The legalities of CRB

kielew

After being made redundant from my last employer due to a number of government contract cancellations, I have been able to acquire a position with a local college as learning support and functional maths tutor. I am now facing a farcicle CRB issue, I have had 5 clean enhanced CRB's in the last 4 years, I have also moved around due to completing degrees and teaching qualifications in different locations. This means that everytime I have a new CRB check I have to wait for checks from all local police forces of the areas I have lived in, regardless if I have been checked in previous areas and no convictions have been found. I am becoming frustrated with the amount of time it is taking the Stage 4 of crb to complete, It has already been at stage 4 for over two weeks, and upon calling the CRB organisation I was told that local police forces have up to 60 days to return the information. Here's my question, if the crb takes too long and the employer decides not to start me until after christmas, or decides that I am surplus to requirements after such a length of time waiting, then who do I go to for compensation.In employment law should any thing be able to stop you from starting employment?

As a side note, I agree that anyone who works with young people or vulnerable adults should be adequately checked, but how is it that in this day and age these checks are not all completely processed on a computer, again I have had numerous previous checks and i have had other other which have taken a long time to be processed.

If anyone can help me with my rights it would be much appreciated.

dandelionclock30

Nothing you can do, you have no rights regarding waiting.

SarEl

kielew wrote: »

As a side note, I agree that anyone who works with young people or vulnerable adults should be adequately checked, but how is it that in this day and age these checks are not all completely processed on a computer, again I have had numerous previous checks and i have had other other which have taken a long time to be processed.

And the last government had exactly such a "live" system ready to go, with "portable CRB's" as a result and live updates to employers if someone was arrested on a relevant allegation - something CRB's can't tell you, whether or not someone has potentially become a risk. It was commissioned, paid for, in beta testing, and expected to go live with an initial roll out, if I recall correctly, last year. The government cancelled it. Complaints should be addressed to Mr. Cameron.

But you have no right to compensation for the length of time it takes or your inability to start a job until it is cleared for you.

pillion

kielew I completely understand your frustration. I am waiting for my fourth crb check in 3 years to return. At £44 a time though it's a nice little earner for wherever the money goes. However, what annoys me most is that many employers now ask the applicant to pay for this check themselves. £44 can be a lot of money to pay upfront for some people who are wanting to work. I know some companies later refund this fee but increasingly they don't.

anamenottaken

kielew wrote: »

.. I have been able to acquire a position with a local college as learning support and functional maths tutor. .... Here's my question, if the crb takes too long and the employer decides not to start me until after christmas, or decides that I am surplus to requirements after such a length of time waiting, then who do I go to for compensation.In employment law should any thing be able to stop you from starting employment?

For class contact time, will you be alone with the students or will there always be another member of staff present? If other staff members are present, that may well be acceptable until your CRB comes through.

The only thing then is that you will be on college premises (say walking in corridors or in the learning centre) where you could have unsupervised/unaccompanied contact with young people. I expect there could be a work round for this too.

snapping_crocodile

When I started my new job in the NHS last year my CRB check took ages to come back, despite only having had one the previous year. My fellow new colleagues also had a bit of a nightmare with theirs, and between the 3 of us our CRBs took between 10 and 14 weeks to come back. When we spoke to the CRB people we were informed that the final stage could take up to 60 days before the police were chased up. We were also told that it made no difference how recently you had a another check done because each time they start from scratch on their search in case anything was inadvertently missed on your last check!! Very frustrating. Many employers wont even allow you to commence your post until the CRB is back, however we were lucky, and the NHS will, as long as you do not have any unsupervised contact with vulnerable people. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to speed it up, and you won't be entitled to any compensation for the delay!!

Hope it comes through for you soon. The wait is very frustrating

Uncertain

SarEl wrote: »

And the last government had exactly such a "live" system ready to go, with "portable CRB's" as a result and live updates to employers if someone was arrested on a relevant allegation - something CRB's can't tell you, whether or not someone has potentially become a risk. It was commissioned, paid for, in beta testing, and expected to go live with an initial roll out, if I recall correctly, last year. The government cancelled it. Complaints should be addressed to Mr. Cameron.

