CRB Nightmare :-(

[EmMum06]

The registration process is driving me crazy. I sent in my application to OFSTED mid to late May. The checks are all in apart from CRB. The social services checks were finally received last week but there has been no advancement on the CRB checks since june 8th? what is going on? Don't these people know that our lives are on hold waiting for them to pull their finger out???

I am so angry, I have done internet research and am scared by the amount of time some people have had to wait for the checks to come back and there is no one you can complain to. OFSTED blame CRB, CRB blame the police and of course the police say that these checks take time but there is no consistancy. My check have been at stage 4 since May 28th, what a joke. My DH's have been at stage 2 since june 8th! WHAT IS GOING ON!!!! Others who I know sent for their checks after mine have received their OFSTED registration already.

A friend of mine who used to work for the MET in the police checks department has told me that the department practically closes down during the summer...just not good enough.

I know that many people are in the same boat as me and I am just sounding off and there is nothing that can be done but...aaarrrggghhh!!!! (still don't feel better though).

My DD starts school in September so of course I want to be out of work by then and I have a lovely mum and little one who have been patiently waiting since june for my registration to be completed. I know that i could work from her home to avoid the whole 'looking after another person's child in your home' dilema but she needs to have registered childcare to get tax credits. i have suggested that we could do that and she could pay me a small token amount but of course that is just silly as i can't afford to do that and who know's when the checks will be completed.

Please, Please, Please, Please OFSTED/CRB/Police do something to sort this out.

Have you moved house, changed names more than most, it is frustrating having to wait but at least you can go to the ladies house, she could save up her vouchers and pay you when your number comes through, that is if you don't mind waiting.
If you are looking to start minding in september she needs to be saving her vouchers now anyway.

Phone up and chase it, chase it, chase it.

I once waited nearly 5 moths for one. And I have not moved house in 7 years.

I do wonder how government cutbacks will affect this sort of thing. If police forces have to cut their spending, then would they cut the amount of time/or people doing the checks.

As you say, alas nothing you can do except to keep chasing it. The delay is probably with the police force.

Is your CRB check through the local council or through some other agency? My ds is the senior advisor for our local council CRB team and for him the school holidays are the quietest times so there would be less of a wait now.His team is pretty much up to date so waiting times are around three weeks for straightforward CRBs ie not multiple names and addresses.

I'm in the same boat as you. Have a lovely family wanting me and my husband to be their childminders and we are still waiting to get the crb's back. His got in with the crb people on the 30th June.

We phoned ofsted today and they said they can't start chasing it up until 60 days are past. Your post doesn't give me much encouragement.

For the target of 14 days for the police to complete the crb's the met have only achieved 29% for June. This is a improvement of 9% on May's figures but it's still rubbish.Considering how many police forces there are in London too!

Like you our lady is prepared to wait. But ideally she wants us to start on 1st September. She doesn't want us to start at hers (and quite rightly so) unless one of our crb's have come through, but she is prepared to have us look after her children if one has come through.

I actually have 2 crb's on the go. Ironically if my other crb comes through for my now voluntary job the mum will accept that. So I won't be using the crb for the voluntry job. It will be too late for that.

We have been living off our savings and kind family for the last 3 months. This month is the last month we can survive without going into the overdraft. We really don't want to have to use the overdraft but if we have to we will. At least we have help in the form of Housing ben and Council tax ben. That eases the finace a bit.

Sorry I'm moaning now lol. A couple of moaners eh? lol

Sandy - not sure what you are meaning about using the other CRB check.
The voluntary job may well be able to decide to use the Ofsted check - but Ofsted won't usually accept one they haven't done. So they won't issue the certificate, so you can't childmind. However if it does turn up first and is the same level of check, then I would call Ofsted and see if they could accept it on a temporary basis - never know they may do it to achieve a registration target.

I received a CRB check back on a member of staff that I employed a yr after requesting it

Because I wanted her I employed her anyway after doing a risk assessment based on her previous work/refernces and 'local knowledge' < she was known to others so they refereed her. Permanent employment was conditional on CRB

You may not be able to do this but it's just a thought

My CRB was a formality/paper exercise because the woman was known to us

A quick survey I conducted locally (I know, it doesn't prove anything as such) but it is still interesting. For 10 out of 12 childminders asked, it took 4 weeks for the CRB disclosures to come back. For the remaining 2, it took 7 weeks.

I have been told that the CRB process should not take longer than 8 weeks. If it does, the applicant needs to speak to the CRB staff.

Mine CRB clearance took exactly 4 weeks, as did my husband's.

My CRB clearance took ages and I had to start my job a month later than they wanted me (worked with children in a hospital so not having one was not an option).

Agree it takes far, far too long.

Good luck OP!

Ofsted have said to us that we can work in their home until the registration comes through as nannies. We mentioned to the mum about having a crb in progress for the voluntary job and because it is a enhanced crb she will accept it so we can be nannies for her until the registration comes through. Then we can be child minders in our own home.

Thanks for that advice though NannyNick

my problem is that the mum can't afford me without tax credits. no registration, no tax credits. so even if I did work from her home, I am pretty sure that she would not be able to afford me. I am absolutely gutted and now i have to call her tonight and break the bad news. I am not looking forward to it but as my dh says, honesty is the best policy.

I wanted to update you all because I am sure you are on the edge of your seats waiting to hear when my registration will be competed :o

I called the mum of the LO I was due to take in September and she has been so understanding she has arrangd for her current childcare to be extended for up to 12 weeks so fingers crossed the registration will be completed long before then.

My CRB has been at stage 4 for over 60 days now so a letter has been sent to the police asking them for a response within 10 days and my DH's has finally reached stage 4.

My registration has been in the pipe work for 11 weeks now, any words of encouragment would be appreciated.

my crb took ten weeks

dont know if this will help but one off the cm from our group was in the same situation she rang ofsted every day and asked tfor an ofsted in spector to speak to her they tod her that once 30 days is up they have to have completede it not the 60 days that has being said earlier ofsted then founfd out which police station it had being sent to and found out that it was at the bottom of a pile and that any new crb that had come in had just being put on top they then fast tracked it by courier back to ofsted so keep at them day in day out good luck ladys

Update on our CRB (DH and I).

I rang up CRB on Tuesday and they said they would chase it up I have to phone back next Tuesday if it hasn't progress. My DH was on Tuesday to phone the next day. He did so and they said they would chase up his CRB too.

Today we saw that online that it his has moved out of stage 4 and onto stage 5 which is the printing stage. He phoned them up to ask how long is that stage. They said about 2 to 3 days.

This is good news for us because even though we can't start as childminders yet it looks like we can start as nannies on time :)

How is everyone's else's CRB's going?