Taxi Driver Online

heres a point and question:
our council - East Devon District - have introduced a £40.00 admin fee for "processing" a CRB. This is on top of the fee charged for processing badges etc. We all have to pay. We also need to be licensed with Devon Council for school runs, another £40.00 as the 2 councils refuse to pass on the CRB even if we give explicit written permission.

Point 1. I have yet to receive a copy of my CRB after the council has processed it with the new regulator
Q1. is this standard practice from all others?

Point 2. If I did receive my copy why am I not allowed to submit it to any other body as proof, thereby waving the admin fee aside, if it was within a specified amount of time - say 40 days
Q2. Is this standard practice of all councils?

Point 3. Why on earth would a council make an "admin" charge when I fill in the paperwork and need to ensure I collate all info, I make amendments and I am already paying an "admin" fee when I apply for my badge
Q3. Is this standard throughout?

Point 4. Finally. We have to do this every year - which I have no real objection to - although we are forced to have the "enhanced" version
Q4. surely there is a central body with whoom complaints can be made, after all there is a central CRB body with a standard charge?

cheers

That's Council for you mate, they see us as an easy option to make money. We need that CRB check to earn our money.

Oue council allow us to put in a CRB check first, for the £12 cost and then pay the licence fee when the clearance has come through.

The County council did say they wanted us to do a second CRB, which they would pay for, but now they accept sight our own own copy.

Of course they still do one for all those unlicensed drivers that they insist on giving contracts to!

I would write to the Chief Exec of the council asking him to justify the handling charge. Mention your intention to contact the Local Government Ombudsman about you being shafted.

Though I suggest you use a different term to 'shafted'.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

We process our own CRBS when it comes depending on its contents we get a badge.

the county merely want a photocopy of the badge thats good enough for them.

I would assume that the £40 includes the cost of the CRB, which is £28 or there abouts. So the admin fee is £12, which bearing in mind most councils include it in the badge fee, is a little bit of a [edited by admin] take.

The fact that adjoining councils wont allow ones CRB to be used in another, is officialdom gone mad. Are they really going to make a teacher that may supply in both areas, do two CRBs?

I doubt it, but in the cases of teachers, the councils pay, whereas we are a bottomless pit, or so it would seem.

To answer Q1, the CRB is yours, the council only get a copy. So if you haven't got a copy, then try to ring the CRB to chase it up, cos it's yours and nobody else's.

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IDFIMH

That's a bloody good question, and I think it's maybe being addressed in the current consultation on making the CRB better.

It is standard practice in councils. What they say is they have a duty to the people in their manor, and thus they must have a copy of the CRB sent from the CRB, no-one else.

It's a crazy situation, but all the time mugs like us pay and pay again, nothing will change.

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IDFIMH

Not many councils I know charge an extra admin fee, but when you have 400 odd, all doing it 400 odd ways, then nothing surprises me.

If a council will license a fire-engine, then

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IDFIMH

Yes there certainly is, he is called the Local Government Ombudsman.

The fact that you have to do it annually, is absolute madness.

Like Tom said write to the Chief Exec, or the Council Leader and ask him if they CRB check teachers, social workers, nursery staff etc etc annually.

I bet they don't, and neither should we be checked annually.

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IDFIMH

thanks for the response and I would agree that it is another of the council issues whereby they have far to much time to worry about all the wrong things whilst all the wrong things are left....well.....wrong!

just as an added.....the fee for the admin charge is separate from the badge fee. All in all another screw to tighten! I found it very interesting to hear that some councils will let you apply for the check yourselves.....we have been told that this is too open for fiddling so they (the council) will do it......I'm assuming they are talking about the fiddling !!!

cheers again

they are lying if you apply yourself, the council gets a copy at the same time as you, the council have to check and sign the form, our council also take a copy.

they are bull [edited by admin] you.

See this is also madness. Why on earth can't you apply yourself?

The check is done by the same people, it's done to the same standard, at the same place, and a copy can be forwarded onto the council.

As I said, it's officialdom gone mad.

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IDFIMH

A mate of mine was one of the first to send in a crb check in may 2002.
Still waiting for it to come back.
Hope he is not a killer.

Clearly he must have had one of the ones that went to India.

Great idea that.

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IDFIMH

Yup. Administration gone mad.

Our Council is a bitlike Tom's. We pay th CRB Fee with the application.

Our firm then pays the medical fee.

When the Licence is approved, we can pay £45 for a three month Licence.

After three months, we pay £112 for a two year licence.

Police check is only once every two years at most. But is often not requested for any renewal where a driver has not had a conviction in the interim or anything else like that.

Our County Council, will then accept a Hackney or PH licence, as proof that you have already had a Police check. So, our councils aint too bad.

However:

As some of our vehicles are dual licensed PSV/Hackney.....

We need separate ones for the Dept of Transport. And...

Yup, you guessed, they want a separate Police check, and a separate Medical examination too.

But, neither party will accept the spec of the other party's fire extinguisher or medical kit or safety policy. So we have to do two sets of training, and carry two fire extinguishers and first aid kits. And we have to keep separate records for both of them.

There now follows, a paragraph of expletives refering to Government and authoritative administration generally, which has been deleted in order not to offend...

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Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.