Frustrated childcarers have their hands tied as they deal with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), the body now responsible for police checks. The backlog of Disclosure applications for staff checks from nurseries and other employers is so huge - estimated at 64,000 applications - that childcarers are waiting up to six months to be cleared. The waiting game that childcare settings are having to play is growing more serious and causing major disruption to the running of many childcare settings.
Nurseries and pre-schools could be threatened with closure if police checks on their staff do not come through soon. There are worries that children are being left vulnerable to abuse, and childcarers are frustrated at not being able to carry out their appointed duties.
The CRB took over responsibility for police checks on 11 March, with Ofsted acting as an 'umbrella' body for all registered childcarers. The backlog built up during the changeover, when some applications got lost, problems occurred in the system and applicants filled out forms incorrectly.
Sandra Zab, former chair of Widecombe Pre-school in Devon, originally sent off the paperwork for three police checks last December. 'One eventually came back in May, another in mid-June and the third has vanished into thin air. I think it has probably been lost forever. We are a voluntary organisation and all the months of chasing has taken up my own time and my telephone bill,' she says.
'Ofsted and the CRB gave no reason for the major delays. One time when I phoned I got told the forms had been sent to a different office. I asked how long it would be until they had them back and the reply was, "whenever they are put through the window". It had taken four months for the forms to be passed to the office next door. That's the nearest to an explanation I got. In the meantime the pre-school was operating with just one checked staff member and we were worried that it would have to close.'
Off to India
Applications are now being sent further than the office next door. In an attempt to sort out the backlog the CRB is sending forms to India for inputting. Currently 4,000 applications are input each day and there are hopes that this will soon be raised to 6,000. A Home Office spokesman says, 'We admit there is some way to go to ensure we meet and exceed service standards, but we are now seeing service improvements week on week. It is hoped that the CRB will start to meet the standards for new applications by the end of July or beginning of August. Customers should now be starting to see an improvement. We are taking the problem seriously and are determined to resolve this issue.'
The CRB states that 30 per cent of forms need returning because they are incorrectly completed, so Ofsted will issue guidance to providers to assist the process.
While the CRB scrambles to get back on track, a Dorset pre-school, which wishes to remain unnamed, is losing money. Playleader Natalie Newitt says, 'There are five staff members, but just one of us is police-checked at the moment. We had to shut for two days recently because she was off sick.
Thankfully, the parents were understanding, but we could not charge parents while the children were not here, despite staff still being paid. We are a charity organisation and do not run at a profit, so it has hit our funds.'
Ms Newitt has been waiting for clearance since she started her job in May.
'I never expected the process to take so long. This has knocked both the CRB and Ofsted's credibility. I can no longer put my faith in them,' she says.
The pre-school has decided to get parents police-checked as emergency back-up workers to avoid a repeat of the past six months' worry, although they despair at how long this may take.
The Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) and Professional Association of Nursery Nurses are receiving numerous phone calls about the dilemma. PAT senior professional officer Deborah Simpson says, 'We have heard that nurseries are threatened with closure because staff have not been checked.
Teachers who have resigned their posts are worried that they will be unable to take up their new posts in September because they need checks.
'The CRB must be getting very worried because it is faced with lots of people who have been unable to take up their jobs, or nurseries that have closed, and they are losing out financially. They will want to know how the CRB proposes to compensate them for this.'
There is also concern that some nurseries are not observing requirements while waiting for staff members to be cleared, so the delays could escalate into a child protection issue.
Gilberdyke Playgroup in Humberside has been waiting since December for six parent-helpers' police checks. Playleader Hilary Tovey says, 'I worry that in the present situation, nurseries or playgroups will use unchecked people as they struggle to keep running. This is bound to put children at risk.
'At our playgroup, currently only two of us have clearance and there is going to come a day when no cover is available if one of us is sick. We would have to close.
'I have been in the childcare profession for 38 years and in the past I've waited six to eight weeks for a police check. Six months is not acceptable.'
Call for guidance
National Day Nurseries Association chief executive Rosemary Murphy is calling for guidance from Ofsted on how nurseries should continue to operate while staff await clearance. 'If somebody working on the premises does not have clearance then they cannot be left unsupervised with children,' she says. 'If it is taking months to gain clearance, then it is very difficult for people to perform their jobs. Some managers are frightened of using non-cleared staff, and it is also proving difficult for people setting up new nurseries.
'It is especially frustrating if a manager has to be constantly supervised.
It undermines their whole authority. It is a mess and until the CRB does something about it we don't know the answers. The providers are certainly the victims in this situation.'
Sylvia Archer, owner and manager of the Children's House Day Nursery in Lincolnshire, is angry that the CRB is being paid to provide what is a deeply flawed service. 'The people I have spoken to at the CRB and Ofsted have no understanding of the impact this is having on our services,' she says. 'There is no empathy with the provider and I have received no apology.' She has been waiting 19 weeks for checks on seven of her 22 staff. During this time her staff have become increasingly annoyed.
'I have got such a wonderful staff team and I don't want to lose any of them, but the staff who have had police checks are having to do all the children's toileting and nappy changing. They are disgruntled because, quite rightly, they feel they are doing all the dirty work. Some staff have threatened to go because they are so unhappy in their work.
Ms Archer adds, 'Also, no matter how much I reassure the staff awaiting checks that it is all because of a backlog, they worry that there is something wrong. They have concerns that they have been mixed up with someone else, that their health is not good enough or that there is something recorded on them that will stop them working with children. It is very scary for them.
'They want to get on with their job and work properly, and I can't allow them, because if there was ever any suggestion of a child protection issue we would never forgive ourselves.'
FURTHER INFORMATION
* For a guide to the Criminal Records Bureau, see 'On the record', Nursery World, 14 March 2002, page 15.
* Private nursery managers in Scotland have complained that the new system for obtaining criminal records checks there through Disclosure Scotland, which came into operation on 29 April, is burdensome and confusing. In England, Ofsted will act as a body registered with the Criminal Records Bureau for the purpose of countersigning applications for Enhanced Disclosures from private nurseries. However, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care, which is now responsible for regulating childcare north of the border, will only countersign applications for enhanced checks from Disclosure Scotland where they come from a childcare provider, which could be the directors of a company, or the manager of a service, if that is different. The Care Commission will not carry out this function in relation to private nursery staff, and so the person in charge of a private day nursery in Scotland is responsible for either registering with Disclosure Scotland or finding an umbrella body to act as a registered body and countersign the application. Letters have been sent out to all the providers on the Care Commission's database advising them of their new responsibilities.
