UCheck

How do I manage positions and proceed with DBS checks in UCheck?

How can I manage DBS applications in UCheck, including cancellations and refunds?

How can I access DBS application details and modify submitted applications?

What are the guidelines for submitting and correcting DBS applications?

Ben Nicholas

Leanneda Clark

Explain what DBS is, levels of check, eligibility, process, timings, disputes, and certificates.

DBS Checks (General)

Summarise the DBS Code of Practice obligations for handling, sharing, storing and deleting DBS information, and why following it protects your organisation.

What the DBS Code of Practice Is

Explain how the Update Service works for Standard/Enhanced certificates, time limits for joining, and that it is managed directly with DBS, not via uCheck.

What the DBS Update Service is

Discuss how there is no legal rule about who pays for DBS checks, common employer practices, and why transparency about cost is important.

Should employees pay for DBS checks?

Show applicants when and how they can request a DBS certificate reprint, the 14‑day wait, 3‑month (93‑day) limit, address constraints, and when a new application is needed.

How You Request a DBS Certificate Reprint

Learn how to use DBS information lawfully, follow the DBS Code of Practice, decide who pays for checks, and stay aligned with best practice and the Update Service.

Using DBS results and compliance

Learn how to enter an applicant’s full name history correctly on a DBS application, including forename and surname changes, dropped middle names, date ranges, and how to avoid gaps that…

Applicant Name Changes

Learn what’s required for a compliant DBS ID Check, including in‑person checks, live video checks, and using a certified IDSP for Digital Identity that meets DBS ID guidelines.

DBS ID Check: What You Must Do

Learn when spent convictions and cautions may still need to be disclosed under the Exceptions Order, which roles are covered, and how Standard or Enhanced DBS checks can reveal this…

Exceptions: When You Still Have to Disclose Spent Convictions

Learn how to handle applicants whose Right to Work documents show different names, including which supporting documents to collect, how to store them, and how this supports compliant, auditable checks.

Handling Different Names on Applicant Documents

Learn how to enter your current and previous addresses on a DBS application in the correct order, with complete details and continuous month/year dates covering the last five years.

How to Enter Your Current and Previous Addresses on a DBS Application

Learn how to record overlapping addresses on a DBS application, including when uCheck can enable overlapping current addresses in the online form and when you must use a paper form…

How to Handle Overlapping Addresses on a DBS Application

Learn how to complete the DBS application if you are married and use “Mrs” or “Ms” but have kept your original surname, including how to answer the name‑change question so…

Married but your surname has not changed

Learn how refunds work when an applicant has paid for their DBS application, including when withdrawing triggers an automatic refund and typical timelines.

Refunds When the Applicant Has Paid (Applicant Pay)

Learn what personal details and identity documents applicants must provide for a DBS Check, where to find the official DBS document list, and how Digital ID can replace manual ID…

What documents must applicants provide for a DBS Check?

Learn what happens in uCheck after you approve a DBS application, including how it enters the countersigning queue and when uCheck may contact you with eligibility queries before signing.

What Happens After You Approve an Application

Learn what information you must enter in the DBS address history section, including all addresses from the last five years, required month/year dates, and how to set the correct current…

What You Must Provide for Address History for a DBS Application

Learn how to record a DBS address history when it isn’t straightforward, such as for students, overseas periods, no fixed abode, Armed Forces service, or other complex living situations, while…

When Your Address History Is Not Straightforward

Guidance for the process of submitting a DBS Application

Completing a DBS Application

Explain what the Disclosure and Barring Service does, how it processes criminal record checks, and why employers use DBS checks in recruitment.

What the DBS Is

Describe what a DBS check is, what information it searches for, and how employers use the resulting certificate to assess suitability.

What is a DBS Check

Outline the Basic, Standard and Enhanced DBS check levels, what each one shows, and when each level is appropriate.

Levels of DBS Check

Summarise what appears on Basic, Standard, Enhanced and Enhanced with barred lists, and how police information and barred list status can be included.

What a DBS check shows

Define what a Basic Disclosure/Basic DBS check is, what unspent information it shows, who can apply, and how processing differs between DBS and Disclosure Scotland.

What a Basic Disclosure is

Explain why you use Basic DBS checks for roles that are not eligible for Standard or Enhanced checks, and how they add reassurance to hiring decisions.

Why you should get Basic DBS Checks for your employees

Clarify what spent vs unspent convictions mean, how rehabilitation periods work, and why the distinction matters for DBS checks.

Spent versus unspent convictions

Explain how the ROA sets rules for when convictions/cautions become spent, and how that affects what appears on Basic vs higher‑level DBS checks.

What is the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

How the uCheck Platform guides you through Basic checks, ensures the right scheme (DBS vs Disclosure Scotland), and delivers tracking and summary results.

What are the benefits of using uCheck to obtain a Basic DBS Check?

Eligibility for Standard and Enhanced Checks

Regulated Activity With Children (Frequency-Based)

Regulated Activity With Children (No Frequency Requirement)

Specified Establishments for work with Children (Automatically High-Risk Settings)

How Often Should You Renew DBS Checks?

Learn the difference between spent and unspent convictions, how rehabilitation periods work, and how this affects what appears on a DBS check.

What is the difference between spent and unspent convictions?

Understand what DBS checks are, the different levels, what they show, and how rules like rehabilitation and disputes affect results and certificates.

DBS fundamentals and eligibility

Set expectations for average DBS turnaround times, common causes of delay, escalation rules at Stages 4 and 5, and how queries can affect completion.

Typical DBS Check Timeframes

Explain why uCheck cannot speed up vetting once with DBS/police, and when applicants or uCheck can pursue escalations at specific stages.

Is it possible to speed up the DBS checking process

Describe when uCheck can escalate (Stage 4 for 60 days), how hardship escalations work, and what applicants must do to contact DBS.

DBS Application Escalations at Stage 4

Describe how hardship escalations work, and what applicants must do to contact DBS.

Early DBS Application Escalation for Financial Hardship (Hardship Case)

DBS Escalations

Explain how applicants and employers can obtain the DBS E‑reference, use the official tracking service, understand stages, and note uCheck’s limited access to extra detail.

How to track a DBS Check

Clarify that an “expired” status in uCheck refers to data retention (6 months after result), not the legal validity of the DBS check itself.

Does “Expired” Mean the DBS Check Has Expired?

Clarify that DBS/Disclosure Scotland print and post the certificate to the current address on the application, and how applicants contact DBS if it doesn’t arrive.

Who provides the DBS certificate

Learn how, from 21 January 2026, individuals and self‑employed workers can apply for their own Enhanced DBS checks, including how to confirm eligibility, choose an Umbrella Body, complete ID checks,…

Can individuals and self‑employed workers obtain their own DBS check?

Learn when a Standard or Enhanced DBS application can be done on paper, how to request paper forms and continuation sheets, what extra steps are needed if ID is insufficient,…

Paper Forms for Standard and Enhanced DBS Checks

Learn what an applicant must do if they move house during DBS vetting, how DBS updates their address (and restarts processing), and where the final certificate will be sent.

Applicants Who Move During the DBS Vetting Process

How can I contact DBS for certificate or application-related queries?

Understand how DBS checks progress, how long they usually take, how escalations and queries work, and what to do about certificates, reprints, disputes and manual certificates.

DBS process, timelines, certificates and disputes

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