Employee database ‘open to abuse’

The National Staff Dismissal Register, which is set to be launched in the UK later this month, is liable to be abused, an expert has warned.

According to Becky Hogge, executive director of the Open Rights Group, the database will "undermine the courts" and allow employers to punish former employees "in a non-judicial manner".

The online facility, which will be available by subscription, is intended as a means by which employers can report former workers who were accused of theft or other forms of misconduct, regardless of whether they were charged or not.

It is being organised by Action Against Business Crime – a partnership between the British Retail Consortium and the Home Office.

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About the register, Ms Hodge said: "Essentially this proposal undermines the courts by building a more effective means of punishing people in a non-judicial manner, with few of the checks and balances we’ve built up over the centuries."