'School staff are going unchecked'

Schools could this autumn be forced to employ teachers who have not been checked for criminal convictions, a union warned today.

The Professional Association of Teachers said a massive backlog has built up of teachers and other staff waiting to be cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau, set up to check the backgrounds of all those working with children and vulnerable adults.

Senior officials predicted that some nurseries may have to close if their staff could not get cleared.

And they said some schools desperate for new staff had sent "written disclaimers" to teacher supply agencies, saying they were prepared to accept staff who had not been checked.

Even before the records bureau was up and running there were fears that 60 per cent of the police records on which it would rely were inaccurate.