Hopefully this might answer a few questions
There’s a lot of confusion in this thread regarding clearances, time periods, validity etc.
The situation is this. An SC is granted for 10 years (5 in the case of DV). The clearance remains current and active if the person in question remains in a role that requires clearance, and the reviews are conducted on a regular basis. The reason that they span a number of years is because the vast majority of cleared people are permanent employees - the system was never designed to cope with contractors who 'hop' between departments etc on a regular basis.
If you leave a role that requires clearance, the clearance itself becomes instantly ‘lapsed’ (depending on how quick the HR department are...). The clearance can be re-activated within 12 months of it lapsing through a fairly short process (more involved for a DV - typically takes a month or two and might also need another interview). If the clearance is not re-activated within 12 months it is usually considered to be dead, even if you have a number of years left on it (i.e. if your last SC role was 24 months ago, you’d need to go through the entire process all over again). I have heard of people who had last used their DV a number of years ago and had them re-activated, but they were in some very specialised roles.
Strictly speaking, as soon as you leave a role you cannot claim to have an ‘active’ clearance, but if it’s within 3 months it’s usually not a problem. More than that, and you should let the recruiter know when it was last active. More than 12 months on, you cannot claim to hold any form of clearance. Don't forget that the recruiters are told by their clients whether or not they will only accept CV's from people with active clearances.
There are two reasons why people ask for an active clearance – because it makes getting you into the contract quicker, and it saves whomever you will be working for money as it costs quite a bit to put someone through the clearance process. I've not seem numbers recently, but I know that about 3 years ago it cost a minimum of £4k to put someone through the DV process.
Transferring clearances is not always easy. It’s less problematical with an SC, but DV clearances can be rejected by certain government departments – a DV issued by the Home Office, for example, might not be acceptable to the Intelligence Services. In fact, it’s only within the last year or so that the three ‘spook’ agencies have agreed that a DV issued by one of them should be acceptable to all of them – but even then, it’s not a simple process.
Finally, don’t forget that it’s not actually *your* clearance at all – it belongs to HMG, and can be withdrawn at any time without having to give you a reason.
There’s a lot of confusion in this thread regarding clearances, time periods, validity etc.
The situation is this. An SC is granted for 10 years (5 in the case of DV). The clearance remains current and active if the person in question remains in a role that requires clearance, and the reviews are conducted on a regular basis. The reason that they span a number of years is because the vast majority of cleared people are permanent employees - the system was never designed to cope with contractors who 'hop' between departments etc on a regular basis.
If you leave a role that requires clearance, the clearance itself becomes instantly ‘lapsed’ (depending on how quick the HR department are...). The clearance can be re-activated within 12 months of it lapsing through a fairly short process (more involved for a DV - typically takes a month or two and might also need another interview). If the clearance is not re-activated within 12 months it is usually considered to be dead, even if you have a number of years left on it (i.e. if your last SC role was 24 months ago, you’d need to go through the entire process all over again). I have heard of people who had last used their DV a number of years ago and had them re-activated, but they were in some very specialised roles.
Strictly speaking, as soon as you leave a role you cannot claim to have an ‘active’ clearance, but if it’s within 3 months it’s usually not a problem. More than that, and you should let the recruiter know when it was last active. More than 12 months on, you cannot claim to hold any form of clearance. Don't forget that the recruiters are told by their clients whether or not they will only accept CV's from people with active clearances.
There are two reasons why people ask for an active clearance – because it makes getting you into the contract quicker, and it saves whomever you will be working for money as it costs quite a bit to put someone through the clearance process. I've not seem numbers recently, but I know that about 3 years ago it cost a minimum of £4k to put someone through the DV process.
Transferring clearances is not always easy. It’s less problematical with an SC, but DV clearances can be rejected by certain government departments – a DV issued by the Home Office, for example, might not be acceptable to the Intelligence Services. In fact, it’s only within the last year or so that the three ‘spook’ agencies have agreed that a DV issued by one of them should be acceptable to all of them – but even then, it’s not a simple process.
Finally, don’t forget that it’s not actually *your* clearance at all – it belongs to HMG, and can be withdrawn at any time without having to give you a reason.
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