All 90 of the day nurseries that took part in a 'snapshot' survey of geographically spread out settings said they have been affected by the CRB's delay in issuing Disclosure checks. The survey found that 16 per cent of staff -just under one in six or an estimated 16,000 people overall - have not been cleared, with some settings reporting that up to half of their staff are awaiting checks, some for as long as several months.
Rosemary Murphy, NDNA chief executive, said the delays in processing vetting applications were creating enormous problems for the sector. 'In some nurseries, staff appraisals have gone out the window because having to make sure someone is cleared is there all the time. Everyone is having to focus on clearing staff, not on expanding provision,' she added.
Mrs Murphy warned that the delays were creating 'serious management problems for the sector' and that unless action was taken soon the delays could stop any further expansion. She said, 'The number of nurseries has increased by 42 per cent since 1998, and we are continually recruiting new staff. To meet the goals of the National Childcare Strategy we need 150,000 extra early years and childcare staff. It is essential that back-up systems are in place to provide efficient clearance of those staff.'
Mrs Murphy said the NDNA was pressing for both the CRB and the Department for Education and Skills to introduce special measures. She added that although the NDNA had been assured by the CRB that checks on nursery staff would not be delayed by the emergency measures taken for school teachers over the past month, turnaround times were now down to just 50 per cent of applications within the target three weeks. 'It is now time for nurseries to be made a special case by CRB, before the situation becomes untenable,'
Mrs Murphy said.
A DfES spokeswoman denied that the CRB had made early years workers a lower priority than teachers in schools when it came to processing their Disclosure checks. 'We have had assurance from the Home Office that education is the highest priority regarding CRB checks, so presumably this includes the early years sector,' she said.
The spokeswoman also denied that the Government had changed its policy regarding parents working in their children's schools, after some local authorities had told them last week that they would be unable to do so until they had been checked by the CRB. 'The situation is exactly the same as it was before the CRB started operating,' she said. 'Whether or not parents needs to be checked depends on the level of contact they have with children in the school. For example, handing out medals on sports day alongside other parents would not require a check, but working with children in either a small group or one-to-one reading would need both a List 99 and a CRB Disclosure check. However, checks are up to the discretion of the school.'
The spokeswoman added that she expected most schools would want to run checks on their parent governors because of the amount of time they spent in the schools with children.
Day nurseries that have waited more than six weeks for a Disclosure check should call the CRB disputes line - with the permission of the employee they are calling about - on 0870 909 0778. The NDNA has a helpline on 0870 770 0449 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, to advise nurseries about working with Ofsted.
