Year-long delay in vetting care staff

Checks on the criminal records of more than 100,000 people working with children have been delayed for up to a year because the new Criminal Records Bureau has concentrated its limited resources on vetting teachers.

The backlog of "enhanced" checks at the bureau has risen to 102,000 and includes applications from people working in children's care homes, hospital paediatrics staff, social workers and probation officers. The backlog has built up because the bureau has been told by the Government to check teachers and school staff amid public concern over the threat posed to schoolchildren. Fears have been prompted by the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Cambridgeshire.

A consequence of the policy has been that tens of thousands of checks on people who work more closely than teachers with children have had their checks delayed, some until next summer. Staff are concerned that the risks posed to youngsters in care are potentially much greater than those in schools.

One source said: "In children's homes there's a greater risk. It is more behind closed doors, there's more contact and there's less likelihood of complaints. There is also a far greater history of problems in care homes."

The bureau, which is based in Merseyside and is expected to check more than 11 million people a year by 2005, has been beset by teething problems since it started operating in the spring.

On Friday the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said he was bringing in a team of independent senior managers to improve performance at the bureau.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said the "chaotic" situation meant that some people might be taken on to work with children without being checked.