A London probation service director has been sent home on special leave after it emerged that no vetting checks have been carried out on 300 new recruits to the service to see if they any have a criminal past.
The human resources director, Richard Mycroft, will not be at work after John Powls, London's chief probation officer, ordered that fast-track checks with the troubled criminal records bureau, the police and other agencies be undertaken urgently to clear the new trainee probation officers to work with offenders.
It is believed that the Home Office took the situation so seriously that it considered suspending the 300 recruits pending background checks. But it has decided that each will undergo a risk assessment and will only work under the supervision of a fully qualified probation officer. They are not expected to undertake home visits to offenders.
The Home Office confirmed last night that an investigation was under way in the London area of the probation service.
A spokesman said: "This is clearly an issue of concern and we commend the swift action that has been taken since it came to light."
"We await the results of the investigation that is currently under way."
It is believed the problem is confined to the London area.
The probation service is undergoing a period of rapid expansion as the government tries to develop rigorous community penalties as an alternative to prison. An extra 2,000 staff have been taken on to swell the service's numbers to nearly 18,000.
The problem comes on top of a difficulty with the background checking of probation administrative assistants when it emerged at Christmas that they had been left out of the list of occupations whose recruits needed CRB clearance.
Commons written answers published yesterday hinted that the charges for standard and enhanced checks made through the CRB will rise from £12 to up to £35 each to finance its rescue plan.
