The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) and the Cabinet Office are to address the rising concerns over the need for security clearances by workers before they can be placed in certain jobs.
According to the REC’s Director of External Relations, Tom Hadley, having security clearances should not be made a pre-requisite for hiring employees although hiring of contractors at short notice may require candidates to have existing security clearances.
Asking for clearance levels in advance for a posting is a breach of the guidance agreed upon with the Cabinet Office and agencies and clients should refrain from doing so, Hadley said. However the REC recommends that clearances can be demanded upfront in case of short-term hiring or when joining is required on an urgent basis. It is very important too to open up such jobs to as many employees as possible by allowing those without an upfront security clearance to participate in the recruitment process. This is consistent with the need of both the employers and employees.
Both employers and employees tend to lose as a result of setting stringent requirements. According to John Brazier, PCG’s Managing Director, restricting job opportunities to freelancers by making security clearances compulsory would be unfavourable to recruiters as well since then they will only have a very small pool from which they will have to search for talented people.
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