DBS checks explained for care and driving jobs

The four levels

There is no single thing called “a DBS check”. There are levels, and which one is lawful for a role depends on the role, as set out by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Level	What it shows	Typical use
Basic	Unspent convictions and conditional cautions	Any role; anyone can request one about themselves
Standard	Spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings	Specified roles only
Enhanced	As standard, plus any information a police force reasonably considers relevant	Specified roles only
Enhanced with barred list check	As enhanced, plus whether you are barred from working with adults, children, or both	Regulated activity

An employer cannot simply choose the deepest one. Asking for a standard or enhanced check for a role that does not qualify is not permitted.

What a care role needs, and why

Most hands-on adult social care is regulated activity: personal care, medication support, and help with eating and drinking for adults who need it. That is why care assistant, support worker and senior roles almost always need an enhanced check with an adults’ barred list search.

The barred list is the part that is absolute. Being on it means you cannot lawfully do regulated activity, and applying for it while barred is itself an offence. Everything else on a certificate is information for the employer to consider.

Who applies and who pays

The employer applies through the DBS or an umbrella body, and the employer covers the cost for the role. You complete an identity check and provide documents.

Two things to be careful about:

• You cannot apply for your own enhanced check. Only an entitled organisation can request one, which is why offers to sell you one are not what they appear to be.
• A basic check you bought yourself is a different, shallower level. It does not satisfy an employer who needs an enhanced check with a barred list search.

The Update Service

The DBS Update Service lets a certificate be reused. If you subscribe when your certificate is issued, a future employer can check it online instead of starting again, provided the new role needs the same level of check for the same workforce.

It is an annual subscription with a fee set by the DBS, and some employers cover it. [VERIFY: current DBS Update Service subscription fee and eligibility window, GOV.UK]

If you have a conviction

This is the question people are most anxious about and it deserves a straight answer: a conviction is not a blanket bar to working in care.

What an employer is weighing is relevance. The nature of the offence, how long ago it happened, your age at the time, and what it suggests about working with adults who may be vulnerable. Offences involving dishonesty, violence or abuse carry more weight in this sector than elsewhere, for obvious reasons.

Older and minor matters may be filtered from a certificate under the DBS filtering rules, so they are not disclosed at all. [VERIFY: current filtering rules, Disclosure and Barring Service] The rules have been changed more than once and a summary someone remembers from years ago is not reliable.

Roles in regulated activity are exempt from the usual position on spent convictions, which means you can be asked about matters you would not have to disclose for other work. Answer honestly. Being found to have concealed something is nearly always more damaging than the thing concealed.

This section describes how the system generally works. It is not legal advice about your record, and it is not a prediction about any particular employer’s decision. If your situation is complicated, a specialist advice organisation is the right place to take it.

Driving jobs

General haulage, warehousing and multi-drop work do not usually require a DBS check. Your licence, your Driver CPC and your driving record are what matter.

Checks do come into driving work where the role brings you into contact with people who need protection or with secure environments: patient transport, care transport, school contracts, and some airside and defence sites. Many employers also ask for a basic check as part of standard vetting, which is straightforward and inexpensive.