Abuse checks close UK schools

School's out: Delayed background checks on staff mean UK pupils won't get back into their classrooms for a while

LONDON, England -- Delays in new criminal checks on classroom staff have forced schools in Britain to remain closed at the end of the summer holiday.

Thousands of pupils have been told to stay at home while the Criminal Records Bureau ploughs through a backlog of background checks on teachers, caretakers and classroom assistants.

The vetting procedure was introduced, in the words of UK Home Secretary David Blunkett, "to reduce the risk of abuse by ensuring that those who are unsuitable are not able to work with children and vulnerable adults."

The problem was spreading from schools to other public sector industries including hospitals, care homes and social services departments.

Children in the Midlands, the northwest and southeast England have been most hit by the enforced closures.

Pupil James Taylor, 11, who was due to begin his first day at a secondary school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, on Tuesday said: "Everybody thought I would be really happy that the holidays would be continuing longer, but really I was looking forward to going to a new school.

"Our school won't be open until Friday now, but I've got bored being off so long.

"It's not fair really. If we don't get our homework finished on time, we get a real telling off, but there are masses of children all over the country now who can't get to school because of adults not getting themselves organised and getting their work done properly."

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands said 3,300 pupils at four schools could not attend lessons because too many staff were still waiting to be approved by the vetting.

A spokeswoman said the council was "confident" that the schools would be open on Thursday.

It was still waiting for 241 staff to be cleared, of which 78 were teachers, she added.

Some authorities defied the government by telling schools they can use teachers who have not been cleared by the CRB provided they are supervised in an effort to ease the situation.