Thursday 22 March 2012

CRB scam

Have come to the conclusion that Enhanced CRBs (that's criminal record bureau, for those of you lucky enough not to need them) are a scam.

If you work with vulnerable people, say children, you are required to have one of these, it is your police record. Though all it states in categories like 'Police Record of Convictions' is 'None Recorded', which sounds like damning with faint praise. It should surely just say 'None.'

Trouble is that every time you work for a different company they require a separate one, at £51 fee each time. But I've had to register with 4 different agencies. 3 more job possibilities also require separate ones. That's £357 just to prove I'm not a crim.

It's ludicrous, like having to have apply for a separate passport each time to travel to different countries. It's the same fucking document from the same fucking source! It should be eligible across every place you work! What a waste of police time and resources. Not to mention, what a ripoff.

Some places don't even ask to see it. Some places will employ you before it has arrived, which kind of defeats the purpose of it. You just have to have it, just in case. Then the employer has their arse covered. But it makes you question if it's really helping to protect the vulnerable.

5 comments:

  1. I wholeheartedly agree - a rip off that just proves that you haven't been caught doing anything untoward so far. And how do they justify £51 for a photocopy of what they sent out previously?

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  2. And since it only catches the wrongdoers who've previously been brought to justice (the ones who are less good at it, essentially), it gives employers, parents etc a false sense of security. Which is why everyone gets in a tizzy whenever a teacher gets busted. "There should have been checks." "There were." "Oh."

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  3. I wouldn't mind a one-off admin fee Cat, but how can they justify making you pay for the same document over and over again? One document should be accepted by all the places that ask for it.

    Tim, right, it's like the argument against us carrying ID cards, the terrorists are often those with no track record...

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  4. What would happen if someone were to request a CRB check on you and then photocopy eleventy billion copies for you? Just hypothetically speaking of course.

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  5. Ah. The problem is, each job you apply for has to have the issuing body printed on the CRB - for example if I work for a school through one agency, it must have that agency printed on the CRB, and I wouldn't be able to use it again at a different school which uses a different agency. If I apply for another job (for example a library job) they will insist on a separate CRB issued by that library's borough. Stupid stupid stupid.

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