Nursing agencies have claimed there is no end in sight to the chaos caused by the introduction of the scheme to check temporary nurses for criminal records.

Sources said the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which is the new body responsible for the scheme, is now unable to cope with running checks on new nurses on agencies’ books.

The CRB had previously admitted that it could not cope with running checks on around 400,000 temporary nurses and carers already with agencies, and that it would take at least a year for the backlog to clear.

Trade bodies have begun to put pressure on the government to give agencies time to get all their staff audited.

Regulations in the Care Standards Act 2000 state that all staff must be checked against high-level criminal lists before a deadline of 1 July.

The Independent Healthcare Association and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) have both called for an amnesty period to allow the checks to be completed.

Bill McClimont, head of the REC’s nursing branch, has written to Jacqui Smith, the minister of state for health, asking for the regulations to be relaxed, but has as yet had no reply.

“The industry has been supportive of these new regulations, but when you are forced into this kind of position it destroys the credibility of the government and the department,” said McClimont.

Meanwhile, teaching agencies reported that similar delays with the CRB system are becoming less severe. The CRB is processing more checks every week, although delays in the system run by the government’s outsourcing partner, Capita, are still a major barrier to teachers trying to find temporary work.

Under regulations in the Protection of Children Act 1999, all supply teachers must be checked against criminal lists to ensure they are considered suitable to work with children. The education secretary, Estelle Morris, is reported to be putting pressure on home secretary David Blunkett to improve the CRB’s performance.