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{{org_field_name}}

Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

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Employee DBS Reporting Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline how {{org_field_name}} manages Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for all employees, agency workers, and volunteers to ensure that only fit and proper persons are employed within the care home. This policy ensures compliance with:

• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 19 – Fit and Proper Persons Employed
• CQC Guidance on Safe Recruitment and Employment of Staff
• The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
• The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

2. Scope

This policy applies to:

• all employees, including permanent and temporary staff;
• agency workers and other persons supplied to work within the service;
• volunteers and contractors where the nature of their work requires suitability, criminal record or barred list checks;
• the Registered Manager and any other registered manager employed by the service; and
• directors and persons performing functions equivalent to those of a director.

Directors and persons performing functions equivalent to those of a director are subject to Regulation 5 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Registered managers are subject to the requirements applicable to registered managers, including Regulation 7 of those Regulations.

The level of criminal record or barred list check required for any person will be determined by the duties of the individual role and the level of check that may lawfully be requested for that role.

3. Policy Statement

{{org_field_name}} is committed to safeguarding people using the service by ensuring that persons employed or engaged to work within the service are fit and proper for their roles and that all legally required recruitment and suitability checks are completed.

{{org_field_name}} will:

• obtain the appropriate level of Disclosure and Barring Service check that may lawfully be requested for each role, including the relevant barred list check where the role constitutes regulated activity and such a check is permitted or required;
• ensure that a person who is barred from regulated activity is not knowingly permitted to undertake regulated activity from which they are barred;
• obtain and maintain the information required by Regulation 19 and Schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014;
• take appropriate and proportionate action where information becomes available that may affect a person’s fitness or suitability to continue in their role;
• ensure that staff understand their responsibility to disclose relevant changes affecting their suitability where {{org_field_name}} is legally entitled to receive that information;
• use the DBS Update Service only where the individual is subscribed to the service, the certificate is suitable for the role and the individual has provided the necessary consent for a status check; and
• process criminal record and DBS information lawfully, fairly, securely and confidentially in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and the DBS Code of Practice.

4. DBS Checks – Process and Requirements

4.1 Pre-Employment Checks

Before a person is appointed or permitted to undertake duties, {{org_field_name}} will determine the level of DBS check that may lawfully be requested for the particular role.

The following requirements apply:

1. The appropriate DBS check will be obtained in accordance with the eligibility of the role. This may be a standard DBS check, an enhanced DBS check, or an enhanced DBS check with the appropriate Adults’ Barred List and/or Children’s Barred List information where the duties meet the statutory eligibility requirements.
2. A barred list check will only be requested where the position is legally eligible for that check. {{org_field_name}} will not knowingly permit a person who is barred from regulated activity to undertake regulated activity from which that person is barred.
3. The applicant’s identity will be verified in accordance with the applicable DBS identity-checking requirements.
4. Where a DBS certificate contains information that may be relevant to the person’s suitability, {{org_field_name}} will undertake an individual, documented assessment before making an employment or deployment decision.
5. Any matter revealed through a DBS check which may affect an employment decision will be discussed with the individual before a conditional offer of employment is withdrawn or other adverse employment action is taken.
6. {{org_field_name}} will normally obtain the required DBS information before the person takes up the relevant duties. Where, exceptionally, a person is permitted to commence duties before the full DBS check has been completed, there must be a documented and defensible reason, a written risk assessment and proportionate safeguards. The person must not undertake activity which would be unlawful without confirmation of the required barred list status.

4.2 DBS Renewal and Monitoring

As an organisational requirement, {{org_field_name}} requires employees who remain in DBS-eligible roles to undergo a DBS recheck every three years, or earlier where a new check is considered necessary because relevant information or a change in circumstances has arisen.

Employees may be encouraged to subscribe to the DBS Update Service where their DBS certificate is eligible for the service.

