sheltered housing providers are being forced to employ people before their criminal records have been checked because of backlogs at the Criminal Records Bureau.
There is also concern over the accuracy of the checks. Past checks have failed to pick up a false passport and three convictions.

Home Office figures released this month show the Criminal Records Bureau takes five weeks on average to process checks. Its target is two to three weeks.

One housing association said it had waited 21 weeks for a check for a supported housing assistant it employed [Chloe to ck] on a sheltered housing scheme.

The National Care Standards Commission advised the registered social landlord – which wishes to remain anonymous – to hire the person if their references were good and they had filled out a form declaring any convictions.

The RSL's project manager said: "Care standards said to do what we would have done before the bureau, but we could have had someone for four-and-a-half months and then found out they weren't suitable.

"This person could not have waited that long [before being given a job] and we could not have afforded to pay temporary staff for that long either."

On average the RSL, which has more than 2200 sheltered housing units across the country, waited eight to 10 weeks for a check to be returned, she said.

She also expressed concern about the quality of the checks. "One applicant said they had three offences on their record but they didn't come back on the enhanced check. What's point of paying £12 a check when it doesn't say what you need to know?"

Deborah Dobrin, regional manager at recruitment agency Hays Montrose, said its checking agency had picked up a false passport that the bureau had failed to spot.

Other care professionals said the information provided by the checks was not specific enough. "Some of the offences are far too broad," said one. "For example, does theft mean stealing a Mars bar when you were 12 or something more serious?

"We asked the bureau for help and they said to ask the applicant, but they could lie."

A Home Office spokesman said the bureau takes some information on convictions from the Police National Computer, which was being overhauled after fears that it was not updated frequently enough.

A survey of 110 voluntary groups by umbrella body the National Council of Voluntary Organisations found that half of respondents thought the bureau's performance was very poor. The groups criticised delays and mistakes in checks.

Source

Housing Today