Disclosure and Barring Service

(asked on 22nd November 2022) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to support people who are unable to access the DBS Update Service for the purposes of their employment.


Answered by
Sarah Dines Portrait
Sarah Dines
This question was answered on 30th November 2022

Due to IT capabilities related to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) ability to process Police National Computer (PNC) information, there are a very small percentage of standard and enhanced checks that currently cannot be fully automated on the DBS system (approximately 0.5% of the 4.5 million standard and enhanced checks expected to be issued this year). In these instances, it is necessary for DBS to produce manual certificates which cannot be linked to the Update Service. Manual certificates are legitimate and valid certificates and should be accepted by organisations in exactly the same way as automated certificates.

The DBS is working on a full technical solution to this issue as a priority and expects it to be implemented by October 2023. This solution will ensure that DBS does not have to rely on manual certificates in the future and will enable the small percentage of individuals that are currently affected by this issue to obtain system-generated certificates and access the Update Service.

The DBS recognises that affected individuals unable utilise the Update Service may be financially disadvantaged.. To mitigate this impact, DBS is providing redress upon request for those individuals’ second and subsequent DBS application fees to put them back into a broadly equal financial position to those who can subscribe to the Update Service.

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