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Bosses at the taxi app company Uber are anxiously waiting to find out whether their application for a licence to operate in London again has been granted. It’s hard to believe that Uber only started operating in the UK in 2012, having launched first in San Francisco two years earlier. Although initially offering rides all over the UK capital, Uber had its licence withdrawn in 2017 after worries about the way they were checking up on their drivers. If Uber regains the right to operate in the capital, are you safe getting into an Uber cab?

Our legal system is constantly evolving, with new crimes being added all the time, and old laws being struck from the record. To complicate matters further, Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate legal systems from England and Wales, and this makes things complex when applying for DBS or Disclosure checks. One recent ruling has clarified the position for men convicted under repealed legislation, who faced having past convictions listed on DBS checks.

Every so often, there’s a news story about someone who has lost out on their dream job because of delays in processing their DBS certificate. The government had set targets for disclosure processing times and although performance has improved considerably over the past couple of years, a significant minority of checks are still taking a lot longer than the main target of 14 days. If you’re caught up in DBS delays what are your rights?

Lots of companies across the UK decide to outsource their DBS checks to an external provider rather than run all the checks in-house. There are lots of reasons for doing this, so is it something you should be thinking about doing for your own organisation?

Many people believe that disclosure checks are only needed for people working with children. In fact, the system is much more extensive than that and covers a wide range of people who are in positions of responsibility too. However, for many people it will still seem strange that the latest occupation to be added to the list for checks are garage owners. What’s going on, and why do these people need standard DBS checks?

One of the biggest buzzwords currently in disclosure checking is filtering. Journalists and experts throw the word around as if everyone knows what it means but in reality, there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what filtering is and how it works.

New year, new job? December is traditionally a very slow month in the jobs market as recruiters and applicants are on holiday, at staff Christmas lunches or generally just winding down towards the end of the year. However, many companies start their new financial year at the beginning of January, and may still be recruiting during the festive season. If the jobs you are looking at require a DBS check, is there anything specific which you need to know about getting a DBS check at Christmas?

The Disclosure and Barring Service has made no secret of the fact that it wants to embrace changing technology and make things easier for anyone applying for a disclosure check. The latest upgrade in their services was announced at the start of November 2019, when they announced a new Twitter account for the service. At present, the DBS is not active on other social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram.

The UK is currently hurtling towards an unexpected General Election, the first December election in decades. Across the nation, thousands of candidates are standing in 650 constituencies. The deadline for registering to stand as a candidate has passed, so you can now check who’s standing in your area and decide who to vote for. If your current MP is standing down, then you may be unfamiliar with all the people who are campaigning for your vote. How do you know they’re trustworthy – do all MPs need a DBS check?

It’s perhaps understandable that there is a lot of confusion about the Disclosure and Barring Service. Three different levels of disclosure checks, different systems in Scotland and Northern Ireland and separate rules for volunteers – it’s all very complicated. In most cases, understanding everything about the DBS system isn’t necessary. As long as you know how to fill in the form and what identity documents to provide, getting your certificate should be easy. Also, if you’re getting your DBS check for a job, your employer usually has someone who can help you. In other circumstances though you’re on your own. One of the least understood aspects of the system is the Update function. What’s it all about, and is it worth joining?