Does anyone have experience with CRB checks and agencies?

I don't really know about portability but I have to renew mine at cost every two years to service the needs of my job. I can only think that a CRB check is like an MOT, it's only as good as the history on the day.

I do voluntry work and hold a CRB that is still valid. However if I was to do voluntry work even though through the same organisation this CRB certificate would not be accepted.Therfore the people that run these checks have a licence to print their own money when one check should be perfectively addiquite.

My only experience of CRB checks is that when the employer has requested it, then they have paid for it. Even if I have had to pay it upfront they have always reimbursed the cost.

CRB checks are only as good as the information shared amongst the relevant police forces and sadly, the recent riots and other incidents, has shown that a great deal of information held is neither accurate nor current.

Even the much hearlded Sex Offenders Register has faults, as a number of people registered have vanished and the police and other agencies have no knowledge of where these people are.

Lana, I agree on this occasion with the comments made by Parchester. Also, CRB is notoriously known for taking some time with their checks and even then, it is not guaranteed that they are accurate.

Are you a teacher? There is a lot of discussion on this on the TES forums. Agencies are supposed to accept portability of a CRB provided you have been working in the previous 3 months but unfortunately many won't. Some people are having to pay for quite a few CRB checks which is ridiculous. You end up working for several days just to pay for the CRBs. And most agencies don't pay for them for you of course as well as giving derisory pay.

Thanks for everyone's input - I have checked the TES webiste too thank you Roseangel - lots of people with the same complaint as myself. I have been in touch with a friend of mine whose husband has been doing supply teaching for the past year. He uses another agency which also accepted portability of the CRB, and has never been asked to pay for a CRB. I think I will just stick with the agencies who don't expect me to pay.

Perhaps i can shed some light on this portability requesting from an agencies point of view. I work for an education agency and am a consultant. On your CRB you have a 'counter signatory person' this is who an agency would contact for portability. It would depend on this person as to whether you get portability. The agency will approach this person and ask for the request. The agencies do have some requirements that differ from agency to agency like it must be recent within 12 months and/or must be an enhanced CRB. Now the counter signatory (example: County council) will only give portability depending on there own terms i.e most places say within the first three months. So there is lots of red tape over this. One other reason moving from agency to agency if i (as an agency) was to request a portability request from another agency, I have been chasing many for months and have been told there is a back log therefore what is actually happening is the agency who hold the counter signatory (who applied for the CRB on your behalf) purposely so that they withold the teacher from going to another agency so that the agency can keep that teacher to themselves. This is plain awful and stops you from getting out to work with your new agency if this happens to you speak to your new agency and then go mad at the counter signatory. Many of the biggest (assumably the most trusted agencies) are bad for this and are actually stopping teachers from getting out to work. My advice find a smaller agency in your LEA (find a preferred supplier with your local council) and try them out. The bigger agencies dont always mean more work. Because of portability request being held back i have bookings i am turning away this is a very sneaky way of keeping the business to themselves. However speak to your agency 'if there as honest as they say they are they would not mind to explain this in detail. Hope my advice helps. remember your new agency wants you on their books! so they dont wanna rip you off, the tricks are they will pay for it themselves and you pay it back = (usually wont give portability then) or some agencies make you do a new crb everytime for everyone. I would always offer free portability because i would want to work with you on my books. My advice find the right agency, ring them all and see what different options you get, however if they are not very forthcoming there is usually a catch. Prices may differ from agency to agency but this is because smaller companies get hit with an admin charge from the CRB company (due to the amount of CRB request processed which they will usually pass onto yourself. This money goes direct to the CRB company not the agencies pockets. Hope this will help you making the right decision.

Thanks for everyone's advice on this - it is resolved now and I did not need to pay for a CRB check.