The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has hit back at claims that temporary agency staff were a key factor in the Royal Mail's £11.7m fine for poor services.

Tom Hadley, director of external relations at the REC, says Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks are still insufficient for agencies, leaving them susceptible to allegations of providing dishonest staff.

Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, was damning in its report of the Royal Mail's use of agency workers.

Postcomm chairman Nigel Stapleton claimed that the organisation's most significant weakness was “the poor management of the recruitment and training processes for non-contract (agency) staff”.

The report also suggested that the Royal Mail failed to implement proper systems against preventing loss, theft or damage of mail.

Hadley believes this paints an inaccurate picture of both the agencies and the workers themselves.

“There was an implication in the report that if you have a temporary workforce, you increase the risks

of disreputable workers. This is a complete fallacy,” he said. “If you get the right agency, they will do the right checks on people.”

Hadley also stressed that organisations like the Royal Mail are placing too much faith in CRB checks, and should look for agencies which perform proper reference vetting, face-to-face interviewing, and a scrutiny of police records for workers from outside the UK.

“So many companies are looking for CRB checks, it is causing a backlog in the system. Even dustmen need them these days,” he said. “A good agency would not simply rely on them to put forward a candidate.”