26 April 2002
In a frank letter to the Employers' Organisation, the bureau's chief executive Bernard Herdan conceded that it had failed to meet its own service targets. Apologising for the administrative delays and poor advice, he said measures had already been taken to clear the backlog and improve the quality of staff.
The bureau, which officially opened for business on March 11, is a public-private partnership between the Home Office and Capita. Set up to co-ordinate criminal checks on public sector staff, it has been blighted by difficulties.
The EO received complaints from 92 local authorities, ranging from lost correspondence to severe delays in sending out disclosure forms – the essential paperwork to begin a criminal check.
Several councils also stated that forms were sent to the wrong people at the wrong address. This was holding up the recruitment process in essential areas such as education and social services. In one case, initial information sent to the fledgling CRB last June had still not been processed by the end of March. Staff also reportedly gave conflicting advice, failed to return calls or simply left council officials on hold.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: 'The CRB is not meeting high service standards in disclosure. There is a lot of work being done and customers will start to see an upturn in performance. This has been a hugely ambitious project and things will take time to bed in.'
The bureau has conceded that it underestimated the demand for its service and has already sent out 1.8 million disclosure forms to public bodies, yet it employed just 60 staff in its call centre.
It also blames the police, which used to carry out one million of the checks each year. According to the Home Office, three forces decided to halt their checks from February 22, leaving some authorities without a service for three weeks. It also blames a last-minute rush from some councils keen to get checks from the police before the CRB took over.
The Home Office spokesman said the CRB has recruited 30 extra staff in its call centre and would monitor standards through customer research and 'mystery shopper' exercises. It refused to say if Capita would face financial penalties for failing to meet its contractual service targets, citing 'commercial confidentiality'.
Mike Walker, assistant director of negotiations at the EO, said he was generally pleased with the CRB's response. 'They have acknowledged that things could have gone better and have dealt with most of the problems,' he told Public Finance.
But he said the EO would be returning to talks with the bureau as authorities were still voicing concerns over standards.
PFapr2002
