Girl Guides get e-Bulked up

Girlguiding UK has become the first user of a new electronic criminal record checking service from the Criminal Records Bureau.

Denise King, chief executive of Girlguiding UK, said in a statement that the "e-application channel will help us reduce bureaucracy, improve quality and speed up the [recruitment] process".

The online service is aimed at the organisations which make the greatest number of criminal records checks.

According to the Home Office, around half of the 3.5 million criminal records checks performed each year come from just 265 organisations, including Girlguiding.

Now, those organisations - who make more than 3,000 checks per year - will have the option to file their checks online under a new system called e-Bulk.

e-Bulk will mean a faster turnaround time for checks, with processing time cut by five days and checks that don't contain conviction details returned electronically, according to the Criminal Records Bureau.

Along with Girlguiding, 33 organisations have signed up to use e-Bulk so far.