I have been told to get a Disclosure by a prospective employer/agency/work-experience-provider.
Disclosures are not licences. They are a means for an employer (volunteers are regarded as unpaid employees) to verify a prospective or current employee's response to the question "Do you have any criminal convictions?"
As such a Disclosure can only be applied for by an individual at the request of an employer or regulator, and for the higher level of Disclosures the employer must be a Registered Body or use the services of a Registered Umbrella Body.
DDC is such an Umbrella Body and our contract would be with the employer or regulator, not the applicant even though the applicant may be paying for the check (who pays an arrangement is between the applicant and the employer/regulator) and we would notify the employer in the event that the Disclosure had content.
The organisation asking you to obtain a Disclosure can register with DDC for free and you can still pay for the Disclosure (if that is the preferred arrangement). Provided the role is eligible we will notify them if the Disclosure has content.
N.B. Some employers are not yet familiar with the Disclosure Service and have been used to the old "Police Check", which somebody could obtain at their own request. However this is issued under the Data Protection Act and intended for the subject only. Employers have no legal right to ask to see it and should be careful if they do, as it may show information that they are not entitled to know (about spent convictions) and it will not include checks against the POVA or POCAL lists; required for roles involving working with children or providing care services to vulnerable adults.