The government has gone back to an old system of vetting teachers before they go into schools in England and Wales because of delays caused by a new checking process.

Under the new centralised system, brought in in March, the Criminal Records Bureau was to provide a one-stop shop where teacher supply agencies and other companies could check their would-be employees were suitable to work with children.

But agencies complained they were waiting up to two months or more for clearance and this was adding to the teacher shortage crisis.

Under the old system of local checks, a teacher could be cleared for work in two weeks.

Crisis warning

Now the Home Office and the Department for Education have said teacher supply agencies will be allowed to employ people on the basis of a check against the department's secret database of people deemed unsuitable to work with children, known as List 99.

Checks on whether they have a police record will follow later.

The U-turn came after agencies complained of a log-jam in the checking system.

One of the biggest agencies, Select Education, said the inefficiencies were adding to the problem of teacher shortages.

Of the 2,300 applications for checks it had made since March, only 743 had been given clearance.

Rigourous checking

Select Education's managing director, Helen Harvey, had warned the government the problems might lead to a crisis next September.

She said: "Many teachers register with agencies to secure long-term placements at the start of the school year.

"If these teachers cannot work they will be forced to look for alternative employment outside of education."

A government spokeswoman said: "The Department for Education and Skills and the Home Office have agreed to implement rigorous List 99 checking procedures as a short term, interim measure until the CRB system is working to full capacity.

"We refuse to compromise on child safety and want to make sure that the appointment of teachers can be done in a fast, efficient manner."

The Criminal Records Bureau took over the checking system on 11 March, promising to respond to 90% of inquiries within three weeks.

Earlier this month the Home Office, which has overall responsibility, admitted the bureau had teething problems, but said waiting times would be on target by early July.

Now, it is thought the CRB will not be ready to meet its targets until the autumn.

Select Education say they welcome the new arrangements.

The company's marketing director David Rose said: "We want to see the CRB offer a 'same day' service for providing List 99 approval - which is the timescale previously achieved by Select Education when it had direct access to the checking system."

He also said he hoped the bureau would take action to deal with the backlog of more than 1,500 teachers waiting to be cleared for work.