Category Archives: DBS News and Advice

The costs of living increase are hitting all business sectors at present. Transportation of all types is particularly affected, with rocketing fuel prices pushing up prices for the goods on our supermarket shelves, and the price of public transport. Taxi drivers in many parts of the UK are facing even steeper price rises, with Councils passing on the charges for background checking onto the drivers.

The war in Ukraine sparked a humanitarian response from across Europe, with thousands of people in the UK volunteering to host Ukrainian families fleeing the conflict. The government’s hastily arranged Homes for Ukraine scheme aimed to match people in the UK with those needing accommodation, but is it working in the way it was intended?

The shift to employing people to work remotely has brought huge benefits to some employers, who have found that workers are just as productive at home as in the office, allowing them to cut costs on office rents. Going forward, it seems that home working is here to stay. But are there different rules around recruitment checks for home-based position?

DBS checks can take several weeks to process, and this can lead to long delays for people who are hoping to start work in positions which require some degree of police checking on applicants. One of the things which employers can do to speed up getting new people into their job roles is to use the Adult First system which isn’t open to every position, but can be very useful in certain circumstances.

In many parts of the country the rental market is fierce, with a huge amount of competition over the most desirable properties. Landlords want to make sure that they get reliable tenants who are going to look after their property and pay the rent on time every month, but from a tenant’s point of view this can mean an endless round of checks and interviews. What exactly is your landlord allowed to ask about?

There are regular appeals on media for people who are prepared to take in a child or children, either temporarily as a foster carer, or on a permanent basis. Understandably, there are a lot of hoops to jump through first to make sure that the people approved as foster carers or adoptive parents are suitable for the role.

What happens at the DBS after you have filled in your application form and either sent it off in the post or hit the submit button on the computer? For most applicants it’s a bit of a mystery. However, the process is really quite straightforward, and follows the same stages every time.

Many employers choose to conduct disclosure checks as a standard part of the recruitment process. Understanding more about the background of the people they are thinking of employing helps them make safer recruitment decisions and get a better fit for people joining their team.

Nannies fall into the category of people who need an enhanced DBS check, which is the most detailed level of criminal record checking. This is because nannies spend most of their working day alone with children, unsupervised.

Back in December 2021, care homes in Teesside were back in the news for all the wrong reasons when a home in Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough was rated as inadequate after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission. The full report revealed that the main concerns were around shoddy recruitment practices within the home, which put patients and other staff members at risk.