Is there much point applying for contracts requiring clearance if you don't have it?

[OwlHoot]

Seen a contract with a good rate and excellent match for my skills, which I'd be quite interested in pursuing.

But it's in (cough) Gloucestershire, starting january, so within a week or two as we're already nearly half way through the month, and the ad says "you must either hold or be eligible for UK security clearance", which I don't currently have.

Given that I gather it takes several weeks to gain security clearance, with no guarantee of success, can one assume those are simply a conventional form of words that really mean "don't bother applying if you haven't already been security cleared".

[FatLazyContractor]

Simple answer 'No'.

[Project Monkey]

A big fat ZERO (whatever the legislation might say to the contrary)!

[cojak]

I would apply anyway OH, I just wouldn't expect a reply.

You may be proved wrong!

[vwdan]

I would apply anyway OH, I just wouldn't expect a reply.

You may be proved wrong!

There was a job which would have fitted me perfectly which kept getting posted. Eventually I gave them a shout to see if they'd relax the requirement and the recruiter sounded exasperated and said "I know - we've told them they need to, but they're insistent so I'm sorry but we can't put you forward with out current clearance". It's all very daft.

[Coalman]

Owlhoot - depends who it is with.

I'm currently working for in Gloucester, with people who should have had SC clearance but do not, so give me a PM if you need more info.

[malvolio]

You don't need clearance to apply, you don't need clearance beyond BPSS to start work, and SC can be obtained in 2-3 weeks anyway. Sadly a certain large site in Gloucestershire demands DV clearance for any role no matter how far removed it is from Top Secret material and is determined to ignore the Cabinet Office. In fact most clearances are set at a "standard" level regardless of the actual risk to a role: how hard is it to keep a coder away from classified data, after all?

The rules are clearly stated and are circulated to all HMG hiring organisations; next step is enforcement. This is being worked on, but it's taking a fair old time.

[scooterscot]

I've just signed an SC job in London, and i don't have clearance nor am I resident in the country.


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[anonymouse]

Yes and no

BPSS for me to get onsite, then SC ongoing (so far 9 months for UK citizen). The rules seems to change every other week, sometimes you need full SC before getting onsite, other times BPSS will do.

[malvolio]

BPSS for me to get onsite, then SC ongoing (so far 9 months for UK citizen). The rules seems to change every other week, sometimes you need full SC before getting onsite, other times BPSS will do.

That depends on the role and how well you can be supervised while doing your job: easy enough for designers and coders, rather difficult for sysadmins and network wonks, for example. It's manageable but it can get weird - I had one gig that touched on buildings that don't exist housing services that don't exist operated by people I couldn't talk to. That made for some interesting meetings...

SC is averaging 4 weeks. If it's taking significantly longer, either you've something outstanding to fix (an outstanding large credit card bill for example), although they won't tell you what, or someone has lost the paperwork. It may sound bizarre, but it's probably worth resubmitting your vetting request. If your Cerberus account still works that will tell you where it's up to in the system.