Thames Valley Police only force in UK to miss all check targets

Thames Valley Police was the only police force in the UK to miss all targets for background checks last year.

All Disclosure and Barring Service checks must be done in 60 days and up to the end of November last year the force had failed to meet this.

Teacher Steve Vintner said he had lost £1,000 of work due to the delay.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police service said there had been a higher than forecast volume of applicants.

The targets are for 85% of checks to be completed in 14 days, 90% in 18 days, 95% in 25 days and 100% of checks completed in 60 days.

'Clear plan developed'

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "TVP has received a higher than forecast volume of checks and has had a number of unexpected vacancies occur within the DBS team.

"The force is in regular contact with the national DBS and a clear plan has been developed to deal with these workloads."

Mr Vintner told BBC Radio Berkshire: "Mine took 93 days to come back. I was teaching at a school and I got let go for the last four weeks of the winter term. It was £1,000 of work that I was losing.

"You need a different one for each school and I had to get one for four different schools as I was covering."

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are required for anyone working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults.

The DBS checks replaced those by the Criminal Records Bureau and Independent Safeguarding Authority.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "We changed the vetting and barring arrangements because the old system was disproportionate and excessive.

"Without these changes the number of checks being carried out would have increased significantly."