CRB fee rise a small price to pay

4 Dec 03
The chief executive of the Criminal Records Bureau defended its second hike in fees in nine months this week, claiming the 17% increase would more accurately reflect the costs of the service.

05 December 2003

The chief executive of the Criminal Records Bureau defended its second hike in fees in nine months this week, claiming the 17% increase would more accurately reflect the costs of the service.

Vince Gaskell blamed a 50% reduction in its Home Office subsidy next year, poor-quality applications from registered bodies and a rise in the number of volunteers, vetted for free, for the increase.

As revealed by Public Finance last week, fees for providing standard and enhanced criminal checks will rise from £24 to £28 and from £28 to £33 from next April. In July its fees rose by 100%.

The bureau, a public-private partnership between the Home Office and Capita, is also proposing to charge registered bodies, such as local authorities, additional fees for using its new 'quality assurance service'.

It claims that service backlogs have been caused by poorly-drafted applications and is already planning to place legal responsibility for checking identities of applicants on the bodies. It is proposing either to levy a single fee on top of the £300 to join the scheme or charge as they use the service.

Both increases will hit the already tight budgets of schools, councils and care homes as checks on staff working with vulnerable people are mandatory.

In an interview with PF, Gaskell said that he could not guarantee that there would not be any more fee rises. The bureau is under pressure to meet its 2005/06 self-funding target and was bailed out with an extra £19m this year after significant difficulties.

In 2003/04, the Treasury will halve its subsidy from £18m to £9m and the CRB's basic disclosure service that would have earned it £100m in four years has still to be introduced.

'This will fall on schools and individual care homes,' Gaskell conceded to Public Finance. 'But we are charging £33 for a fairly unique service. And given the nature of what it is there for it is a small price to pay.'

Gaskell suggested that in the short term, registered bodies should join together as umbrella groups to cut costs while he worked to 'mitigate increases'.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations said the fee increases would cost charities millions of pounds. 'It appears that organisations that work with vulnerable people will pay the price,' said Stuart Etherington, NCVO chief executive.

PFdec2003

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