DBS Checks Explained: What Shows Up and What Doesn't

Anyone applying for work involving children, healthcare, education or a regulated profession will encounter a criminal record check at some point. So will plenty of people applying for jobs where it is far less obvious why one is needed.

The system is more nuanced than most applicants realise, and misunderstandings run in both directions. Some people assume everything they have ever done will surface, while others assume nothing will.

Here is what the different levels of check actually cover, and what can be done when something appears that should not.

There are three levels of check.

The Disclosure and Barring Service, usually shortened to DBS, operates in England and Wales. Equivalent bodies operate in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

A basic check discloses unspent convictions and conditional cautions only. Anyone can request one about themselves, and any employer can ask for one for any role.

A standard check discloses spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings, subject to filtering rules. An enhanced check covers the same ground and can additionally include any information a chief officer of police reasonably believes to be relevant.

Not every job qualifies for the higher levels.

This is the point most worth understanding. Standard and enhanced checks are only lawful for roles specified in legislation.

Broadly, these cover work involving children or vulnerable adults, certain healthcare and social care roles, the legal and financial sectors in defined circumstances, and various licensed occupations.

An employer for a role outside those categories cannot lawfully require a standard or enhanced check. If a general office or retail job asks for one, it is reasonable to ask which exempted category the role falls into.

Barred list checks are separate again.

An enhanced check may or may not include a check of the children's or adults' barred lists. That depends on whether the role involves regulated activity as legally defined.

Being placed on a barred list means a person is prohibited from working in regulated activity with that group. Knowingly employing a barred person in such a role is a criminal offence.

The barred list check is not automatic with every enhanced check, which is a distinction employers themselves sometimes get wrong.

Filtering removes older, less serious matters.

Convictions and cautions become spent after periods set out in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and filtering rules then determine whether spent matters still appear on standard and enhanced checks.

Following legal challenges, the rules were amended in 2020. Warnings, reprimands and youth cautions are no longer automatically disclosed, and the rule that multiple convictions were always disclosed was removed.

However, offences on a specified list, which includes serious violent and sexual offences, are never filtered. Those will appear regardless of how long ago they occurred.

Enhanced checks can include non-conviction information.

This is the least understood element. On an enhanced check, police may include information that did not result in a conviction, where they reasonably believe it is relevant to the role and ought to be disclosed.

That might include allegations that were not prosecuted, or intelligence held by the force. There is a statutory framework governing when this is appropriate, and it is intended to be used with care.

Where such information is proposed for inclusion, there is a route to make representations before it appears. Anyone in this position should take advice quickly, as timescales are short.

Errors do happen and can be challenged.

Mistaken identity, incorrectly recorded outcomes and out-of-date information all occur. The DBS operates a dispute process for challenging the accuracy of a certificate.

Separately, there is a route to seek review of police information included on an enhanced check where you believe it should not have been disclosed.

Copies of the certificate go to the applicant, and it is worth checking it carefully rather than assuming it is correct.

The update service saves repeated applications.

The DBS update service allows a certificate to be kept current for an annual fee, so employers can check its status online rather than requiring a fresh application.

It is particularly useful for people working across multiple settings, agency staff and those in sectors with frequent role changes.

Registration must be done within a short window after a certificate is issued, so it is worth deciding at the time rather than later.

Disclosure is not automatic disqualification.

Employers are expected to consider the nature of any disclosed matter, how long ago it occurred, its relevance to the role and any evidence of change since.

Organisations covered by the DBS code of practice must have a policy on recruiting people with criminal records, and should not operate a blanket exclusion.

Charities including Unlock provide free, specialist advice on disclosure, and their guidance on how and when to raise a record with a prospective employer is widely regarded as the best available.

Share your thoughts.

Have you ever been asked for a DBS check for a role that clearly did not need one?