Criminal Records Bureau

Background

Part V of the Police Act 1997 set the legal framework for the establishment of a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), an executive agency of the Home Office, which would “facilitate safer recruitment and protect the vulnerable.” The CRB has replaced local police checks across the country with a national service, collating data from various sources to a central information point. Capita’s role has been to design, build and maintain a fully integrated IT and administration infrastructure for the CRB. 


Realising the vision – service launch

Capita designed and built a bespoke IT solution to meet the unique and complex requirements of the CRB. An experienced project team was put in place comprising specialist expertise from various Capita businesses. An integrated IT and administration infrastructure was fully scoped, feasibility tested, built and implemented using PRINCE2 methodologies.

Throughout the various stages of systems development, Capita provided fully integrated business process management, working closely with civil servants. To ensure realisation of objectives, all elements of the implementation of the CRB infrastructure were governed jointly by a programme Board. Each phase was executed within an agreed and defined timeline and only considered complete when ‘User Acceptance Entry Criteria,’ as defined by the Home Office, was fully attained.

The nature of the work undertaken clearly means that security of processes is paramount. The system is GSI and CJX accredited (allowing the CRB infrastructure to connect to the Criminal Justice Extranet) as well as having Home Office accreditation. In all, 20 separate security standards have to be met.

Proactive and flexible partnership

Initially the service was intended to be delivered mainly via a telephone application channel. However, in response to customer feedback just prior to launch, the Home Office changed the specification to incorporate a paper channel. The subsequent high volumes of paper applications also brought a high percentage of applications containing errors. These incomplete or inaccurate applications in turn led to processing delays and a significant increase in workloads. In response, the partnership quickly implemented a customer service and education programme which dramatically reduced the number of unworkable applications received.

The CRB also experienced some difficulties in 2002 as a result of changes to DfES guidelines on the recruitment of teachers. Capita responded quickly to these changing requirements by implementing a service improvement plan which included recruiting and training additional staff, extending working hours and workflow modifications. As a direct result, the service began to see improvements within six weeks. Today, 99.9% of Standard Disclosures are issued within 10 days (the public service standard is 93% in 10 days).

The operation can now process more than 70,000 applications per week and has the capacity to deal with significant additional volumes. Performance against Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is monitored through our resource team on a daily basis with client forecast volumes agreed and staff mobilised accordingly. The flexibility offered by teams of multi-skilled staff who can move between processes quickly and efficiently means resources can be allocated around the business to meet SLAs as required.


Conclusion 

85% of customers find Disclosure information useful in making recruitment decisions, and to date, over 14 million Disclosures have been issued with an accuracy rate of over 99.97%. Capita is continuing to work closely with the CRB to develop further electronic enablement of the CRB’s vital services to the public.

Contact us now for more information.