Now bricklayers face 'illegal' criminal record checks when applying for work

Managers looking to fill such positions have been using the Criminal Records Bureau to find out the background of applicants.

But checks should only be made by companies wanting to identify people who are not suitable to work with children or vulnerable adults.

Bricklayers are among those staff who are having illegal criminal record checks made against them

BBC Radio 4's Face the Facts programme said that requests by employers have been made to the CRB for jobs such as train driver or bricklayer.

This means, it said, that bosses are learning about spent convictions - when the person has not reoffended during a set time - which a former offender does not have to disclose when applying for jobs.

Crime reduction charity Nacro says this undermines the attempt to rehabilitate offenders and is leading to them being suspended or sacked.

Nacro spokesman Ruth Parker said: 'Most of us know someone who has a criminal record. I don't think any of us can say they no longer deserve a place in society. People deserve a second chance.'

The allegation, made by a prison reform pressure group, follows the disclosure last month that 700 applicants for jobs in teaching, nursing, childcare or volunteer work have been wrongly labelled as offenders by the CRB.

The bureau even banned a mother from travelling to school with her epileptic son because she had not been approved by it.

The CRB - an agency of the Home Office - has doubled the number of checks it makes in five years, from 1.5million to almost 3 million.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'CRB checks perform a vital role, having stopped more than 20,000 unsuitable people last year from gaining access to children and vulnerable adults.'