Category: DBS News and Advice

There are thousands of young people in the UK working in occupations or volunteering in roles which would often require a DBS check. This could include young people who have left school at 16 and who are undertaking Apprenticeships in care work or in education with younger children, or people who are volunteering with the elderly as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme. The problem is that the current DBS system is only geared up to check adults over the age of 18, so what steps should employers and voluntary organisations taken when dealing with people between the ages of 16 and 18?

It’s common practice for employers in businesses or organisations dealing with children or vulnerable adults to require that their workers undergo DBS checking. In most cases, checks will come back clear, saying that the prospective employee has a clean criminal record and has never had any brushes with the law. Those cases are very straightforward for an employer – you tick the box saying a clear DBS certificate has been received, and the employee starts work as soon as they can. What happens though if the DBS check is not clear and shows convictions, possibly from many years in the past?

Although professionals working in the court service or Police try their best to avoid making any mistakes, human error is inevitable. Someone puts the wrong code in a computer, mixes up two names, or gets a date of birth wrong. Often these mistakes are quickly corrected, but sometimes they don’t come to light until much later. One of the more serious mistakes could mean wrong information recorded on a DBS form, showing convictions which never happened, a more serious conviction being recorded, a caution showing as a conviction or any number of other mistakes. These errors could stop applicants from getting jobs, and this is why there are procedures in place to allow people to correct any mistakes on DBS forms.

Most people who have grown up in the UK know that we have a system for checking people who are applying for jobs working with children or vulnerable adults. For people who have always worked and lived in the UK, this process is relatively straightforward as it only involves checking with police forces here in the UK. The situation is more complex when people have only recently come to the UK to live and work, as checks must be done in their home country.

Being out of work is tough, and people who are looking for a job are easy prey for criminals and fraudsters who try to exploit their situation. A growing trend is that of the “fake DBS check”, which can take a couple of different forms and for which job seekers should be on the lookout.

Five years ago, nobody had heard of Uber, and the company has come from nowhere to being one of the fastest growing taxi companies in the UK. Tapping into the “gig economy”, Uber says that it matches drivers with customers, and gives its drivers the opportunity to drive when they like without the commitment of set shifts. There’s been a lot of controversy over whether Uber drivers are self-employed or employed, but this doesn’t seem to have deterred people from applying for a job as an Uber driver.

There has been lots of coverage in the press recently about historic accusations of sexual abuse in sporting clubs, prompted by former footballers who came forward to say that they had been abused by coaches or group leaders when they were children. Parents are understandably concerned about this situation, and further headlines about not all sports coaches being checked have led to even more worry and confusion. If your child has started a new sports club or youth organisation such as Brownies or Boys’ Brigade, how can you be sure that adult volunteers or workers have been properly vetted?

The role of a PCSO, or Police Community Support Officer, is relatively new in policing terms. As well as carrying out some of the duties of regular police officers, PCSOs have their own responsibilities and job roles too. Police forces across the country are recruiting PCSO staff from all walks of life and of all ages, so if it’s a job you’ve thought about doing in the past, read on to find out the basics.

Gone are the days where people left school at 18 and had a clear career path mapped out in their heads. It’s nowadays far more common to change career path several times in the years between leaving school and retiring, and one of the professions which has changed radically to encourage more graduates, people returning to work after a career break and older entrants into the profession is teaching. If it’s something you’ve always considered, there are lots of different routes in.

There’s a lot of confusion around the UK’s system for checking people who apply to work with groups of people classed as vulnerable, such as children or the elderly. This is partly because England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have different systems, which use different names. To add to the confusion further, many people are still using the old acronym of CRB or Criminal Records Bureau, even though this organisation changed its name years ago. In addition to the police checking which applicants for certain jobs undergo, there are also Barred Lists which are searched when someone applies for specific positions.