Tinies, supplier of nannies and childcare staff, has had to disclose the details of a bad reference given to an agency worker, following a long battle with the Information Commissioner (Recruiter, 7 February).

A nursery nurse in Birmingham, who had been unsuccessful in applying for positions through Tinies, asked the agency to show her the references they had obtained. Tinies refused, and so she approached the Information Commissioner last year.

Tinies was told by the IC in August 2006 that it must make the reference available.

Tinies managing director Ben Black initially held out, but has now said he was left with "no choice" but to disclose the information. He could have faced a fine and then imprisonment.

A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) says: "The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to find out what information an organisation holds on them. This includes the right to request a copy of references provided by their previous employer. The Act does not prevent employers from giving honest and open references.

"The ICO considers every case on its own merits. If there are exceptional reasons, the withholding of all or part of a reference might be justified but in this case we have ordered Tinies to release the reference containing the personal infor- mation of the applicant."

Black had argued that the safety of children was at stake. The IC said: "Any individual who applies to work with children will undergo an enhanced criminal records check. This will reveal not just criminal convictions but also other police information that is needed to ensure children are not put at risk."

Black said that he felt that the main aim of the challenge had been to get the IC to see childcare as a sensitive area and Tinies had succeeded in doing that.

He told Recruiter: "The important point was to get the Commissioner to recognise the special needs of the childcare industry and that in lots of cases we would be right to withhold. We got that clarity after a year of 'communication'."