Carers: Concern Over Migrant Workers (UK)

Care home workers go unchecked, police warn
Concern over thousands of migrant staff

From The Times
June 2, 2008

Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

Tens of thousands of migrants are working with vulnerable elderly people in care homes without undergoing full criminal record checks, The Times has learnt.

Senior police officers have alerted Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, to the scale of the problem in a report detailing the impact on the UK of migration from Eastern Europe.

The introduction of a watchdog The introduction of a watchdog next year to vet care workers will not address the problem, they add.

It is estimated that about 400,000 elderly people are being looked after in care homes. This figure is expected to reach 750,000 by 2031 as more and more people live longer. Many of the homes would be unable to operate without employing foreign workers, as British workers are unwilling to take the jobs.

Ms Smith has been told that tens of thousands of migrants are being employed in care homes and other areas of social care without being fully checked because the authorities cannot access foreign criminal records.

Since 2005 the EU has been trying to set up a system for the exchange of criminal records, but progress has been slow and the Criminal Records Bureau in Britain is planning only pilot projects with four countries.

The directive does not address the issue of checks on migrants from countries outside the EU.

Senior police officers have warned the Government that even after a register designed to prevent unsuitable people from working with the vulnerable comes into force full checks on migrants will still not take place.


Last night Paul Bates, of Help the Aged, said that it was extremely important to ensure that all people working with vulnerable adults should go through strenuous and extensive background checks to ensure their suitability to perform what is a difficult task.

He said: “As a charity, we would be extremely disturbed if these checks are not made and people slipped through the net,” he said. Every ‘i’ should be dotted and every ‘t’ crossed.”

The police report highlights a loophole in both the existing checking system and the one that will begin operating next year.

Abridged
SOURCE: TimesOnline
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