4.15 Applications were intended to be dealt with strictly in date order. It was not possible therefore to prioritise particular groups or urgent applications without manual sorting. In August 2002, however, the Department for Education and Skills announced that people working in schools had to be vetted by the Bureau before they could take up post. The Bureau had, therefore, to establish specific priorities for processing the applications of those who worked in schools, disrupting the running of the Bureau and causing additional delay. The seconding of large numbers of staff from the Passport Service mitigated the size of the problem and hastened recovery.