FOUR scientists have left the State Forensic Lab recently for jobs in the private sector, according to the assistant general secretary of Impact, Peter Nolan. "In one particular case we had somebody on the £15,000 recruitment grade who left to take up a job at £25,000 a year." A two-year dispute over staffing and promotions came to a head last month when the lab staff threatened to strike and refuse to go to crime scenes.

Since then the Department of Justice has agreed a new promotion structure and an independent review of the service. "There are still problems at the professional scientific level," Mr Nolan says. Science graduates recruited by the lab take up to three years to be trained.

"While you start on £15,000 it takes 20 years to get to £30,000." Another problem is recruiting trained staff. "The Department of Finance has an instruction to Government departments to recruit professionals and technical staff at the lowest salary level in relation to their qualifications. They are not entitled to take someone's existing salary into account." As a result "there are huge problems with recruitment," he says.