Ninety-five thousand people in England and Wales are still waiting for the results of Criminal Records Bureau background checks.

The Liverpool bureau took over the checking of those applying to work with children or vulnerable adults from the police in March - but was soon overwhelmed.

It thought people would apply by phone - but most wrote in and computers struggled to decipher their handwriting.

And the CRB's failure to check new teaching staff for the start of the school year has already caused widespread disruption.

Blunkett: Running of CRB led to "chaos"

Two weeks ago it was given an extended deadline of six weeks to process applications.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the running of the CRB had been "unacceptable" and had led to "chaos" and the government has sent in a team of trouble-shooters.

The CRB has massively increased its staff, using a company in India and 200 workers from the passport office to help clear the backlog.

The CRB says new applications will be dealt with in an average of six weeks.

I have had to rely on my credit cards and overdraft

Nurse Louise Bywater

But initial targets of six million checks a year remain a long way off.

The figure this year will be nearer 1.5 million.

After five months nurse Louise Bywater is still waiting for clearance to start a new job at a psychiatric hospital.

The National Health Service has had to use agency nurses to fill for her.

And Ms Bywater wants the CRB to reimburse the wages she has lost.

"I have had to rely on my credit cards and overdraft," she told BBC News.