Disclosure and Barring Service

Criminal Record Checking for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage vehicle drivers

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) have been re-named as the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

From the 17th June 2013 the DBS changed the way that they deal with checks for employees and licence holders. This affects the way that your DBS checks are administered by the council. The main change is that the employer/council no longer receives a copy of the disclosure certificate; the DBS will only send a certificate to the person subject to the check.

New applicants will have to apply for their DBS check, unless they are already registered for the DBS Update Service. If not the applicant will be responsible for obtaining and giving the disclosure certificate to the council. The application will not be processed by us until the disclosure certificate is received. The onus is therefore on the applicant to provide the disclosure certificate that they receive from the DBS to the council.

Existing licensed drivers are required to renew their DBS every 3 years, usually on the date the licence is due for renewal. We will send a letter about your DBS renewal one month before the reminder for the licence renewal. The application to renew the licence will not be accepted unless it is accompanied with the disclosure from the DBS. Therefore it is important that the application for the DBS check is returned to the licensing office as soon as possible. If you delay and the DBS disclosure is not returned before your renewal date your licence cannot be renewed.

DBS Update Service

If you have to provide disclosure to a number of different organisations, e.g. if you are on school contracts for different councils, the DBS now give the option for you to register for automatic updating.

The service has a subscription of £13 per year. The advantage is that any employer or organisation entitled to carry out DBS checks will be able to check your status online with your permission to avoid the need to complete DBS application forms. There are no delays in waiting for the return of the certificate from DBS as there is at present. This service is portable, as long as you give the organisation your permission they can do the check online if they are entitled to do so..

Further information can be seen by visiting the DBS website on www.gov.uk/disclosure.

We would recommend that you consider registering for this service, you will no longer need to apply for a certificate, the application form for your renewal will include an authorisation for the council to view your DBS record and it will be checked automatically. The council will only need to contact you if there is a problem with the check that we need to discuss with you.