About half a million people in England and Wales a year are having to pay £23 each for basic criminal record checks before wary employers consider offering them a job. The government was accused of allowing employers to introduce a vetting system "by the back door" without appropriate legislation.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show a massive rise in people applying for a "basic disclosure" check which shows whether they have any unspent convictions on their police file. The number of disclosures carried out in England and Wales rose from 77,504 in 2003 to 443,413 in 2008 and more than half a million people are expected to apply this year. Although the government introduced legislation in 1997 that established the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and allowed employers to carry out standard or enhanced checks on those applying to work with children, it never implemented legislation that would allow people to request basic disclosures.

As a result, employers in England and Wales are demanding potential employees pay to obtain disclosures from the CRB's equivalent in Scotland. Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary, said that with no legislative basis this was "an affront to civil liberties". The CRB said it was planning a basic disclosure service.