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Nobody likes waiting. In the internet age where we can access information around the clock and get an answer to any questions in seconds, any delay can be frustrating. This is especially the case when you have the opportunity of a great new job but have to wait for the paperwork to come through. Disclosure Checks, which are also known as CRB checks or DBS checks, are essential for a whole range of occupations where the employer wants to look into the background of staff. Depending on the role, you may not be allowed to start work until you receive your DBS certificate, so wanting to speed up the process is understandable. There’s no “fast-track” option with DBS checks, where you pay a bit more and get an express service. However, there are lots of things you can do to make sure you get your certificate sooner rather than later.

A recent report has heaped criticism over the way in which a care home in Blackburn, Lancashire has been managing its recruitment. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) arrived for an unannounced inspection of the facility in November 2020, after receiving reports from social services staff under whistleblowing procedures.

Most people living in the UK will have heard of Experian, one of the country’s largest credit checking agencies. Experian is the company which will help you work out your credit score and will provide a report on your financial history when you try to take out a new credit card or loan. Credit checking is only required for certain job roles, mostly those including access to other people’s money in banks, building societies or similar. However, Experian do offer other checking services too, and this could apply to many more people applying for jobs.

Over the last year, the DBS has been quick to respond to the challenges faced by the health and social care sector when dealing with the Covid 19 pandemic. A recent change announced by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) should make recruitment across the healthcare sector easier, or at least ease the administrative burden for HR staff.

At the end of November 2020, an important change in the Disclosure process for England and Wales came into effect. The new order is a major shake-up on the way in which youth cautions, warnings or reprimands are handled by the Disclosure and Barring Service, and also changed the “multiple conviction rule”. The hope is that the change in the law will allow more people to get back into work, leaving minor transgressions in the past behind them.

Ever since the Covid 19 pandemic hit the UK at the start of 2020, a vaccine has been seen as the way out of repeated lockdowns and social distancing. Now we have three vaccines approved, with the first patients receiving doses in December 2020. Plans to vaccinate all people over the age of 50, along with those classed as clinically vulnerable require a huge number of people to administer the vaccines. But this recruitment process hasn’t gone smoothly, with medical staff reporting a huge bureaucratic nightmare in registering as a potential vaccinator.

Although most students didn’t return to schools in the UK after the Christmas break, plans are being made to get as many students back into classrooms as quickly as possible. One of the strategies being considered is vaccinating teachers and other school staff. In addition, there are calls for teams of volunteers to go into secondary schools across England and set up a programme of testing for students. This would involve administering quick-response lateral flow tests to children, and then following the right protocols for anyone who tests positive. Concern has been raised about the fact that these volunteers won’t be DBS checked, but is this legal?

If you are asked for a background check or a potential employee does a check through the DBS, then it is likely you will have a few questions concerning this procedure.

CRB checks are often an integral part of an employer or organisation’s safeguarding process to help them make safer recruitment and licensing decisions. These are also known as DBS checks because they are carried out by the Disclosure and Barring Service, which comes under the Home Office umbrella.

How confidential is the information that appears in all levels of Disclosure and Barring Service’s (DBS) checks?