The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a critical part of the background check process for employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It helps employers make safer hiring decisions and to prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, such as children. The DBS assesses whether it is appropriate to include or exclude a person from a list of prohibited persons by searching police records and, in some cases, information on the list of banned persons. After this assessment, the DBS issues a certificate to the applicant. The DBS certificate must then be presented to the employer to help them make an informed hiring decision.
A DBS check is an official document that details a person's criminal record. It is an essential element for thousands of employers across the UK and forms an integral part of their background check program. These checks assist employers in making safer and more informed hiring decisions. In certain industries and lines of work, DBS checks are mandated by regulatory bodies or legislation. Candidates should always strive to give potential employers the complete and accurate truth about their background, education and criminal record, as a background check with CBScreening will eventually reveal the truth and lying on a resume could harm the candidate's chances of getting a job due to a lack of trust.
If a company or organization believes that a social media background check is necessary, it is recommended that it be completed only by an impartial background research company that can adequately evaluate the candidate's social media accounts and that does not provide information such as race or religion that could influence the hiring decision. Background checks not only provide useful information about a candidate's work history, skills, and education, but they can also offer more detailed details about a person's personality and character traits. This occurs when a person requests an enhanced DBS evaluation to work with children or adults in certain circumstances, such as people receiving medical or personal care, and the verification reveals relevant information that causes the person to be considered for inclusion in one or both of the prohibited lists. However, if a person needs or wants to request a background check for themselves, at CBScreening we can offer an entry-level outreach service, as they are not job-specific and can be used for any purpose; this provides you with all unspent sentences under the Offender Rehabilitation Act of 1974 (ROA). For this reason, the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) disapproves of background checks on social media. Simple identity checks can be carried out in as little as a few hours, but a global criminal background check, for example, can take several weeks. Employers can obtain information about the criminal history of a candidate or current employee by performing DBS checks.
While you can perform a background check on almost anyone for any position, there are specific jobs and positions where background checks or DBS have been standard practice for many years. DBS checks are also commonly referred to as criminal background checks, criminal background checks, basic disclosure, standard disclosure or enhanced disclosure. Disclosure and Prohibition Service (or DBS) verification is the term used to analyze and record a person's past, specifically analyzing any conviction, reprimand or warning they have received. However, when a background check company like ours performs the work history check, we can usually provide more relevant details as we know what questions to ask.
