Category: DBS News and Advice

We’ve all been there – applying for your perfect job, absolutely desperate to impress, secure that interview and start work. It wouldn’t hurt to tweak the truth a little, would it? Maybe inflate your A-level grades a bit, make up something interesting to do as a hobby and talk up previous experience? And what about that criminal record section, surely there’s no harm in forgetting to declare that minor scuffle outside a pub or a theft charge?

Around one in four of the UK adult population will suffer from a mental health problem every year. Talking about mental health has been taboo, but we’re finally starting to opening up as a nation and talk about mental health issues. Mental health covers a wide spectrum from people who might feel down at times to people who are ill enough to need care in hospital. Once recovered, experts agree that getting a job is a good step to recovery and mental health management for many people, but people who have had some sort of health crisis in the past which required police involvement are often very concerned about what will be shown on a DBS check into their criminal records.

There’s no denying that scammers and conmen are clever people. It always seems that the fraudsters are one step ahead of the authorities, and as soon as one loophole is closed they move on to their next scam. At a time where the economy is struggling through Brexit and a general downturn, and many more people are looking for jobs, there are a huge number of fraudsters preying on job applicants to try to con them out of money. Here are some of the most common scams, and how to avoid them.

It’s a phrase you often see in discussions about the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and jobs which require some degree of police checking – “children and vulnerable adults”. The definition of a child is fairly clear cut and is accepted as being anyone under the age of 18. But what type of people are classed as vulnerable adults?

Nobody likes waiting. Its inconvenient, boring and frustrating. When it comes to getting your DBS check processed you might have to be extremely patient indeed, as figures widely reported showed than in the London area, applicants for enhanced disclosure checks were waiting up to three months for their paperwork to come back, far exceeding the government’s own target of two weeks. These are people who are applying for jobs working with children or vulnerable adults, so it’s important to make sure that people with a serious criminal past or have shown worrying behaviour towards children in the past don’t slip through the net. But on the other hand, it seems unfair to have staff unable to start work because of delays in the system. The Adult First programme was introduced to get around the waiting period, and can be used in certain circumstances.

There are many employers who deal with processing DBS certificates for their staff members every day. Large employers like the NHS, which employs hundreds of thousands of staff who need to be DBS checks has set procedures for storing the information on a DBS certificate and making sure only the people who need to see it can access the information. Smaller employers sometimes struggle to know exactly what their obligations are in terms of data storage, and with new laws coming in early 2018 which will add even more to the employer’s burden, it’s important to know what happens to the information on a DBS, whether you’re an employee or employer.

BPSS Checks Looking at recruitment adverts can be hugely confusing, mainly down to the quantity of jargon used. People working in HR are used to abbreviations and are clear about what they mean, but for the rest of us it can be baffling. One of the most confusing issues is around the various types of police checks, namely BPSS and DBS. The two systems are separate but similar, so here’s what you need to know about both and where they apply.

The NHS is under pressure like never before, and managers are coming up with increasingly novel ways of cutting costs and freeing up beds. One of the main issues facing the NHS is dealing with a population which is getting older and frailer, often leading to the phenomenon of bed blocking. Bed blocking happens when someone has been admitted to hospital for an operation and treatment and has recovered well enough to be discharged, but does not have the support or carers to be able to go home. This results in people being kept in hospital longer than needed while support or a care package is organised, effectively blocking a bed for more acute cases. One very novel idea was to pay members of the general public to take these people into their spare rooms, providing meals, the basics of personal care and generally just being around until the patient is well enough to live independently again. Like all new ideas though, this raises considerable questions.

Ever since the Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) ceased to exist in 2012 and the new body called the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) took over in England and Wales, there has been a bit of confusion over what the service does and what the Barring part of the DBS means. Here’s a simple run down of what the barred lists are, and how they may affect you if you’re applying for a job.

It’s one of those questions which is fairly typical on job application forms in the UK – “Do you have any criminal convictions?” Employers can then use the information given by the candidate on the form to decide whether or not to employ them. However, a report published by a government committee has led to a campaign totally change the way we ask candidates about their criminal past, and what people should be expected to disclose.