Don't work for them, but I've heard of them being turned round in 3 - 4 weeks these days - the back log is over.

Thanks for that, I will complain to them tomorrow! Fingers crossed.

raise a complaint with them. we asked a prospective employee to do this recently - we had the crb within the week.

does your employer need you to start asap. what we do - when the service needs staff asap - is submit a 24hr/36hr check with the POVAfirst database (its got a new name now. the search is for name and checks that there is nothing against the name that would compromise a vulnerable adult. if its clear and refs in then we employ under a strict risk assessment (supervision, no 1:1 access to clients, money etc.) the post doesn't become a permanent post until crb through. You can do the check once the crb form has been received.

5 months!! Oh my good god. I feel faint at the thought! It's been 4 weeks and I'm stuck at stage 4. The waiting is killing me, it seems ridiculous that it is a completely open ended timescale when most things have 'targets' these days.

Somebody told me yesterday that the busiest period is just calming down - all new teachers checked out - so it might be okay, reikizen

Mine came back within 3 weeks last time I had it done.

I don't work for the CRB - but did have to wait 5 months a couple of years ago for them to complete our Nanny's CRB check. Not sure what the problem was - it came back clear in the end..

Can I bribe you to complete my CRB checks to save my sanity and my bank balance? Seriously, what is the longest I may have to wait and does the CRB have any timescales it works to?