British Caregivers Could Have Criminal Records

Foreign workers caring for the elderly and vulnerable adults may not have had proper criminal records checks, the Wadsworth (UK) council admitted this week.

In response to a freedom of information request submitted by the Borough News, the council said it had no idea how many of its foreign care workers had been checked in their home countries and admitted that such a system was only just being adopted.

Local groups and charities condemned the findings, fearing sick and disabled people may have been left vulnerable to criminals taking advantage of the loophole.

Lilias Gillies of Wandsworth Older People's Forum, said: "This certainly worries me a lot. If a carer is going into another person's house the opportunity to steal is high. Carers do have to be very trustworthy."

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan added: "Ensuring the safety of vulnerable adults is one of the fundamental obligations of a care provider. Local residents will be concerned that the council is only now adopting a system to run background checks on care workers who may have criminal records in other countries."

Home help and posthospital care are the main care sectors employed by the council, which carries out checks using the Criminal Records Bureau even though many countries do not co-operate with this system.

Wandsworth Police and Help the Aged have said criminal records checks must be carried out on all individuals working with the vulnerable, regardless of which country they are from.

When approached for comment the council refused to say why a checking system had not been adopted before, but said that any carer who could not prove a satisfactory background would not be employed.

They added: "We carry out a wide-ranging series of checks before employing any carer. We conduct full UK criminal records checks, cross check names with other Government agencies, verify references from previous employers and if the candidate was born overseas they have to prove that they have fully satisfied UK immigration and nationality requirements.

"In fact virtually all of our carers were either born in this country or have been resident here for long periods.

"Not all overseas countries are able to provide a criminal records check, but if one is available, then we will always check it."

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