Category: DBS News and Advice

If you are one of the many thousands of people in the UK who have had a minor brush with the law, then getting a DBS check can be a worrying time. Most people aren’t sure about the type of information which will be printed on a DBS certificate and worry about very minor offences from decades ago being disclosed. The process of filtering is best described as releasing information on a “need to know” basis. What is printed on your DBS certificate will depend on a number of factors.

Almost 900,000 people are arrested every year in the UK. In many of these cases the arrested person is taken to the Police station, questioned and then allowed to go home after the Police have decided they’ve got the wrong person, or that no crime has been committed. The person is then free to get on with their life, without any criminal record. Fast forward a few years, and the person who was mistakenly arrested applies for a job in a hospital, school or bank in a position which requires a DBS check to be carried out. Will that old arrest appear on their DBS form?

Applying online for your DBS check is often a lot more simple than printing out the form and doing it by hand. It can be easy to make mistakes on any form though and the DBS is no exception. Although the system will stop you from hitting “submit” without the key pieces of information in place, that doesn’t prevent errors in other sections which will hold up processing of your application. Check you haven’t fallen into any of these common traps before submitting your DBS form.

Any parent will know that childcare is often a constant juggling act. Many nurseries are only open from 8am to 6pm, childminders might have similar hours, having a nanny or au pair living in your house all week might not be practical. If you’re a parent who works very irregular hours or does shifts, it can often be difficult to get good childcare at very short notice, especially when you have no family members to step in and help you out. But how do you wade your way through all the childcare options available, and find the best and safest for your child?

In the UK, it’s the job of an employer to check that the people who are working for them are legally entitled to do so. If employers are caught with illegal workers in their business, they could face fines of up to £10,000 per worker. At first, it might seem quite simple to establish who is here legally, and who is not. But is it really as simple as that?

It’s never easy to know when the time has come to move an elderly relative into a residential care home. An ageing population means that more of us than ever are juggling a busy family life with looking after elderly parents, and there are more care homes than ever offering to look after our loved ones. So what should you be looking for when on a visit to a care home?

The list of occupations which require a DBS check is extensive. Safeguarding is a buzzword which you’ll hear a lot in connecting with DBS checking and it sums up very well what the system is intended to do – it’s about guarding the more vulnerable members of society, and keeping them safe. It’s also about checking up on the backgrounds of employees, identifying people who might be a risk to the business because of their past. If you’re inviting someone into your house to clean, or looking for a team of cleaners for an office are you allowed to check up on their past?

Employing a nanny is no longer the preserve of the rich and famous. Rising childcare prices in nurseries or at childminders can mean that hiring a full time nanny to look after your kids at home is a viable choice, especially for those with two or more children needing care. Hiring a nanny comes with extra responsibilities, as you’ll be classed as an employer and will need to take care of issues like tax and holiday pay. It does however give you greater control over how your children are looked after. Getting a great nanny isn’t as easy as it sounds though, as the best qualified and most experienced nannies are in huge demand and can command high salaries. One of the main sticking points for any parent considering employing their own nanny is how to go about getting a DBS check.

We don’t seem to have got our heads properly around the definition of “child” and “adult” in the UK. In many cases, adulthood starts at 18, when you can vote, drink, buy cigarettes, take out a credit card and live independently. Others define 16 as being an adult, as that’s the age you can leave school to go to college or into an apprenticeship, or get married. Those two years between 16 and 18 are most definitely a grey area – not really a child, but not legally an adult either. Those legal grey areas are particularly an issue when it comes to 16 or 17 year olds applying for work or voluntary roles which would require a DBS check.

As a society, we’re all a lot more clued-up on the importance of a rigorous DBS checking process to make sure that the most vulnerable groups in society are protected from exploitation. Recent scandals in the world of football and other team sports have thrown the spotlight onto the clubs and extra-curricular activities which our children do. If your kids attend a football club which is part of the FA, or an organisation such as Brownies or Cubs then there will be policies and procedures you can look at to reassure yourself about their Child Protection policies. For smaller, independent clubs and activities, it’s not always as straightforward.