CRB check????

[Dominic Connor]

The agent should keep his money

More importantly will the agent have to pay his fee back?

Depends on how long he has worked in the job, clawbacks are typically stepped.

For senior roles, references should be taken but as I think everyone here knows, that's just arse covering, since dodgy people have dodgy mates who will say the right things if you buy them a drink.

As it happens, the mother of my god daughter started the largest background checking outfit in Britain, odds are that most people on this site have been checked by them at some point.

Before she left that business, she shared with me the economics of the system.

They charge 120-150 quid per check, for which the do a credit check, a cursory once over on your references, "media check", and go through a charade of looking at certificates.

I share the price tag here because it demonstrates several things. First, they don't invade your privacy, that's *my* job, because their fee simply doesn't buy much snooping.

Second, it's laughably easy to hack, in one of my expert witnessing assignments I demonstrated to the head of HR at a bank who'd had "issues" that not only could I get through their background checking procedures, that I could pretend to be him, personally, despite the fact that we were different ages and had very different appearances.

I got one job because the Oxford educated CIO thought that Queen Mary College where I went was at Oxford, something I only found at years later.

The internal charge for proper clearance is £25K minimum, per person and as history shows, that is far from foolproof, as the man said "you can only be betrayed by people you trust, the rest is just business".

[SueEllen]

He was a contractor. Opted out for a guess so the agency didn't do the same level of background checks and the agent just wants him in and earning as soon as possible on a grand a day.

NHS rely on their suppliers to do background checks for contractors so he slipped through the net.

Even if you are opted-in the agency won't do any more checks on you. They only seem to check you regardless of status if the client insists.

[DaveB]

The checks for permanent staff at the NHS are not as ridged as it is for contractors.

He was a contractor. Opted out for a guess so the agency didn't do the same level of background checks and the agent just wants him in and earning as soon as possible on a grand a day.

NHS rely on their suppliers to do background checks for contractors so he slipped through the net.

[Paddy]

Craig Alexander: NHS director on £250,000 sacked from his job after disgruntled worker discovered he had robbed a shop at gunpoint | Mail Online

The checks for permanent staff at the NHS are not as ridged as it is for contractors.

[Uncle Albert]

Hang on, is that the same Craig Alexander that used to frequent these parts? 'Fantasist Army doctor' who treated troops is jailed | Metro News

[DodgyAgent]

I wonder what he put for that 3 1/2 year gap on his c.v.?

More importantly will the agent have to pay his fee back?

[Mich the Tester]

I wonder what he put for that 3 1/2 year gap on his c.v.?

Come on, you're a contractor. Think about it. Director of MyCo, HisCo, HerCo, Bloke-in-the-pubCo, plenty of ways to cover it.

[VectraMan]

I wonder what he put for that 3 1/2 year gap on his c.v.?

[vetran]

Craig Alexander: NHS director on £250,000 sacked from his job after disgruntled worker discovered he had robbed a shop at gunpoint | Mail Online

NHS director on £250,000 sacked from his job after disgruntled worker discovered he had robbed a shop at gunpoint
Craig Alexander jailed for three and a half years in 2007 for armed robbery
Failed to disclose conviction before landing a top job at NHS Brent
Has now been sacked after his conviction came to light
Held up Tesco Express at gunpoint and stole £1,250 in cash and cheques