23 January 2004
Capita, the private sector partner running the Criminal Records Bureau, has been paid a total of £12m to 'compensate' it for the use of paper-based forms, which it claims led to the backlogs in criminal checks during 2002.
In a statement, Home Office minister Hazel Blears said Capita would be receiving a 'one-off' payment of £3.6m to cover the additional costs of processing paper applications between February and September 2003. This comes on top of £8.4m already paid to the contractor between March 2002 and January 2003. But the company has been fined around £2m for failing to meet its performance targets.
Capita has argued that a last-minute decision to allow paper applications, rather than all electronic, caused a 270,000 backlog within nine months of it opening for business.
The extra payment is part of the renegotiated £400m contract between Capita and the CRB. The two have been locked in negotiations since February last year after an independent review team recommended substantial changes to the public-private partnership.
Under the new terms, the finer details of which remain secret under commercial confidentiality rules, Capita will receive 'incentives' to enhance its IT systems, which also contributed to the backlogs.
New performance targets, replacing the ones tied to a system that was never then introduced, will set levels on demand and quality.
A source said the new contract was 'significant' for Capita and recognised the problem of introducing paper applications.
Blears said the CRB was now on a sound footing. 'The revised contract is an important milestone for the CRB, representing a substantial improvement over the previous years. It will give the CRB capacity to expand and develop over the coming years.'
PFjan2004
