Help and FAQs

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a government organisation which helps employers make safer recruitment decisions, preventing unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups through its criminal record checking and barring functions. The DBS has jurisdiction for criminality checks for roles in England and Wales.

There are three levels of DBS Check:

• Standard – This will check for spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings

• Enhanced – This includes the same as the standard check plus any additional information held by local police that’s reasonably considered relevant to the workforce being applied for

• Enhanced with list checks – This is like the enhanced check, but includes a check of the DBS barred lists

For those who do not meet the criteria for a DBS check you can also apply for a basic criminal records check provided by Disclosure Scotland which checks for any unspent convictions.

We do not currently offer standard or enhanced checks in Scotland or Northern Ireland. For standard or enhanced checks in Scotland please contact Disclosure Scotland and Access NI for checks in Northern Ireland.

A DBS check may also be required for a range of other types of job or licences, for example solicitor, chartered accountant, Financial Conduct Authority regulated positions, for the purpose of licensing with regards to the private security industry.

If your role does not bring you into regular contact with children or vulnerable adults or meet the criteria for a standard or enhanced check but you still wish to have a criminality check undertaken, you can apply for a basic check.

1. Click the sign up button
2. Fill in your organisation details
3. You will receive an email asking you to call us so we can verify your organisation’s details and eligibility
4. We’ll send you a user name and password, and you’re ready to start!

• Complete the application form online, or
• Send your employees/prospective employees a link via email – they then complete the application form themselves, or
• Order paper application forms which will be sent to you in the post.

You will then verify the employee/prospective employees identification, authorise the application form and await the disclosure result.

Please note that as from June 2013, the DBS announced that they will no longer automatically send a copy of the certificate to a registered organisation. You will now need to ask the applicant to see the certificate.

Unfortunately, you are not able to track in real-time progress of basic checks through Disclosure Scotland but as soon as we receive the certificate for dispatch to you, we will update the site and as the employer, you will receive the certificate through the post within five working days.

Organisations can apply through us for a basic check for any position in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales. A basic disclosure is the lowest level of disclosure and is available to anyone for any purpose. It contains details of convictions considered unspent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 or states that there are no such convictions. This type of disclosure is only issued to the applicant. It is not job-specific or job-related and may be used more than once. When a basic disclosure certificate is requested through our online system the certificate is issued directly to the employer.

We do not currently offer Disclosure Scotland standard or enhanced checks – for more information on these checks please contact Disclosure Scotland directly.

• We aim to verify and submit your online application to the DBS within four hours of receiving it (if there are any questions regarding the application we will email you within four hours)
• Online standard disclosure certificates are normally sent out by the DBS within five to ten days*
• Paper applications for standard disclosure certificates are normally sent out by the DBS within two to three weeks*
• Online enhanced disclosure certificates are normally sent out by the DBS within ten to fifteen days*
• Paper applications for enhanced disclosure certificates are normally sent out by the DBS within four to six weeks*
• Basic check applications are normally processed and sent out by Disclosure Scotland within ten to 15 working days*

*Each application is dealt with individually and although the majority are dealt with in the above timescales some applications can/will take longer.

Once the check is completed your account will show you the disclosure number of each individual as well as whether the certificate “contains no detail” or whether you need to “please wait to view applicant certificate”. For those in the later category, you should request a copy of the certificate from the employee before finalising the employment decision.

Please note that as from June 2013, the DBS announced that they will no longer automatically send a copy of the certificate to a registered organisation. You will now need to ask the applicant to see the certificate.

Unfortunately, you are not able to track in real-time progress of basic checks through Disclosure Scotland but as soon as we receive the certificate for dispatch to you, we will update the site and as the employer, you will receive the certificate through the post within five working days.

If you require a higher level of check you will need an organisation to apply on your behalf ie if you are going to work within a school you could ask the school to apply for you.