Doorstep checkpoint

Published: 19 November, 2010

• I HAVE it in writing from Homes for Islington (HfI) that all its staff, whether sub-contracted or not, will have to be Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checked if they are frontline.

Frontline staff are defined as anyone who steps across the doorway of a residential property. HfI says this is a contractual obligation and has left it up to contractors to enforce.

However, I also have it in writing that the new Kier contract will be “audited” by HfI to ensure this clause is adhered to.

So where does this leave residents? There are a few outstanding contracts still running for capital works which do not require staff to be CRB checked and these come to an end in March next year. 

But all the other contracted staff who enter individual homes now have to be CRB checked. That’s all the people who come to do general repairs (Kier and the HfI direct labour force), gas, lighting, water, waste, electrical testing, door entry – and the new capital works contracts won by Breyer and Mears.

I would say to all residents: ask to see the CRB check of any person who is sent by the council to do anything within your property. 

If they can’t provide it, don’t let them in. If I was a young mum with two small children I wouldn’t let three men in to work in my flat if I didn’t know they were safe.

Similarly, would you want your elderly mother’s flat redecorated by people who might have convictions for theft – or worse?

It’s time for residents to take the initiative and make sure we are all safe. It also ensures that contractors cannot sub-contract and sub-contract till one man on a donkey is sent to work on your property. 

If contractors have a duty to CRB check all their sub-contracted staff, they might choose them with more care.

VICKI LEONARD
Director, Islington Leaseholders Association Ltd