Where the DBS Update Service is used:

• {{org_field_name}} will obtain the individual’s consent before carrying out a status check;
• the original DBS certificate must be appropriate to the workforce, level of check and barred list information required for the current role;
• a status check will be carried out by an authorised person in accordance with DBS requirements;
• the result of the status check will be recorded appropriately; and
• where the Update Service states that the certificate is no longer current, {{org_field_name}} will require a new DBS check at the appropriate level before relying on the person’s previous certificate.

Subscription to the DBS Update Service does not remove {{org_field_name}}’s responsibility to respond appropriately to other information that may affect an employee’s fitness, suitability or safeguarding status.

4.3 Employee Duty to Report

Employees must inform {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}} without unreasonable delay where there is a change in circumstances that may lawfully and reasonably affect their fitness or suitability to perform their role.

This includes where:

• the employee receives a conviction or caution which {{org_field_name}} is legally entitled to know about in relation to the employee’s role;
• the employee becomes subject to a criminal investigation, charge or other relevant safeguarding investigation which may affect their suitability to work with people using the service;
• the employee becomes subject to a restriction, suspension or barring decision that affects their ability to undertake their duties or regulated activity; or
• the employee becomes aware that they have been included in a barred list relevant to activity undertaken as part of their role.

Employees are not required to disclose a protected conviction or protected caution which the law provides does not have to be disclosed to the employer.

Where an employee is barred from a regulated activity, {{org_field_name}} will not permit that employee to undertake the regulated activity from which they are barred.

Failure to disclose information which the employee was lawfully required to disclose and which is materially relevant to their role may result in action under {{org_field_name}}’s disciplinary procedure.

5. Handling and Managing DBS Disclosures

5.1 Information Disclosed by a DBS Check

The presence of criminal record information on a DBS certificate will not automatically prevent a person from being employed or continuing in employment unless the information establishes that the person is legally prohibited from undertaking the work concerned.

Where relevant information is disclosed, {{org_field_name}} will undertake an individual and documented assessment. The assessment will consider, where relevant:

• the nature and seriousness of the offence or information;
• its relevance to the person’s duties and the people they will support;
• the circumstances surrounding the matter;
• the length of time that has elapsed;
• whether there is evidence of repeated or escalating behaviour;
• the person’s explanation and any evidence of rehabilitation;
• the degree of access to people using the service and the level of responsibility associated with the role;
• any safeguarding implications; and
• whether proportionate measures could adequately manage any identified risk.

{{org_field_name}} will discuss relevant information revealed on a DBS certificate with the individual before withdrawing a conditional offer of employment or taking other adverse employment action on the basis of that information.

{{org_field_name}} will not require disclosure of, or take into account, a protected conviction or protected caution which it is prohibited by law from considering.

Where {{org_field_name}} decides that a person remains suitable despite relevant criminal record or other suitability information, the reasons for that decision and any risk-control measures will be documented.

Where information indicates that a person is barred from regulated activity, the person will not be permitted to undertake the regulated activity from which they are barred.

5.2 Notification to the Care Quality Commission

{{org_field_name}} will make statutory notifications to the Care Quality Commission in accordance with the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.

Where a concern involving a member of staff gives rise to an incident that falls within Regulation 18 of those Regulations, the registered person will notify CQC without delay using the notification method or form required by CQC.

Relevant circumstances include, where the statutory criteria are met:

• abuse or an allegation of abuse in relation to a person using the service;
• an incident which is reported to, or investigated by, the police;
• a qualifying serious injury to a person using the service; or
• an event which prevents, or appears likely to threaten to prevent, the provider from carrying on the regulated activity safely or in accordance with the registration requirements.

The dismissal, suspension, redeployment, resignation or departure of an employee does not, by itself, constitute a separate Regulation 18 notification requirement. {{org_field_name}} will consider whether the underlying incident or circumstances fall within one or more of the statutory notification categories and will notify CQC where the Regulations require this.

Where a CQC notification is required, it will be made without delay and in the form required by CQC.

5.3 Referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service

Where {{org_field_name}} is acting as a regulated activity provider, it will comply with its statutory duty to make a barring referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service where the legal referral conditions are met.

