Thousands of pupils have missed their first day back at school or face disrupted lessons, because of the backlog in vetting teachers.

In Sandwell there have been five schools either fully or partially closed on Tuesday. And it is expected that schools will again be affected on Wednesday.

Checks to be completed

8,000 school staff, including teachers, assistants and ancillary staff 2,500 to be fast-tracked 5,500 waiting extra details On Sunday, the total was 9,600

Council leader Bill Thomas called for a meeting with ministers to prevent similar problems happening in future years.

"There is an urgent need to look at the current problems with the Criminal Records Bureau to ensure that they don't happen again," he said.

Sandwell is awaiting clearance for 241 staff - and without these there will not be enough teachers to open schools as planned.

There were also pupils unable to begin lessons on Tuesday in four schools in Stockport.

In Surrey, the education authority is still waiting for clearance on 1,046 staff - and says that three schools will have to delay the scheduled beginning of term for some pupils.

A council spokesperson said that it would not know until Wednesday how many of these teachers, ancillary staff and volunteers will have been checked for the new term.

'Desperate'

There have been claims from Leicestershire County Council that the backlog might not be cleared until Christmas.

Graham Lane says the delays could drag on for months

The council has described the delays as "desperate" and says that it is still awaiting clearance on over 300 staff.

As more schools re-open for the autumn term, the full extent of any disruption is expected to become apparent.

The Criminal Records Bureau has been working round the clock to clear a backlog of thousands of unprocessed vetting applications for teachers and other school staff.

And there have been fears that schools, unable to deploy the unchecked staff, will have to cut timetables.

The latest figures for Tuesday showed 8,000 checks on school staff still to be completed - down from 9,600 at the weekend.

Fast-tracked

Of these, 2,500 are being "fast-tracked" for completion - while another 5,500 are awaiting additional information missing from returned forms.

But there have been claims that checks on teachers and ancillary staff, such as kitchen workers and caretakers, could drag on for months.

Delays with vetting school bus drivers in Cheshire have caused the cancellation of school buses.

The Local Government Association's education chairman, Graham Lane, said: "Particularly if staff shortages emerge, you could see this going on, on and off, until Christmas."

Although the majority of schools will begin term on Wednesday and afterwards, many schools have already returned - and most have managed to open as scheduled.

On Monday, local authorities with hundreds of unchecked staff, such as Bolton and Wolverhampton, were able to work around any shortages.

Councils optimistic

And among authorities with schools going back in the next couple of days, Leeds said it "does not expect any schools in the city to close due to the delays".

But many education authorities are facing an unknown problem - as they will not receive details of cleared staff until Wednesday.

In Somerset, where 494 teachers await clearance, a spokesperson said that it was difficult to assess the extent of shortages.

"The chances of being able... to minimise the damage are minimal because we won't know until the last minute."

Temporary teachers

It is not only permanent staff who are being hit - the agencies which provide temporary "supply" teachers are also caught up in the backlog.

One of the biggest supply agencies, Select Education, said on Monday that it was awaiting clearance on almost 2,400 teachers and teaching assistants.

CRB chief executive Bernard Herdan said the problems with the outstanding applications were partly due to the CRB's "very comprehensive checking regime".

He said: "It's much tougher and more rigorous than in the past and we require absolute, or as near absolute as possible, certainty of identity as well as lots of information about people's past addresses."