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Health minister Stephen Ladyman has told the home care sector that he wants "guarantees" before there is any relaxation on the regulations surrounding Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks.

Speaking at the annual home care conference in central London last week, Ladyman told providers that induction processes were essential and that CRB checks by themselves "will not prevent abuse".

He told the industry that they were not in a position to tell him that they could be "trusted" to supervise new staff while waiting for CRB checks to come through.


"If you want the regulations relaxed - I want guarantees," Ladyman said. "Until I have them and until you accept that new staff need to be supervised, the regulations will stay."

Last month the National Care Standards Commission withdrew interim guidance that enabled staff to start work while waiting for their CRB check to be processed as long as other checks, such as references, had been made.

Ladyman said induction processes were a vital part of employment checks: "No employer of home care staff should rely on the CRB check as the sole means of making sure new recruits are suitable.

"Other pre-employment checks are just as important. Equally important is making sure induction processes are in place and there is continual development, monitoring and support of staff."


UK Home Care Association chairperson Bill McClimont said he understood that it would be difficult for Ladyman to relax the rules surrounding CRB checks but that new recruits were not prepared to wait up to 11 weeks for their CRB check and to start work.

"The CRB check is important but it's not the be-all and end-all. If that additional safety is going to completely wreck recruitment in the sector I don't think that's a trade-off that's worth making," McClimont said.