Delegates at the Professional Association of Teachers and Professional Association of Nursery Nurses annual conference in Telford, Shropshire, passed an emergency motion saying the union was 'deeply concerned by the delays in confirming or ratifying appointments' and asked that the CRB would 'reassure schools, nurseries and parents that it is resolving its difficulties'.
Proposing the motion, delegate Geraldine Everett said, 'We are particularly concerned by warnings that some day nurseries will have to close if they cannot get their staff cleared. Nursery workers are becoming disaffected as a result of the delay and many are finding alternative work outside childcare. They cannot afford to be unemployed for up to four months. These workers may be difficult to attract back into childcare, when there is already a staff shortage, if their temporary posts are better paid than their chosen vocation.'
There was an additional worry 'that if this situation is not resolved, nurseries and schools may be forced to compromise their own quality standards by employing staff who are not cleared', she added. 'We have heard of schools and nurseries requesting staff who are not yet cleared and of supply agencies being given written disclaimers by schools to enable them to provide supply staff under such circumstances.'
But the Home Office said last week that the CRB's backlog of Disclosure applications, which was reported to be up to 67,000, had now been cleared and that all applications had been entered on to the system. A Home Office spokesman said, 'The CRB is working towards the published service standards of a three-week turnover.
'Since 11 March, 136,000 Disclosures have been issued and, of that total, 86,000 have been issued in the past five weeks. This is an indication that the procedures the CRB have put into place have now come into fruition.
'The CRB expects to see increased service improvements in the next few weeks.'