The new Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
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The new Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
Introduction
On 1 December 2012 the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent
Safeguarding Authority (ISA) merged to form a single non-departmental public body
to create the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The DBS was established under
the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 for England and Wales.
The primary role of the DBS is to help employers make safer recruitment decisions
and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups including
children. The Government’s intentions are to scale back the criminal records and
barring systems to a more proportionate balance between civil liberties and
safeguarding vulnerable groups including children.
The Key Changes
The key changes to the criminal records and barring arrangements under the
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 are:
• A new definition of regulated activity
• Repeal of additional information
• Minimum age (16) at which someone can apply for a DBS check
• More rigorous ‘relevancy’ test for when police release information held locally on
an enhanced DBS check.
The Changes Explained
A new definition of regulated activity (work that a barred person must not do).
The definition of regulated activity has been scaled back to focus on work which
involves close and unsupervised contact with vulnerable groups. It is important that
employers understand the new definitions of regulated activity as any organisation
that knowingly allows a barred person to work in regulated activity will be breaking
the law. The new definition of regulated activity relating to children is:
• Unsupervised activities: teach, train, care for or supervise children, or provide
advice/guidance on well-being, or drive a vehicle only for children.
• Work for a limited range of establishments (‘specified places’) with opportunity for
contact, for example, schools, children homes, childcare premises. Not work by
supervised volunteers.
(Work under both of the above is considered regulated activity only if done
regularly, i.e. once a week or more, 4 days or more in a 30-day period or
overnight).
• Relevant personal care, for example washing or dressing: or health care by or
supervised by a professional.
• Registered child minding; and foster-carers.
Activities that are not included in the new definition of regulated activity for children
are:
• Activities supervised at a reasonable level including volunteers
• Occasional/temporary services and maintenance work
1• Governors/office-holders including inspectorates unless they are done regularly.
Guidance for regulated activity can be found at:
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/supervision%20guidance%20revised
%20sos%20sept%202012.pdf
What this means in practice
This means that practitioners have autonomy to decide on who is involved in
‘regulated activity’ and the necessity of seeking a DBS check, i.e. if you have a
governor who does not have any contact with children then you may decide that it is
not appropriate or necessary to ask for a DBS check. If you have parent volunteers
who come into your setting and are supervised at all times then you do not have to
ask for DBS checks for them.
Reflection Activity
Consider the following scenario:
Your cleaner comes into your setting only when the nursery has closed for the day.
She has no contact with children or families. Would you seek a DBS check?
Although your cleaner has no contact with your children and families s/he is able to
access sensitive information about your children and families by having access to
the whole setting during hours when nobody else is around, so you may decide that
as part of your whole safer recruitment processes that you would still seek a DBS
check for your cleaning staff.
What hasn’t changed?
• You must still make appropriate referrals to ISA/DBS
• You must not engage in regulated activity someone whom you know has been
barred by the ISA/DBS
• Everybody within the pre-September definition of regulated activity will remain
eligible for enhanced DBS checks, whether or not they fall within the post-
September definition of regulated activity.
The changes have brought in some re-branding and the new terminology:
Old Terminology New Terminology
CRB – ISA - VBS DBS
Standard CRB check Standard DBS check
Enhanced CRB check Enhanced DBS check
Enhanced CRB check with Barred list Enhanced check for regulated activity
check
Vulnerable adults Vulnerable groups
ISA Adult First DBS Adult First
2Ensuring a smooth transition
The changes brought in are just one part of your whole safe recruitment procedures.
To support a smooth transition you should ensure:
• Your staff team are aware and understand the new terminology
• Your staff team understand the changes and why they are in place
• Review any job descriptions to see if there any changes under the ‘regulated
activity’ descriptors
• Ensure any recruitment forms, applications and advertising refer to the DBS
terminology
• Update your policies to include the DBS information
• Change any weblinks you have to the new weblinks
• Ensure you are clear about the timelines involved.
Other Key Changes
Repeal of additional information Under the Police Act 1997, police forces
can provide certain sensitive ‘additional
information’ to organisations, (not to the
applicants themselves), separately to the
enhanced DBS check. Although this no
longer exists in the Police Act, the police
may choose to use common law powers
to provide information directly to
employers in cases where this is
necessary, e.g. to prevent crime or harm
to others
Minimum age for DBS checks Someone who is under 16 will no longer
be able to apply for a DBS check. If you
work for one of the DBS’s registered or
umbrella bodies, you will not be able to
countersign an application for anyone
aged under 16
More rigorous relevancy test and new The police will apply a more rigorous test
right of review before deciding whether to disclose
information. At the moment they include
information if it ‘might be relevant’ and
ought to be disclosed. From September,
they will include it if they ‘reasonably
believe it to be relevant’ and consider
that it ought to be disclosed.
