Enhanced DBS Checks

Ultimately this is the decison of the employer to ensure they request the correct level of Disclosure for the work their employees are undertaking. Below is some guidance that can help with this decision making process:

Basic Disclosures can be requested for any role, including those adhering to the Cabinet Office Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

The Standard check is available for certain specified occupations, licences and entry into certain specified professions e.g. solicitors or some FCA controlled positions. Specifically, these are roles that are exempted from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) by way of being listed in the Exceptions Order (1975) and subsequent revisions. A Standard Disclosure contains details of all spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings from the Police National Computer (PNC)*

The Enhanced check is available for those included in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 plus the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) Regulations. This level of check contains the same PNC information as the Standard Check but also includes a check of police records held locally. Enhanced checks may also include a check of the Children’s and Adult’s barred list, if they fall under the definition of Regulated Activity.

You should verify that you are eligible to request a Standard or Enhanced check before proceeding with the request.

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 was passed to protect individuals with minor convictions, and assign a period of time that conviction information would remain on a record, before the individual was classed as rehabilitated. Once the rehabilitation period was reached (and there was no re-offence) the applicant would not need to disclose the information to anyone requesting it. It was also recognised that certain positions or professions should fall outside this protection, due to the nature of the work undertaken. As such the (Exceptions) Order 1975 was passed detailing under what circumstances the employer was eligible to request all spent and unspent criminal information. This legislation has been added to, and amended since it was originally introduced. The result is 3 main levels of Disclosure available:

Basic Disclosures will show details of any unspent convictions. This means that an applicant would not need to disclose a ‘spent’ conviction if asked for a self-disclosure by an employer or other interested party (e.g. insurance provider) about unspent criminal convictions. Basic Disclosures are processed by DDC and supplied by the DBS for applicants living and working in England and Wales and Disclosure Scotland for applicants in Scotland.

Standard Disclosures will show details of any convictions or cautions received by the subject, unspent or spent.* Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 the Government outlined certain roles/professions where an employer (or other interested party) can ask an individual to disclose any spent and unspent criminal convictions.

Enhanced Disclosures will show the details of any convictions or cautions received by the subject, spent or unspent*, plus any ‘Approved Information’ held by the Police. Where an applicant is working in ‘Regulated Activity’ as defined by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the employer (or interested party) can also request a check of the Vetting and Barring Lists for working which children and/or adults.

In Scotland there also exists the PVG Scheme for those working in Regulated Activity, which can result in one of three documents being issued. A Scheme Membership Statement, a Scheme Record or a Scheme Update Statement. For more information please search PVG in the search function.

Please click here if you would like to register your organisation to request checks upon your staff members/volunteers.

*Under new legislation introduced in May 2013 certain spent conviction are now classed as ‘protected’ and will be ‘filtered’ from a Disclosure Certifcate. This generally includes old and minor convictions, where there is no history of re-offence. For more information view the Filtering Guidelines FAQ.

Disclosure turnaround times vary according to several factors. The national average is approximately 14 days for an Enhanced Disclosure, although this figure can vary significantly. When evaluating the total time taken to obtain a DBS Certificate it is important to look at each stage of the process. Firstly the applicant must complete the form, and have the details verified. Depending on the service opted for, this could include postal delays, or documentation queries that need to be answered. Secondly, the application data needs to be sent to the DBS or Disclosure Scotland. This can be done with a paper form, or via online submission. Online submission tends to be faster, but is only available to ‘e-Bulk‘ registered organisations, such as DDC. Thirdly, the DBS or Disclosure Scotland need to process the application and consult various databases and police forces. Finally, once the application has been processed, the Disclosure needs to be printed and sent to the relevant recipients.

Therefore, the turnaround time can range from 1 working day to several months in exceptional cases. At DDC we endeavor to monitor and control our processing speeds and you can contact us to confirm our current average turn-around time. You can also view our ‘Service Objectives‘ page to read more.

If you have been told by your manager or supervisor to get a Disclosure on yourself, then the only level of Disclosure that your are able to obtain is a Basic-level Disclosure. Anybody may request a basic level disclosure on themselves, and this can be done directly through the DBS or Disclosure Scotland if living in Scotland. You can read more on our Basic Disclosure page.

If you have been told to obtain a Disclosure through DDC you should have been given a link or received an email containing more details. If not please contact us directly.

If you are about to start working in a role that involves children or vulnerable adults, you may be required to obtain a Standard or Enhanced level Disclosure. These levels of Disclosure are not available to individuals, so they can only be requested by an eligible ‘Interested Party’, such as a charity, NGO or company. Once that organisation has confirmed they are permitted to request these levels of Disclosure, they can start the process, and the relevant forms will be provided to you.

If you think that you may need this level of check for your employees, you can visit our ‘Standard and Enhanced Checks‘ page for more information.