There are 4 different levels of Criminal Record Check and each check has a different eligibility criteria:

ENHANCED WITH BARRED LIST – This check is for people working in regulated activity with children and/or vulnerable groups providing personal care, support or guidance such as doctors, nurses, support workers, teachers, dentists etc.

ENHANCED WITHOUT THE BARRED LIST – This check is for people working on specified establishments such as schools and care homes but are not in regulated activity or dealing directly with vulnerable groups and/or children e.g. service engineers.

STANDARD – This check is for people working in professions such as legal, finance and security and must be registered with the correct authorities such as the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). You will also be eligible for this check if you are working on/within an NHS Setting such as medical administrators/receptionists and dental receptionists.

BASIC – There is no eligibility criteria for a Basic Criminal Record Check and it can be obtained for any job role and it is the only check available to a self-employed/sole trader or individual.

For full eligibility guidance from the DBS website please click the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-eligibility-guidance

‘Police Checks’ are documents issued by the Police at the request of an individual wanting a copy of any data stored on the Police National Computer (PNC) about them.

The information is provided under the Data Protection Act and is only for personal use, nobody else has a right to ask for this information. Police checks are also known as ‘Subject Access Requests’.

A Disclosure is requested by an employer and is used to make a safe recruitment decision to place an employee into a suitable job role.

The only check available to you as an individual is a Basic check, current legislation states that for a higher level of check (Enhanced and Standard) you must apply through a third party such as your employer or a recruitment agency.

DBS Adult First Check is exclusive to the care sector and can only be obtained along with a DBS Enhanced Check.

You can apply for a DBS Adult First Check for a carer/support worker and will receive an email within 72 hours stating if you can place the applicant in a supervised role before their application has completed and their certificate is printed and received.

Every conviction has a Rehabilitation period to decipher between a ‘Spent’ and ‘Unspent’ Conviction. An ‘Unspent’ conviction is when a person’s record hasn’t exceeded the time scale on the Rehabilitation period.

Once this time has ended the conviction will then become ‘Spent’. The length of the Rehabilitation period depends on the severity of the offence, with some convictions never becoming spent.

Disclosure Scotland aim to complete all the Basic Checks within 10-14 working days

The DBS aim to complete:

75% of applications within 14 calendar days from receipt of application

90% of all applications within 28 calendar days from receipt of application

99% of all applications within 60 calendar days from receipt of application

As of May 2013 the DBS began to ‘filter’ certain criminal information from a DBS certificate if it meets the guidelines laid out in the Rehabilitation Of Offenders Act 1974 (exceptions) order 1975 (amendment) (England and Wales) order 2013. Click here to view the new filtering rules for DBS certificates issued on or after the 28th October 2023 that can also be found in the Policies and Guides section on our homepage. 

Warnings, reprimands and youth cautions will no longer be automatically disclosed on a DBS certificate
the multiple conviction rule has been removed, meaning that if an individual has more than one conviction, regardless of offence type or time passed, each conviction will be considered against the remaining rules individually, rather than all being automatically disclosed.

The Barred List for adults and children are two systems currently used for recording individuals actively barred from working with children and/or vulnerable adults.

The only check required for a personal licence is a Basic Criminal Record Check which can be obtained directly with the DBS.

No, we are an Independent Registered Umbrella Body with the DBS to conduct Criminal Record Checks on behalf of companies.

DBS stands for ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’. The DBS was formed in 2012 by merging the functions of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. The DBS started operating on 1st December 2012.

The DBS enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain job roles, especially those involving children or vulnerable adults. It provides wider access to Criminal Record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales.