A joint investigation by health ministry inspectors and the police has found that at least 120 unqualified care workers were put to work by a single jobs agency in the last six months, website Follow the Money (FTM) reported.

FTM questioned a number of care organisations about the qualifications of workers supplied to them by the Allround Care jobs agency and found that many were working in youth care and the care for the disabled without proper papers.

A spokesman for care group Gemiva said they had asked staff and the agency for the diplomas but that they had been fobbed off, with the agency saying a technical hitch meant they could not show them the papers. Gemiva has since ended the contract with Allround Care.

According to FTM, the investigation is part of an experiment to tackle criminal practices in care. A spokesman for the inspectorate would not confirm it is investigating Allround Care but said it is looking at “this type of agency”.

In April this year, a probe by the SKJ, which oversees the registration of youth care professionals, said it suspects that vulnerable youngsters had been recruited into crime by fraudulent social workers.

And in March, care jobs agency Samen-Zorgzaam in Utrecht, which had provided temporary staff across the country to care institutions since 2018, was also caught in a massive diploma fraud.

A lawyer for Allround Care told FTM that organisations often use unqualified staff in positions where diplomas are not needed.