Disclosure and Barring Service

Disclosure and Barring Service
Agency overview
Formed	1 December 2012
Preceding agencies	Independent Safeguarding Authority Criminal Records Bureau
Website
www.gov.uk/dbs

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) was formed by merging together the functions of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. It started functioning on 1 December 2012.

It is non-departmental public body of the Home Office and operates from Liverpool and Darlington. The DBS provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales. The equivalent agency in Scotland is Disclosure Scotland and in Northern Ireland is Access Northern Ireland. It also makes independent barring decisions on people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who have harmed or where there was a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult within the workplace or volunteer setting. It is a legal requirement for regulated activity employers to refer safeguarding concerns to the DBS. It is illegal for any one barred by the DBS to work, or apply to work with the sector (children or adults) from which they are barred. It is also illegal for an employer to knowingly employ a barred person in the sector from which they are barred.

The DBS service enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable for certain work, especially that involve children or vulnerable adults. In 2007, the CRB processed 3.4 million checks. It also works to ensure unsuitable people do not work with vulnerable groups.

The CRB had been due to partner with the ISA in administering the newly created Vetting and Barring Scheme from 2009. This was suspended in 2010 pending a review following the 2010 General Election. This review was published in February 2011, making recommendations for the merger of the Criminal Records Bureau and Independent Safeguarding Authority into one new non-departmental public body, the Disclosure and Barring Service, responsible for barring individuals and completing criminal record checks. Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the DBS does not require registration, nor are any details be retained on a database. The scheme requires all adults who teach, train, supervise or care for children or vulnerable adults on a frequent or intensive basis to register, with criminal offences for non-compliance. This is estimated to comprise approximately 11.3 million people (a quarter of the adult population).

Overview

Logo of the Criminal Records Bureau.

The Criminal Records Bureau was established under Part V of the Police Act 1997 and was launched in March 2002, following public concern about the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults. It was found that the British police forces did not have adequate capability or resources to routinely process and fulfil the large number of criminal record checks requested in a timely fashion, so a dedicated agency was set up to administer this function.

One of the main reasons for the formation of the Criminal Records Bureau was to reduce the risk of organisations being sued for employing convicted criminals who went on to abuse vulnerable people while in the course of their duty.^{[citation needed]}

An organisation which is entitled to ask exempted questions (under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) must register with the CRB before they can request Disclosure data about an applicant. The individual applies to the CRB with their application countersigned by the organisation. The applicant's criminal record is then accessed from the Police National Computer (PNC), as well as checked, if appropriate, against lists of people considered unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable people maintained by the Independent Safeguarding Authority and others; these include the ISA Children's list, the ISA Adults' list and List 99. Copies of completed disclosures are sent to the applicant and the countersignatory organisation.

Employers and temporary staff agencies have bemoaned the time it takes for a worker to be cleared by the CRB and in an effort to cut waiting times the government allowed the establishment of "ISA Adult First". Registered bodies may check whether an applicant appears on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) list through this online checking system, which takes around two working days to turn around. If the check is clean the body may provisionally employ the applicant, subject to an increased level in supervision, until the return by post of the full disclosure.

DBS application process

The process by which the DBS provides criminal record data is called DBS Certificate or a DBS check (previously CRB check). There are three levels of DBS checks, Standard, Enhanced and Enhanced with barred list checks. DBS checks cannot be obtained by members of the public directly but are only available to organisations and only for those professions, offices, employments, work and occupations listed in the Exceptions Order (1975) to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 .

Standard DBS Check

The standard DBS check is primarily for positions involving regular contact with children or vulnerable adults, but can also be used for some other professions of high responsibility (for example, accountancy and security). Standard certificates reveal details of any convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings the applicant has received, regardless of length of time since the incident(s). A standard check may only be applied for if the applicant's job role is specified in the Police Act 1997, as ammended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012

Enhanced DBS check

Enhanced DBS checks are for positions involving certain activities such as teaching children or treating adults and can also be obtained for certain other professions (for example, judicial appointments, RSPCA officers). An enhanced check may only be applied for if the applicant's job role is specified in both the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exception) order 1975 and the Police Act 1997.

In addition to the information provided on a Standard certificate, the Enhanced certificate involves an additional check with the police , who check if any other information is held on file that may be relevant (for instance, investigations that have not led to a criminal record). The police decide what (if any) additional information will be added to the certificate using the Quality Assurance Framework .

The involvement of local police forces can mean an enhanced check may take significantly longer than a standard check to be completed.

Enhanced with list checks

This includes all that Enhanced certificate does, plus a check of the appropriate DBS barred list. There are two DBS Barred lists: one for Adults, and one for children. The lists contain information on whether the applicant is barred from working with either of the two groups . An individual may only be checked against one or both barred lists if their job role is classified as a 'Regulated Activity' with children and/or adults under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

Timeframe and Accuracy

The DBS aim to complete:

• 75% of all applications within 14 calendar days from receipt
• 90% of all applications within 28 calendar days from receipt
• 99% of all applications within 60 calendar days from receipt

The DBS currently aim to achieve a 99.8% accuracy rating for all certificates.

Reviews

The procedures of the CRB were tightened following the Soham murders trial. Ian Huntley, a former caretaker, was found guilty of murdering two girls of a Cambridgeshire secondary school in 2002. Huntley had been suspected of a string of offences including rape, indecent assault and burglary. His only conviction before the murders was for riding an uninsured and unlicensed motorcycle, but a burglary charge had remained on file. In January 2006, following controversies resulting from cases where staff had been hired by schools before a full CRB check had been carried out, the Department for Education and Skills stated: "Employers should obtain a CRB Enhanced Disclosure in respect of all teachers they recruit before the person is placed in a school." Huntley had been hired in November 2001, before the CRB came into force.

Sociologist Frank Furedi has stated that CRB checks cannot provide a "cast-iron guarantee that children will be safe with a particular adult", and that their use has created an atmosphere of suspicion and is "poisoning" relationships between the generations, with many ordinary parents finding themselves regarded as "potential child abusers". The restrictions imposed by the CRB check process have contributed to a shortage of adult volunteers in organizations such as Girlguiding UK.

• In February 2004, the National Audit Office criticised the CRB for "huge" delays.
• In May 2006, the Home Office revealed that about 2,700 people were mislabelled as criminals during checks.

In 2009, the CRB's Enhanced Disclosure was criticised for including details of any minor contact an individual has had with the police, even where no formal action was taken against them.

External links

• Official website

• Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks (Disclosure and Barring Service) guide at gov.uk
• The CRB explained: How the criminal records bureau operates — Guardian Unlimited, 17 December 2003.