This is getting a bit off topic.

However it raises a fundamental question about whether anybody should be discriminated against on the basis of an unproven allegation, especially one of which they may have no knowledge and therefore can't dispute.

Whatever happened to the concept of "innocent until proved guilty"?

If we are getting political then, like so many (stupid) things done by the last government, much of this is nothing more than a callous attempt to capture ignorant popular support in response to an occasional headline grabbing atrocity.

George Orwell had nothing on that shower!

Sorry, rant over.....

dandelionclock30

I think society has gone CRB mad and they are overused in positions that dont need these to be done.Also the overuse discriminates against a lot of offenders who havent offended for years and are now wanting to move on and get a decent job.Of course vulnerable groups need to be protected from being abused by sex offenders and violent individulas etc. However, just because someone has a clear CRB doesnt mean they are not a risk it means theres nothing to show.

SarEl

Uncertain wrote: »

This is getting a bit off topic.

However it raises a fundamental question about whether anybody should be discriminated against on the basis of an unproven allegation, especially one of which they may have no knowledge and therefore can't dispute.

Whatever happened to the concept of "innocent until proved guilty"?

If we are getting political then, like so many (stupid) things done by the last government, much of this is nothing more than a callous attempt to capture ignorant popular support in response to an occasional headline grabbing atrocity.

George Orwell had nothing on that shower!

Sorry, rant over.....

Rubbish. Nobody was suggesting that employers should sack people simply because allegations were made. But all a CRB tells you that no information is available on that person at the time that it is done. But are you genuinely trying to suggest that, for example, a teacher of your children (assuming you have some) who has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a child pornography ring should continue to teach your children and have unsupervised access to them and the employer should not know about this, or should blithely ignore the potential risks because that person is inncoent until proven guilty? Or that a social worker or a doctor - or anyone else for that matter - should be able to continue to have access to vulnerable groups of people who they may very well offend against because they offended "between CRB's" and their employer has no idea about it?

Personally speaking if such a live update system could save one child from an "occasional headline grabbing atrocity" it would be worth every penny.

andyf3050

I've just read that some of you are moaning that it takes 10-14 weeks for a CRB check to come back... mine takes at least six months...! I spent 10 years in the armed forces and have lived in a number of places since then so I just wait... no choice really. It is a pain when each police force receives the check and does their little bit before sending it back to be sent to the next one on the list and so on, but unfortunately we've just got to take it on the chin...! It's probably because this procedure was so overlooked in the past that certain undesirable people have managed to secure posts working with children when they aren't allowed...!

We want authorities to be held responsible when things go unchallenged... but only if it doesn't inconvenience us by making us have to wait...!

marcouk

SarEl wrote: »

But are you genuinely trying to suggest that, for example, a teacher of your children (assuming you have some) who has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a child pornography ring should continue to teach your children and have unsupervised access to them and the employer should not know about this, or should blithely ignore the potential risks because that person is inncoent until proven guilty?

Personally speaking if such a live update system could save one child from an "occasional headline grabbing atrocity" it would be worth every penny.

Enhanced CRB's already do cover that scenario:

Wiki wrote:

In addition to the information provided on a Standard Disclosure, the Enhanced Disclosure involves an additional check with the police, who check if any other information is held on file that may be relevant (for instance, investigations that have not led to a criminal record). The police decide what (if any) additional information will be added to the Disclosure. In rare circumstances the police may write to the employer separately giving confidential information about an ongoing criminal investigation into the applicant. This information may not be released to the applicant and the employer cannot reveal it to them.

The issue with ISA/VBS was that it planned to create a database of a quarter of the adult population who were 'allowed' to work with children based on a decision made by the ISA from sources regardless of their reliability or provenance.