A referral must be considered where:

• {{org_field_name}} has withdrawn permission for a person to engage in regulated activity, including by dismissal or permanent removal or redeployment from regulated activity, or would have done so had the person not resigned, retired, been made redundant or otherwise left; and
• {{org_field_name}} considers that the person has engaged in relevant conduct, satisfies the harm test, or has received a caution or conviction for a relevant offence within the statutory referral provisions.

Where both legal conditions are met, the referral to DBS is mandatory and will be made even if the matter has also been referred to the local authority safeguarding team, CQC, the police or a professional regulator.

An employee leaving employment or resigning during an investigation will not prevent {{org_field_name}} from completing the investigation so far as reasonably practicable or from making a DBS referral where the statutory referral conditions are met.

A temporary suspension pending investigation does not automatically trigger a DBS referral. The decision to refer will be made when sufficient information is available to determine whether the statutory referral conditions are satisfied.

Where the legal duty to refer applies, {{org_field_name}} will make the referral without unreasonable delay after the relevant facts and referral conditions have been established and will retain appropriate evidence of the decision and referral.

6. Agency, Contractor and Volunteer Workers

Before an agency worker, contractor or volunteer undertakes duties within {{org_field_name}}, the Registered Manager or an authorised person must obtain sufficient evidence to establish that the person is fit and suitable for the duties they will perform.

Where a DBS check is required, {{org_field_name}} will ensure that:

• the level of DBS check is appropriate to and legally permitted for the person’s role;
• the appropriate barred list information has been checked where the role constitutes regulated activity and the person is eligible for the relevant barred list check;
• the person’s identity has been verified against the information supplied by the agency or other organisation;
• sufficient evidence of the DBS check and other relevant suitability information is available to demonstrate compliance with Regulation 19;
• any information provided through the DBS Update Service is relied upon only where the person’s consent has been obtained and the certificate is of the appropriate workforce, level and type for the role; and
• no person known to be barred from the relevant regulated activity is permitted to undertake that regulated activity.

Where the supplying agency has carried out the DBS and recruitment checks, {{org_field_name}} must obtain sufficient written assurance and information from the agency to satisfy itself that the required checks have been completed. Reliance on an agency does not remove the provider’s responsibility to ensure that people deployed within the service are fit and suitable.

Any criminal record declaration required from an agency worker, contractor or volunteer will be limited to information which {{org_field_name}} is legally entitled to request. Protected convictions and protected cautions must not be required to be disclosed or taken into account.

7. Storage, Retention and Confidentiality

DBS certificates, DBS certificate information, Update Service information and associated suitability records will be handled securely and confidentially in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, the Police Act 1997 and the DBS Code of Practice.

Access to DBS information will be restricted to persons who are authorised to receive it and who require access for the performance of their duties.

DBS certificate information will be used only for the purpose for which it was obtained and will not be disclosed to a person who is not authorised to receive it.

Once a recruitment or other suitability decision has been made, a copy or reproduction of the DBS certificate or its contents will not ordinarily be retained for longer than is necessary and, where the DBS Code of Practice applies, will not normally be retained for longer than six months. If exceptional circumstances require retention for longer, the reasons must be documented and the applicable DBS and data protection requirements followed.

When certificate information is no longer required, it will be securely destroyed so that it cannot be reconstructed or retrieved.

{{org_field_name}} may retain an appropriate recruitment record showing that a DBS check was completed, including information such as:

• the date of the check or certificate;
• the type and level of check undertaken;
• whether the relevant barred list information was checked, where applicable;
• the certificate reference number where it is necessary and lawful to retain it;
• the date the information was reviewed; and
• the recruitment or suitability decision.

No criminal record information will be retained for longer than is necessary for a lawful purpose.

8. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed annually or earlier if:

• Legislation changes require updates.
• CQC guidance is updated.
• Internal audit findings suggest improvements are needed.

For further information, please contact {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}} at {{org_field_email}}. This policy ensures that {{org_field_name}} maintains robust safeguarding procedures, meets CQC expectations, and protects people using our service from harm.

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Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
Copyright © {{current_year}} – {{org_field_name}}. All rights reserved.