]

SC Securty jobs a real Can of Worms

I don't know what most Contractors feel about SC Security Clearance
but personally I think the whole SC Security clearance business
should be overhauled as it's clearly 'not fit for purpose' in the
21st century.
Also their seems to be more and more vacancies for jobs and contracts
where I fail to see the need for the candidate having to be SC Security
Cleared, as the job has little or no connection with the Government,
Defense or the Defense industry. Maybe just inserted in their anyway
to scare off a flood of applications and CV's for the job.
Also 'Security Cleared Jobs' are by their very nature discriminatory
and worst of all means that the client seldom gets the best candidate
for the job, being lumbered with a compromise candidate instead.
With all the danger of substandard work etc, etc, etc.

What's needed is to put SC Security Clearance on a level playing field
and with the Government always looking at new ways of raising revenue.
Lets make SC Security clearance vetting accessible to all. That is
scrap the need for the candidate to be sponsored by the employer in
the first place and open it to all UK Residents, making the process no
more daunting than applying for or renewing a Passport.

Of course the Government would charge a fee for their services & we
don't want the Defense Vetting Agency flooded with applicants do
we ???
So how much should the Government charge for this service. Well
think of Visa's. Theirs the fast track SC for which your charged a
premium above the normal rate and the standard rate SC for which
you get the 'maybe in two to three months' turn around, if your
lucky that we have today.

So what will the fee be - well as I said we don't want the DVA flooded
with applicants, slowing the system down further than it does already.

Lets say £1500 for the Fast track SC and £1000 for the normal rate.
Expensive I know but remember the Governments dealing with a
budget deficit and worth it, if it lasts 5 to 10 years.
Of course the usual caveats apply for all candidates applying for
SC Security clearance as they do today. But you wouldn't apply
in the first place if you thought you were unlikely to clear the
SC vetting system.

[Cenobite]

My SC is considered live and current more than a year after leaving a secure site

It's as if the 'SC expires a year after leaving a secure site' meme is put out there by agents. It'd be a good way of reducing the supply of suitable candidates, make the candidate search appear more difficult and thus justify higher margins. I'm racking my brains but I don't think I'd ever heard this 'fact' from anyone in authority and certainly didn't hear it whilst I was a civil servant (but then again nobody around me ever talked about leaving the department).

I called my last SC'd contract yesterday (which I left three years ago). It was a government department and I spoke to the security desk. I'm surprised they told me all the details over the phone with no authentication but they said my SC runs for ten years (which is two years away) giving me the exact date and they don't know anything about it lapsing after a year. To be clear they confirmed my SC as live and current three years after working on a SC site.

Annoyingly I might have to go through the same old agent who told me last week that I couldn't be put through because it'd lapsed since I'd not been on a SC site for over a year (because I'm not sure if other agents with this meme will believe me). I think if I get a quick contract back there, it'll be easier to convince other agents that my SC is live for contracts elsewhere.