Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to allow people with existing DBS clearance to use that as evidence for other DBS-required roles they may undertake.

There is no requirement to obtain a new DBS certificate each time an individual goes from one role to another, as a volunteer or paid worker in a regulated activity in the same workforce e.g. children’s workforce.

The Update Service is an online subscription for standard and enhanced checks (i.e. those which individuals working with children and vulnerable people or employers will be checking against). The Update Service enables an individual to take their DBS certificate from one job to the next unless an employer asks an individual to get a new certificate, or a different type of workforce certificate is needed, e.g. ‘adult workforce’ to ‘child workforce,’ or a different level of certificate is required, e.g. standard to enhanced.