Chapter Contents
What is a DBS Check?
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) carries out criminal record checks for specific positions, professions, employment, offices, works and licences included in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and those prescribed in the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) regulations.
The agency has commissioned the ‘Disclosure Services’ company to administer and process applications for DBS checks. These checks enable recruiting managers and assessing social workers to consider any criminal convictions, cautions or other information held by the police or DBS that raise issues of concern. This is part of the assessment of your suitability to foster, and helps prevent children from being placed in potentially harmful situations.
Information about DBS checks and types of check can be found at the Gov UK website.
Who Needs a DBS Check?
All foster parents and household members over the age of 18 must have a DBS check. This includes previously-fostered young adults with a ‘Staying Put’ arrangement.
In addition, we will conduct DBS checks for the following people:
- Accredited Carers
- Members of your support network who will regularly visit your home and have unsupervised contact with children
- Regular overnight visitors to your home
You must not leave children in the sole care of any adult within the home, unless we have completed a DBS check for them. You must inform us if there will be any additional adults staying overnight in your home, even if it is just for one night. We have a duty to ensure that any adult staying at your home is ‘safe’ and ‘suitable’. We only conduct DBS checks for regular overnight visitors. However, we will need to ensure that all visitors are safe and understand rules around confidentiality.
See our Guidance on Overnight Visitors in the Foster Home
Procedures
We will manage the process for you. DBS checks are not transferable, so we cannot accept copies of checks carried out by other agencies or for other employment.
We conduct our DBS checks online through ‘Disclosure Services’. An agency administrator will give you the appropriate link to complete your online application. They will then arrange to verify your identify using acceptable documentary evidence.
The DBS will send your certificate to you by post. ISP does not receive a copy. ‘Disclosure Services’ will notify us that your check is complete, and whether it is clear or not. If it is not clear, they advise us to view your certificate, but do not provide us with the details it contains. In these circumstances, we will ask you to provide us with a copy of the certificate and give permission for the agency to copy and share the certificate for the purpose of informing and conducting a risk assessment.
Confidentiality
We will not share your certificate, or the specific information contained within it, with any other person or agency without your explicit written consent. We are only permitted to share in very limited circumstances, eg. Section 47 Child Protection procedures, a request from Ofsted, or to comply with a direction from a court or similar legal authority.
We may share confirmation that you have undergone a DBS Disclosure and that the agency has risk assessed the outcome prior to determining your approval as a foster parent. However, the sharing of greater detail would be exceptional and require your explicit written consent.
Within the agency, only those employees with a legitimate ‘need to know’ may access DBS Disclosure information. This includes managers, social workers and Fostering Panel members who are responsible for/involved with the recruitment, assessment, supervision and review of foster parents.
Once the decision about approval has been determined and once any associated risk assessment has been completed and filed, we will securely destroy the copy of your disclosure certificate. Destruction is required by the DBS Code of Practice and is consistent with the Data Protection Act 2018. The method of destruction will be by shredding. Electronic material will be deleted.
DBS checks are repeated every 3 years, or earlier if exceptional circumstances dictate or if concerns arise. We recommend the use of the DBS update service.
Duty to Refer to DBS
As a provider of regulated activity, fostering agencies have a duty to refer foster parents to the DBS when two main conditions have been met:
- When permission to engage in regulated activity has been withdrawn including when the foster parent’s approval is being terminated.
- When it is considered that the person has engaged in relevant conduct, satisfied the harm test; or received a caution for or a conviction for or been convicted for a relevant offence.
‘Relevant Conduct’ is conduct which:
- endangers a child or adult or is likely to endanger a child or adult
- if repeated against or in relation to a child or adult would endanger the child or adult, or be likely to endanger the child or adult
- involves sexual material relating to children (including possession of such material)
- involves sexually explicit images depicting violence against human beings (including possession of such images)
- is of a sexual nature involving a child or adult
The ‘harm test’ is satisfied when ‘Relevant Conduct’ cannot be established but it appears to the DBS that a person may:
- Harm a child or adult who is in receipt of regulated activity
- Cause a child or adult who is in receipt of regulated activity to be harmed
- Put a child or adult who is in receipt of regulated activity at risk of harm
- Attempt to harm a child or adult who is in receipt of regulated activity
- Incite another to harm a child or adult who is in receipt of regulated activity
In situations where a foster parent has resigned prior to the conclusion of any investigation, and the relevant manager considers that the above conditions have been met, they will make a referral to the DBS.
Read our DBS Procedure