What Are the Disclosure and Barring Services?
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children.
What is disclosure barring?
Dbs checker maintains the Adults’ and Children’s Barred Lists and makes considered decisions as to whether a person should be included on these lists and barred from engaging in regulated activity.
It is a legal requirement for organisations who provide regulated activities, such as employers or volunteer managers of people working in regulated activity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or personnel suppliers, to refer applicants and employees to DBS for a check.
There are different types of DBS checks, depending on the type of work being carried out. These range from basic checks that show convictions and cautions which are unspent, through to standard and enhanced disclosures which include more information about a person’s criminal record.
A DBS check is a record of a person’s convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings. It can also include intelligence held by the UK police that relates to their suitability for work with children or vulnerable adults.
If an individual is convicted or cautioned, this will appear on their DBS certificate and will be a factor in their suitability for employment with children or vulnerable adults.
Update Service: Instead of needing a new criminal records/Barred Lists check for each role, individuals can subscribe to the online DBS Update Service. This allows them to keep their criminal records/Barred Lists certificate up to date, so they can take it with them from job to job within the same workforce.