Can the NPS make me do this?
Yes your employer can require you to take on this additional task and to go through the required level of vetting. Your employer is required to be reasonable however - offering an alternative role to those who do not pass this additional vetting, see later questions.
Do I have to check with my relatives, friends, co-residents before giving their details on the vetting form?
Legal advice obtained by the employer and Police suggests you do not have to obtain consent before disclosing information, as no information will be given to you about anyone you identify. If it is safe and comfortable to do so you might want to let those close to you know what is happening.
What if I don't know all of the details of a person, situation, offence etc.?
Give as much detail as you have but do not feel you have to be a detective! For example if you know a relative who you have little contact with has been involved in offending (but not the exact details) just offer what you know, making no assumptions and allow the vetting officers to do the rest. You will be more likely to fail vetting if you do not disclose something, so if you say for example "my sibling has been involved in violent crime but I do not know the details of the offences as I have no contact with them" and give any details you do know about your sibling, this would reassure those making vetting decisions. If you did not disclose your sibling’s details and your knowledge that they have some previous involvement in offending this leaves the vetting officers with unanswered questions that could lead to failure.
The vetting forms also ask if you have been a victim or a witness in a criminal case. This can be difficult to disclose but is important, even though you might not recall all of the details.
Why should I disclose all of this financial information?
This is to make an assessment of vulnerability to corruption. Failure of vetting due to this simply means that the Police will not allow you to access their systems, this information would not be used in any other way.
What happens if I fail ViSOR vetting?
There are two main reasons why someone would fail vetting. The first is due to a reason that cannot be disclosed to you as it relates to a third party. This could mean that someone close to you is or has been involved in a pattern of offending which means that the Police cannot allow you to access their systems. This could also be due to you not disclosing information about people close to you that raise concerns with the Police. In this case the NPS have committed to redeploying you to an alternative role; for example working in Courts and YOS and potentially some roles in OM teams which do not require ViSOR vetting - this will be done on a case by case basis.
The second main reason for failure is related to something about you. This could be a vulnerability (in the opinion of the Police) to corruption, or previous convictions which were known to NPS but which prevent the Police from passing you through. In this case redeployment as above will apply. This level of vetting is likely to uncover any convictions or cautions that you may have received and if these have not been disclosed to your employer, especially if they happened after you were employed, this could cause a problem and you are likely to be subject to action by your employer. It is important to stress that any action taken would be in line with the agreed disciplinary procedures of the NPS. This would be the same situation if it was the employer who discovered the information. In this case you would have access to Napo representation throughout the disciplinary process, including legal representation if this was assessed as being appropriate.
What is Napo doing about this?
The above commentary shows that Napo made strong representations on behalf of members during the consultation and that we secured some reassurances from the employers about alternative employment if there were problems due to the impact of vetting. If the messages you are receiving locally are not in line with the assurances made to us by the NPS, then please let your local Branch Rep know so it can be raised with the Division in the first instance and escalated nationally if needed.