Price hike for criminal record checks to cost sector £550,000

The Criminal Records Bureau, the joint venture between the Home Office and computer firm Capita, is raising the fee for a basic check from £12 to £24. Enhanced checks will cost £29. The target speed for processing standard checks will double to two weeks.

A Home Office spokesperson said the price rise was necessary to make the bureau self-funding.

Nigel Rogers, director of supported housing group SITRA, calculated that checks would cost the sector £550,000, given the large number of supported-housing providers. He called for a "cheaper, fast-track checking system for care and supported housing schemes".

English Churches Housing Group, which runs supported housing and nursing homes, estimates that its bill for checks will increase to £20,000.

Sharon O'Hara, English Churches' head of external strategy, said it was not clear how often checks, required under the Supporting People contracts issued by councils to housing associations, would have to be repeated.

She said: "There is an indication that some councils might want us to repeat them frequently. The local authorities can't have the money to give us [to pay for the checks] unless they make savings elsewhere."

The problem is exacerbated because the Supporting People contracts also insist that housing associations get more of their staff checked as they are working in a care environment.

In addition, delays to finalising the Supporting People contracts – some were still arriving a month after the programme went live in April – means some associations had not factored the extra checks into their costs.