Setting up DBS checks

Disclosing and Barring Service (DBS) checks are another tool your organisation might use to determine the suitability of your volunteers.  Not all the volunteers you have helping will be eligible to have a DBS check done on them, for example a DBS check can only be completed on volunteers who are at least 16 years of age at the time of the check.

If you are unsure if you are eligible to complete a check on certain roles within your organisation please read the following Government guidance

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-eligibility-guidance 

Obtaining credit for DBS checks

Within the DBS dashboard you will be able to see how many remaining credits your organisation has.

If you require more credits your account manager will need to contact SignMeUp to request more.  Once the credits have been paid for by your organisation they will be added to the account.

Setting up DBS checks

When your organisation is set up it will need to be decided from what age DBS checks will be required, how frequently they will need to be renewed (if not registered on the update service) and if your organisation will accept DBS checks issued by other organisations.

Through SignMeUp your organisation will be able to conduct Enhanced and Enhanced with barring list information checks.

See ‘Setting up your organisation’ for further details on setting up DBS checks for your organisation.

Role Descriptions

Each DBS certificate which is issued by your organisation will have a role printed upon them.  You can set two different role descriptions.  One for the enhanced DBS checks and one for the enhanced with barring list information checks.  These role descriptions will be presented during the check and will be used as justification for the type of check requested.  The descriptions need to be general enough that it can cover a range of different roles, e.g. ‘Children’s Sports Coach’ rather than ‘Children’s Football Coach’ but cannot be overly vague, e.g ‘volunteer’.

Document checkers

Document checkers are people within your organisation who will have the task of checking if the information entered into the DBS form by the volunteer is correct.  They will meet with the volunteer to see the supplied documents to prove the applicant’s identity.

You are able to assign people within your organisation as a document checker in the ‘manage document checkers’ section.  You can create new document checks by clicking on the create button.  The people you assign as document checkers will need an understanding of your organisations DBS policy and have read the government guidance on how to complete document checks via route one (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-identity-checking-guidelines/id-checking-guidelines-for-standardenhanced-dbs-check-applications-from-1-july-2021).

Anyone you appoint as a document checker will need to have been assigned as an admin and given ‘DBS’ as their permission.  If their only role for your organisation is document checks then only assign them the DBS permission as this will only allow them to access the information given within the DBS form completed by the volunteer.

You can choose multiple document checkers which can be of benefit if your organisation covers a wide area, you know you will be processing a large number of DBS checks or your document checkers are limited on the time they available.

For further information on how to complete a document check please see 'Guidance for document Checkers'.