Becoming an IT contractor, you must be aware of that in your role you will have access to confidential and private information that requires you to be security cleared before being allowed to start work.
You may require to do so in private sector work where companies feel you will be handling confidential information to their organisation however, it is most prominent in contracts where you are linked to the Government, Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence related projects that are highly confidential.
The Government state that the nation’s security is at very high risk from information leaking if checks aren’t carried out accordingly. Criminal activity, espionage and terrorism could occur if an individual can prove their trustworthiness, reliability, honesty and identity.
The process is complete by the DVA, Defence Vetting Agency who certificate clearance for a valid period given, this must be updated once expired and does not secure future clearance.
To begin the vetting process usually the organisation that are hiring you for the project will sponsor you to get this checked. They take usually approximately several weeks to complete. Therefore, those that don’t have one must consider their financial status before their contract starts says one of the specialist from UK Contractor Accounting firm running specialist take home pay contractor calculator for contractors . It is important to note when it expires also so this doesn’t hold up potential work.
There are three levels of a security clearance, the ‘Baseline Standard’ checks supporting the three levels of national security vetting: SC, CTC and DV level. This maybe dependent on how sensitive the role is considered to be as if it is highly sensitive the vetting will be more intense and thorough.
If you are a contractor you may also be interested to read more about “how to get a contractor mortgage”
