Vicar's wife stopped from helping school
Red tape has stopped a vicar's wife from volunteering at her children's Black Country school.
Amanda Robbie, wife of the Rev Neil Robbie of Holy Trinity Church in West Bromwich, was informed that she needed a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, despite having had one carried out three months ago ahead of attending a children's trip which was organised by the Diocese of Lichfield.
And she said mothers who want to help out at Holy Trinity Primary School will have to go to Sandwell Council House in Oldbury for an interview. The school recently appealed for volunteers to hear the children read but so far no-one has completed the necessary paperwork.
Mother-of-three Mrs Robbie, aged 42, said: "What I fail to understand is why my existing enhanced CRB disclosure, obtained in July this year, is not acceptable to Sandwell Council.
"I got that disclosure for helping on a young people's residential summer holiday.
"Our sensible diocese did accept my existing disclosure for my work with young people in church on Sun-days. The diocesan policy is to accept ones less than six months old where the applicant has been known to the church all that time.
"Sandwell Council, bless their hearts, like to make it even more of a pain.
"So you have to go the council's main offices for an interview to fill out the form. Apparently this was because the schools weren't completing the forms correctly."
Sandwell Council has also asked Mrs Robbie for two referees and her full employment history including all voluntary work.
Holy Trinity Primary School declined to comment, saying Mrs Robbie was entitled to her own opinion.
Cabinet member Councillor Ian Jones said: "It is bureaucratic but it is done with the best intentions.
"If Mrs Robbie had a CRB check done by the diocese, then that check would have remained valid for activities with the diocese. But in this case, Mrs Robbie is volunteering for work at a local authority school."
