DBS checks: the employer's guide
Four levels, strict eligibility rules, certificates that never expire - and a renewal cycle that is entirely yours to run.
A DBS check is a criminal-record check run through the Disclosure and Barring Service. There are four levels - basic, standard, enhanced, and enhanced with barred lists - and you can only request the level the role is legally eligible for. A basic or standard check costs £21.50 and an enhanced check £49.50 (gov.uk fees, checked August 2026). Certificates have no expiry date, so any re-check cycle is a decision you make and a diary you keep - which is exactly where most employers slip.
The four levels at a glance
| Level | What it shows | Which roles | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | unspent convictions and conditional cautions | any role or purpose | £21.50 |
| Standard | spent and unspent convictions and cautions | roles in the Exceptions Order 1975 (e.g. solicitors, accountants, FCA-regulated roles) | £21.50 |
| Enhanced | everything a standard check shows, plus any local police information relevant to the role | Exceptions Order roles involving certain work, typically with children or vulnerable adults | £49.50 |
| Enhanced + barred lists | everything above, plus whether the person is barred from the role | regulated activity, plus specific cases such as taxi/PHV licensing and prospective adoptive parents | £49.50 |
Checks are free for eligible volunteers. The full eligibility logic - including why you cannot simply order the highest level to be safe - is in basic vs standard vs enhanced.
Who actually needs DBS checks?
Any employer may use basic checks. Standard and enhanced checks are for roles the law says are eligible: the common cases are care (domiciliary and residential), education and childcare, healthcare, fostering and adoption, and certain licensed or regulated professions. If you run a care agency, nursery or school, enhanced-with-barred-lists checks for staff in regulated activity are a condition of operating, and your regulator (CQC, Ofsted) will expect to see the register.
How do you apply?
- Register with the DBS directly - for organisations submitting 100+ checks a year; registration costs £300.
- Use an umbrella body - a registered body submits standard and enhanced applications on your behalf; this is the normal route for SMEs, and umbrella bodies charge an admin fee on top of the DBS fee.
- Basic checks - via a Responsible Organisation, or the individual applies for their own basic check online and shows you the result.
Do DBS checks expire?
No - and this is the trap. A certificate has no official expiry date; it is a snapshot of the day it was issued. Nothing arrives to tell you it has gone stale. Whatever re-check cycle your sector expects (commonly every one to three years in care and education, set by regulators and insurers rather than the DBS), you must record the date, set the reminder and chase the renewal. The cleaner alternative for standard and enhanced checks is the Update Service: for £16 a year the person keeps their certificate current, and with their permission you can run a free, instant status check instead of a fresh application.
Handling the result
Most checks come back clear. When one doesn't, the DBS expects a conversation, not a reflex: employers using standard or enhanced checks must have a policy on employing ex-offenders, and a conviction is assessed against the role - its age, relevance and seriousness - rather than being an automatic bar. Certificate information itself is controlled material under gov.uk guidance: only those who need it in the course of their duties may see it, it should be kept no longer than necessary once the decision is made, and it should be destroyed securely. There is a ready-to-adapt DBS check policy template covering both.
Two limits worth knowing
- Time abroad. DBS checks cover UK records only - gov.uk is explicit that they do not cover time spent living outside the UK. For candidates with recent years overseas, ask for a criminal-record check from the countries concerned as well.
- The future. A clear certificate is evidence about the past on the day of issue, not a safeguarding guarantee - which is why regulators treat checks as one control among several, alongside references, supervision and training.
DBS evidence sits alongside the rest of your compliance file - the right to work check is the other register every employer needs, and both belong in the same tracked place as new starter paperwork.
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A DBS register that chases its own renewals
CoDash records each person's check level, certificate number and renewal date - and reminds you before a check goes stale, the same way it chases right-to-work expiry.