Blog

Care homes have been in the news for all the wrong reasons over 2020. A Blackpool care home hit the headlines over the summer due to failures over background checking and DBS checks, resulting in increased monitoring from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and increased frequency of checking.

This year for many teenagers has been like no other year. After exams were cancelled in the early summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was another period of turmoil when the results were issued in August and not all young people got what they had been expecting.

If you’re applying for a new job or have been asked to re-apply for your DBS check, then a recent press release from the DBS should guide you in the right direction. Their list of the most common mistakes made on DBS forms should help guide your form-filling and stop you from falling into many of the same traps.

When initial changes were made to the method for checking identities back in March, most of us didn’t think we’d still be adjusting to the new ways of working several months later. Many of the measures which were introduced on a temporary basis in March are still here in the autumn, and with no end-date, it’s likely that many of the “temporary” changes will be with us well into 2021.

Recent changes about what may or may not be disclosed on a DBS certificate have brought the issue of youth cautions back into the news agenda. The changes recently made to the DBS system are intended to improve the employment chances of ex-offenders, by disregarding very old convictions and cautions which are not representative of their recent conduct.

Many parents who choose to opt out of the state education sector do so because they think the independent sector can offer something different for their child’s education. While it’s true that many independent schools have more flexibility over the curriculum, they still have to stick to minimum standards expected of all schools. This certainly applies when it comes to DBS checks.

Over the last few months, delivery drivers have never been so busy, as we all stayed away from the shops and ordered online instead. If it’s a field you are thinking of getting into, either as a short-term income-boosting measure or as a longer-term job move, will you need a DBS check?

Events of 2020 have made us all appreciate the work done by NHS staff more than ever. So, it’s perhaps surprising to many of us that many staff are being handed a bill from the NHS before they even set foot in a hospital.

Although the DBS worked throughout the pandemic, mostly prioritising applications from people working in the NHS and social care, they have experienced delays also. This could affect anyone who thinks they may need a new DBS check in the near future.

Among all the uncertainty, there will be new teachers and other members of staff due to take up new positions in school. But does that mean the DBS system will be flooded with many new applications?