News

• Criminal Records Bureau
• Auditors say CRB has improved but still has problems
• Cost of criminal checks rises again

Low paid social care staff are being asked to pay the cost of their own Criminal Records Bureau checks, writes Sally Gillen.

Care home workers, who are among the most poorly paid in the sector, are being expected to pay the fee which for some amounts to a day’s wage.

The fees are set to rise from £24 to £28 for a standard check or disclosure, and from £29 to £33 for enhanced checks. The increase follows a doubling of the rates in July last year.

At the annual conference of the training organisation Topss England, delegates complained that some employers would not meet the costs of the vetting system, which was acting as a deterrent to people entering the workforce.

Shadow minister for women Caroline Spelman, who spoke on inequalities in pay, said she was aware that this problem was also badly affecting the voluntary sector, which was having trouble attracting volunteers.

It also emerged that some social workers and care home managers who are required to register with the General Social Care Council are paying their own registration fees.

Unison has negotiated, as part of the nationally agreed terms and conditions, that staff employed by councils should not have to pay for CRB checks or GSCC registration.

But vice–chairperson of the social services sub-committee of Unison Jude Lattan said the union had an increasing number of members employed in the private sector, who are not covered by the agreement.

She said that Unison was calling for a “tweak” to the Care Standards Act so that all employers footed the bill for the checks.

The Criminal Records Bureau was cticised by the National Audit Office this week for still failing to deliver the service planned when it was set up.