Online criminal records checks to save Surrey council £300,000

Online criminal records checks to save Surrey council £300,000

County council replaces paper-based Criminal Records Bureau checks with online system

Surrey county council has launched a new system to conduct Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks in an effort to cut costs and improve efficiency.

The local authority said that the new system, which is being provided by technology firm Atlantic Data, will save up to £300,000 over three years and speed up CRB processes.

Under the previous paper system, it could take up to six weeks for a check to be processed. The council said it aims to cut this down to a few days with the online system.

Surrey carries out up to 10,000 CRB checks a year. It plans to offer its online service to organisations and businesses across the county.

The online system will improve the security of personal information compared to the previous paper based process, according to a spokesman for the local authority. Logging on to the system requires passing through three levels of security and access is denied of they are not completed successfully, he told Guardian Government Computing.

The online checking process meets national standards approved by the Criminal Records Bureau and the Ministry of Justice, the spokesman added.