Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

[GFreeman]

A number of months ago I was given a conditional offer of employment by a public sector body and the conditions given were that I am to be subject to background and reference checks. During this time I have put my life on hold and have been gearing up for starting this job in a new city. Many weeks passed after I accepted the conditional offer and filled in all the necessary paperwork so I sent them en email asking for an update and finally I was emailed to say that my checks were all complete and that I should be hearing from them about a start date 'within days'. Two days later they sent me an email to say that I had been placed on a 'reserve list' for 6 months, during which time I may or MAY NOT receive an offer of employment (more likely to be NOT according to a friend I have who works in HR in a similar department). I of course take this to mean that my conditional offer has been retracted. I was totally horrified because I have gone from having a job to look forward to (I am long term unemployed) to suddenly being faced with the reality that I have no job to look forward to. I feel like they have treated me like dirt by keeping me hanging for all these months, during which they had me complete various forms, health declarations etc and even informing me that I would shortly be hearing about a start date...only to causally toss me aside like a piece of rubbish. I have emailed them for an explanation but haven't yet received a response and given the time that has passed since my original offer was made I am quite sure that the job has already gone and there's nothing that they can do.

I would like to ask if anyone can provide me with some information on where I stand legally? I feel that I have been treated awfully and I am wondering if the law can redress this? From the information I have found on the link below it appears I might be able to sue for breach of contract because I have met all the conditions required of the offer (background checks) which I accepted?

https://www.gov.uk/job-offers-your-rights

[nemesis45]

Re: Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

A number of months ago I was given a conditional offer of employment by a public sector body and the conditions given were that I am to be subject to background and reference checks. During this time I have put my life on hold and have been gearing up for starting this job in a new city. Many weeks passed after I accepted the conditional offer and filled in all the necessary paperwork so I sent them en email asking for an update and finally I was emailed to say that my checks were all complete and that I should be hearing from them about a start date 'within days'. Two days later they sent me an email to say that I had been placed on a 'reserve list' for 6 months, during which time I may or MAY NOT receive an offer of employment (more likely to be NOT according to a friend I have who works in HR in a similar department). I of course take this to mean that my conditional offer has been retracted. I was totally horrified because I have gone from having a job to look forward to (I am long term unemployed) to suddenly being faced with the reality that I have no job to look forward to. I feel like they have treated me like dirt by keeping me hanging for all these months, during which they had me complete various forms, health declarations etc and even informing me that I would shortly be hearing about a start date...only to causally toss me aside like a piece of rubbish. I have emailed them for an explanation but haven't yet received a response and given the time that has passed since my original offer was made I am quite sure that the job has already gone and there's nothing that they can do.

I would like to ask if anyone can provide me with some information on where I stand legally? I feel that I have been treated awfully and I am wondering if the law can redress this? From the information I have found on the link below it appears I might be able to sue for breach of contract because I have met all the conditions required of the offer (background checks) which I accepted?

https://www.gov.uk/job-offers-your-rights

Good evening. welcome to LB,

I'm sure someone with more knowledge on employment law than I will be along
to help you as soon as they are available.

Can you think of any reasons why any particular " background" checks may have produced
an adverse result.
Credit Reference Files for example?

nem

[GFreeman]

Re: Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

Good evening. welcome to LB,

I'm sure someone with more knowledge on employment law than I will be along
to help you as soon as they are available.

Can you think of any reasons why any particular " background" checks may have produced
an adverse result.
Credit Reference Files for example?

nem

Not at all. In fact I was emailed by them a few days ago to say that my checks were all 'completed and satisfactory' (to quote them directly) and that this information was being passed so that they could arrange a start date with me so it looks like it is for another reason (my thinking is that they have made an admin error along the way and forgotten about my conditional offer and filled the vacancies without me and only realised once all the checks were completed and handed to somebody to make me a formal offer). Hopefully I will hear from them soon but in the mean time I have been tearing my hair out. I can't express enough just how gutted I am about what they have done to me. My whole life over the past few months has been resting on me starting this job and now I am in the same bleak place as I was before the offer was made to me only it is even worse now because my hopes were lifted and more of my life has been wasted.

[nemesis45]

Re: Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

Not at all. In fact I was emailed by them a few days ago to say that my checks were all 'completed and satisfactory' (to quote them directly) and that this information was being passed so that they could arrange a start date with me so it looks like it is for another reason (my thinking is that they have made an admin error along the way and forgotten about my conditional offer and filled the vacancies without me and only realised once all the checks were completed and handed to somebody to make me a formal offer). Hopefully I will hear from them soon but in the mean time I have been tearing my hair out. I can't express enough just how gutted I am about what they have done to me. My whole life over the past few months has been resting on me starting this job and now I am in the same bleak place as I was before the offer was made to me only it is even worse now because my hopes were lifted and more of my life has been wasted.

An awful feeling and very frustrating too.
it seems that all is not lost though with the 6 month " reserve " list sounds hopeful.
I'm not sure on the employment law as said so I'll try to alert some help for you.
nem

[Kati]

Re: Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

:bump: for [MENTION=19071]teaboy2[/MENTION] and [MENTION=26290]mariefab[/MENTION] xx

[nemesis45]

Re: Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

:bump: for @teaboy2 and @mariefab xx

Thanks [MENTION=49370]Kati[/MENTION] nem xx

[teaboy2]

Re: Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

Can you provide us a copy of what was written in the conditional offer of employment please and the emails stating about Checks being Complete. Also when you accepted the conditional offer, can you provide us with a copy of what you stated in your acceptance please and let us know if they actually responded to your acceptance.

Once we have the above, we'll be in a better position to determine if a contract was formed or not.

[Amethyst]

Re: Conditional offer of employment withdrawn - please help

If this was for an AO or EO post then this is par for the course, but it should have been made clear throughout the application and interview process that an offer could mean just being stuck on the 6 month 'possibles' list. Could you ask them to expand your locations maybe?