In addition applicants can ask the
Independent Monitor to review it, if they
disagree with the information. Applicants
should be encouraged to inform you
when they request a review and to up-
date you on what happens to their
certificate.
Fees
The government subsidy for enhanced criminal record checks ended on 1 July 2013
and the full cost of the DBS checks now needs to be paid by either the employer or
3the individual applying (£26 standard check, £44 enhanced check) in order to be
registered with Ofsted and to be employed in a registered childcare setting.
Update service
A new update service was introduced on 17 June 2013. Where a DBS check is done
from this date, the individual can register online for the update service; this will
enable their DBS checks to be transferrable between jobs that require the same
level/type of check, using a ‘status check’ (see below).
To be eligible for the update service, the individual needs to register at the time the
DBS application is made (using the application number) or within 19 days of the
certificate being issued (using the certificate number).
The update service has an annual fee of £13 per individual (free to volunteers). The
update service will regularly check information and amend the DBS with any new
information received.
It is the individual’s responsibility to pay the annual fee but a nursery may decide to
pay this fee on behalf of the individual if they wish to.
More information for individual on the update service can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-update-service-applicant-guide
Status check
Employers can, with an individual’s permission, carry out a status check on
individuals who have registered for the update service. This status check will tell
them if an individual’s certificate is still up to date. This is a free service and
employers do not have to subscribe or register to carry out a status check. The
employer must get the individual’s consent in writing.
Once you have the individual’s permission to carry out a status check you will need
to enter your name and organisation together with the applicant’s name, date of birth
and certificate number. There will be two options on the update service:
• No status change – the certificate is up to date
• Status change – the certificate is out of date and you should apply for a new one
to see the new information.
If you apply for a new certificate as a result of a status check which showed a
change in status, and the individual has not shown their new certificate to you within
28 days of its issue, you can then request a copy of it from the DBS.
The DBS plans to introduce a ‘notification service’ next year; this will inform an
employer if a status has changed. Further information will be provided on this as it
emerges.
More information for employers on the update service can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-update-service-employer-guide
4Applicant only certificates
DBS will issue certificates to the applicant only, putting them in charge of their own
data. You must request to see the individual’s copy as part of recruitment and
ongoing safeguarding procedures.
Old and minor cautions and convictions
Due to a case brought by the campaign group Liberty, the court of appeal has ruled
that disclosure of all cautions and convictions on a DBS certificate is incompatible
with Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, the right to a private life.
As a result of this ruling the Home Office has started the legislative process (subject
to agreement by Parliament) so that certain old and minor cautions and convictions
will no longer be disclosed on a DBS certificate. The filtering rules which are now
before parliament for consideration are:
An adult conviction will be removed from a criminal record certificate if:
i. 11 years have elapsed since the date of conviction
ii. it is the person's only offence and
iii. it did not result in a custodial sentence.
Even then, it will only be removed if it does not appear on the list of specified
offences. If a person has more than one offence, then details of all their convictions
will always be included.
• An adult caution will be removed after six years have elapsed since the date of
the caution and if it does not appear on the list of specified offences
• For those under 18 at the time of the offence:
o A conviction received as a young person would become eligible for filtering
after five and a half years, unless it is on the list of specified offences, a
custodial sentence was received or the individual has more than one
conviction
o A caution administered to a young person will not be disclosed if two years
have elapsed since the date of issue, but only if it does not appear on the
list of specified offences.
The changes will not come into force until after the legislation has completed its
passage through Parliament. Until this has happened practitioners should continue
as usual.
Further Information:
For all enquiries about DBS checks
Customer Services: 0870 90 90 811
Department for Education: Factual Note on Regulated activity: Children and
Supervision guidance:
http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/safeguardingchildren/a002098
02/disclosurebarring
Home Office leaflet: September 2012 What you need to know:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/disclosure-and-barring
5Code of Practice for Registered Bodies:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/crb/partners-reg-bodies/code-
of-practice/
Department of Education Factual Note on children: June 2012
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/r/regulated%20activity%20children%20
full%20information%20ewni%20final%202012-06-01.pdf
Home Office statutory guidance on police information:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/statutory-disclosure-guidance
National Day Nurseries Association
National Early Years Enterprise Centre, Longbow Close, Huddersfield, HD2 1GQ.
Tel: +44 (0)1484 40 70 70, Fax: +44(0)1484 40 70 60, Email: info@ndna.org.uk, Twitter: @NDNAtalk, Website: www.ndna.org.uk
Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England Company No. 3738616 VAT No. 123353839
NDNA is a charity registered in England and Wales (1078275) and in Scotland (SCO40610)
Published: September 2014
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