Standard 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.

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.

The DBS Update Service was launched by the Disclosure and Barring Service on 17th June 2013. An applicant must join the service and pay an annual subscription fee direct to the DBS.* Once joined the applicant can potentially re-use a Disclosure Certificate by giving permission to a new employer to check online that the document is still current, or if additional information has been added since it’s issue. There is no requirement for an employer to accept a previous Certificate on the DBS Update Service, and each organisation should assess the risks before making their decision.

The information provided by the online DBS Update Service Check will not confirm the information shown on the Certificate (the only way to view this is by looking at the Original Certificate presented by the applicant) but will return one of 4 results:

The Results of an Update Service Check:

1. This Certificate did not reveal any information and remains current as no further information has been identified since its issue – The certificate when issued was blank and no new information has been found since its issue.
2. This Certificate remains current as no further information has been identified since its issue – the Certificate revealed information about the person and no new information has been found since its issue.
3. This Certificate is no longer current. Please apply for a new DBS check to get the most up-to-date information – new information has come to light since the Certificate was issued and they will need to apply for a new DBS check to see this information.
4. The details entered do not match those held on our system. Please check and try again – this means either the individual has not subscribed to the Update Service; or the Certificate has been removed from the Update Service by the individual; or the employer has not entered the correct information.

Running an Update Service Check:

Any organisation looking to take advantage of the DBS Update Service should make arrangements to ensure that:

• The Certificate belongs to the Employee (ID Checks)
• The Certificate is genuine (Document Security Checks)
• The Certificate is at the correct level (Standard/Enhanced)
• The Certificate checks the correct information (Vetting and Barring Lists, plus Workforce descriptions)
• The volunteer status is the same as would be required
• The ‘working at home’ status is the same as would be required
• The individual has given their consent for the Update Service Check

Once this information has been confirmed the employer can check online to see if that Certificate has changed since it was issued, with the results returned as above. For more information on how to do this please go to www.gov.uk/dbs

If an employer takes action based upon Certificate information that they are not eligible to view, they would be in breach of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. Please note that applicants can only join the DBS Update Service when they next complete a DBS application therefore any Disclosures issued before the 17th June 2013 would not be included in the DBS Update Service.

Risk Assessment process:

Each employer should follow an internal risk assessment process to fully understand the Update Service and ensure that it is suitable for the organisation. Some of the points that we recommend reviewing include:

• Ensure that any recheck policy in place is consistent for all employees.
• Ensure that information obtained/recorded meets with internal policies of the organisation, and does not breech the Data Protection Act/ Protection of Freedoms Act.
• Ensure mechanisms are in place that accurately record the process followed, to ensure compliance under the current Update Service guidelines.
• Ensure staff members are aware of your policies or any change in policies that arise due to the inclusion of the Update Service.
• Seek/review guidance from any industry specific bodies (e.g. CQC) to ensure they endorse the use of the Update Service.
• The Original Certificate was requested by a third party carrying out a set process for completing the application form and checking the ID of the applicant. By accepting an Existing Certificate the Employer is accepting that this process was completed diligently.
• The DBS will be made aware of the Police National Computer details every 7 days and will update the ‘Approved Additional Information’ every 9 months.
• An applicant can remove a Certificate from the Update Service, or cancel their subscription at any point. The DBS are not able to confirm why a Certificate has been removed from the service, or discuss this with an employer or Registered Body.
• Home Based roles will not confirm any third party risks when using the Update Service.

*For applications that are processed as volunteers this service is free.