Disclosure and Barring Service checks and self-disclosures - Guidance for managers April 2024

Making a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service and other Agencies

As a Regulated Activity Provider, there is a legal duty on the Council and on Schools to make a referral to the DBS if certain conditions are met.

There is also the same legal duty on educational institutions which supply students to a Regulated Activity Provider (such as a School or social care service). An organisation which is under a duty to refer and fails to refer to DBS without reasonable justification is committing an offence.

The Service Manager is responsible for making referrals to the DBS with the support of their Safeguarding Lead and HR Advisor/Business Partner. All records relating to the referral should be provided to People Services so that these can be retained on the personnel file.

13.1 When must you refer to DBS?

Barring referrals should be made to DBS when an employer believes an individual has caused harm or poses a future risk of harm to adults at risk and/or children.

The following two stages need to be considered when making a DBS barring referral and if both conditions are met, organisations have a legal duty to refer.

Step 1
The organisation withdraws permission for an individual to engage in regulated activity with children and/or adults at risk or the organisation moves the individual to another area of work that isn’t regulated activity.

Being removed from regulated activity can include:

• dismissal
• redeployment (i.e., moving someone to a non-regulated activity but keeping them within your employment)
• retirement
• redundancy
• resignation.

If an individual has retired, been made redundant or resigned before an investigation has been completed, you should continue with the investigation and decide on whether or not you would have kept the individual in regulated activity. Follow the Investigation Policy and seek HR advice.

Step 2
You think that the person has:

• Engaged in relevant conduct in relation to children and/or adults.
  or
• Satisfied the harm test in relation to children and/or adults. For example, there has been no relevant conduct but a risk of harm to a child or adult still exists.
  or
• Been cautioned or convicted of a relevant offence.

The terms relevant conduct, harm and the harm test are explained below.

Relevant conduct is defined as activity that:

• Endangers a child/adult or is likely to endanger a child/adult
• If repeated against or in relation to a child/adult, would endanger the child/adult or be likely to endanger the child/adult
• Involves sexual material relating to children (including possession of such material)
• Involves sexually explicit images depicting violence against human beings (including possession of such images)
• Is of a sexual nature involving a child/adult

This relevant conduct is in relation to children (under 18 years old)
or adults (someone 18 years old or over who is receiving a service that is classed as Regulated Activity).
Relevant conduct is a legal term which is defined under Schedule 3 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Group Act 2006.

What is harm?
Someone’s conduct endangers a child/adult if they:

• Harm a child/adult
• Cause a child/adult to be harmed
• Put a child/adult at risk of harm
• Attempt to harm a child/adult
• Incite another to harm a child/adult.

The harm test
Someone’s action satisfies the harm test when it appears that they may:

• Harm a child and/or an adult
• Cause a child and/or an adult to be harmed
• Put a child and/or an adult at risk of harm
• Attempt to harm a child and/or an adult
• Incite another to harm a child and/or an adult.

For the harm test to be satisfied, relevant conduct would not have occurred but there must be tangible evidence rather than a “feeling” that a person still represents a risk to adults at risk and/children. For example, a teacher who confides in their head teacher that they are sexually attracted to children (but who had not engaged in ‘relevant conduct’) would satisfy the harm test.

This DBS referrals flow chart is intended to help you decide if you are required to make a referral to DBS:

View the DBS flow chart

13.2 How to make a referral to DBS?

You can either make a referral via a secure online form or by downloading a paper form and posting it to DBS.

Both forms can be found on the website www.gov.uk/dbs. The postal address for referrals is DBS Barring, PO Box 3963, Royal Wootton Bassett, SN4 4HH. You will be informed either by email or post that DBS has received your referral.

The employee, volunteer or worker should be informed prior to a referral being made.

Please ensure that your Safeguarding Officer and HR Business Partner are consulted before referring to the DBS.

Providing as much information as you can

You should provide as much detail as possible. DBS has no powers of investigation and rely on the information given to them by referrers. It is vital that information is accurate, comprehensive, and complete to enable DBS to avoid any unnecessary delays in dealing with the case and to assist them to make appropriate decisions.

What you should include:

Details of the person you are referring. Include their full name, address and date of birth if you know it. Also include details of their work history and current employment. Your HR Business Partner can help with this.

Details of the work carried out. To assist DBS to fully understand the nature of the work undertaken, you should provide the Job Profile. DBS need as much detail as possible to understand the tasks carried out by the person you are referring.

External investigations. If there has been an external investigation in relation to the case you are referring, provide the details. This could be interviews, police intervention or details of multi-agency meetings.

Other investigations. If the person you are referring has been the subject of the disciplinary process, you should include relevant documents. You should also include recruitment and additional employment information. If there have been any previous misconduct or complaints, these are invaluable in helping DBS to establish patterns of behaviour. (HR can help with this).

Witness statements. If these are available, these should be signed and dated.

Qualification and training records. This helps DBS to understand the level of training and skills in relation to their role.

Chronology. It is useful to provide a timeline of events. This can help DBS get a greater insight into how the behaviour occurred and any triggers.

Contact details. Please provide details of any other agencies or organisations you are aware of that hold information that may be useful in our decision making.

Remember this is not an exhaustive list. If there is something you think DBS need to know to help make their decision, include this information.

What does a good quality referral look like?
Further Guidance on:

How to make a good quality barring referral to DBS 

Important
As part of the process to decide if an individual should be included in a barred list, any information in your referral may be used by DBS and could be disclosed to the referred person or other parties.

You should therefore consider redacting. Any information that you do not wish to be shared (such as names of third parties).

The outcome of your referral
DBS will inform the person you have referred about the outcome. However, it is not automatic that DBS will inform you as the person who referred them. They can only inform you if you are able to prove that you have a legitimate interest in the person you have referred. If you no longer employ them or permit them to engage in Regulated Activity, then you may not be able to show a legitimate interest. This means that DBS can’t advise you of the outcome.

Remember:

• A referral might make the critical difference if there are no criminal offences that would show on a DBS check if the individual attempted to gain further employment in regulated activity.
• If you don’t make the referral to DBS, the person may go on to cause further harm to a vulnerable person.
• If you do make the referral to DBS, they will consider all the evidence when deciding whether the person should be barred.
• Don’t assume that someone else will make the referral to DBS. The line manager is best placed to provide the full range of supporting documentation that is required by DBS.

Frequently Asked Questions about DBS referrals are available in this document.

dbs-referral-faq.pdf 

There are also seminars run the DBS on referrals. Contact your Learning and Development Business Partner who can provide more information.

13.3 Making referrals to other Agencies

You have a professional obligation to make referrals to other agencies, when appropriate, to fulfil your responsibility to safeguard adults and/or children.

Note: For Registered Residential and Domiciliary Care Services:

According to the Practice Guidance for Social Care Managers Registered with Social Care Wales (2017), service providers, responsible individuals and service managers are responsible for:

• Ensuring all appointments comply with safe recruitment best practice,
• Addressing any issues in relation to unsatisfactory staff performance or misconduct, and
• Informing the appropriate regulatory body about any conduct by a registered professional that might call into question their registration.

The table below summarises the circumstances when you should consider making a referral:

 (See appendix 5: Safeguarding referral record)