Receiving Disclosures & notifying recipients of content
When a Disclosure is received DDC has always checked it for content and any errors in the subject's personal details e.g. spelling of name etc. Errors are raised with the CRB. (If they have no bearing on the check results e.g. a mis-spelled middle name or employer's name, then we will only dispute these at the request of the client or applicant)
Since the introduction of electronic submission "clear" Disclosures are received from the CRB electronically and DDC's system automatically compares the personal identity data with that originally submitted. Mis-matches are flagged by the system and a decision is made whether or not to dispute it.
The same day it is received the Disclosure number and issue date is entered on our system and for "clear" Disclosures this will be immediately seen in the Client Area tracking system. Again, with electronic submission the number and issue date is automatically transferred to the database for "clear" Disclosures, so they are visible to the client within seconds of being received. We work on the basis that if a Disclosure is "clear" clients only want to know that it has been received and what the number & issue date is, so we don't do anything else unless the client specifically requires it.
If a Disclosure has content (about 3%, though this does vary by role) it is separated out to follow a different process. Even Disclosures resulting from applications submitted electronically will be issued by the CRB in paper format, so can follow the same process. Under this we e-mail the nominated client contact (Recipient) telling them that a Disclosure with content has been received and asking them to telephone us with a pre-agreed security challenge response to hear what the content is and who it relates to. The e-mail will only carry a reference number which will mean nothing to the Recipient (or anybody who else may intercept it).
If we do not get a response in 24 hours we will escalate the situation through a pre-agreed route or find out if the contact is going to be available in the immediate future. We consider that if we know there is content, we have a responsiblity to make the client aware of this as soon as possible and take whatever steps are needed to achieve this, though keeping these appropriate to the level of risk to the client.
Once the content has been relayed and its receipt acknowledged (e-mail) we will release the number & issue date of the Disclosure so it can be seen in the Client Area. However, in line with our policy of only revealing the existence of content to Recipients, they can request a delay of 1-999 hours before the number & issue date is visible to the Requester. This is to accomodate any process required to reach an employment/suitability decision.
The number and issue date of all Dislcosures received will remain on the Client Area for a minimum of 3 years. There are search and archive facilities so this can be used as a central repository if desired.