What Shows Up on a DBS Check in England and Wales?

Who this guide is for

People in England and Wales who are asked for a DBS check for a job, volunteering or a licence, and want to know which check it is, what it will show, who applies for it, what it costs and what to do if the certificate is wrong. DBS (the Disclosure and Barring Service) does criminal record checks for England and Wales.

What this guide does not cover

• Jobs in Scotland or Northern Ireland: the checks are done by different bodies with different rules. See the Scotland guide or the Northern Ireland guide.
• Whether a caution or conviction is spent, and what you have to tell an employer yourself: see the spent convictions guide for England and Wales or use the spent convictions checker.
• Whether a particular job is eligible for a standard or enhanced check, or counts as regulated activity: the employer or umbrella body decides this using the DBS eligibility guidance on GOV.UK.
• How to challenge a basic check certificate: it has a different process. Call DBS customer services.
• Barring decisions, referrals to DBS and appeals against being barred: ask a solicitor, Nacro or Unlock.
• Criminal records from outside the UK: DBS cannot see them. Ask the employer how they will check any time you lived abroad.
• What to do if you were turned down or dismissed because of what a check showed: ask Citizens Advice, Acas or a solicitor.

⚖ At a glance

• There are four levels of DBS check: basic, standard, enhanced, and enhanced with barred lists.
• A basic check shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions only. An employer can ask for one for any job, and you can apply for one yourself.
• A standard check shows spent and unspent convictions and cautions, except old and minor ones that are filtered. An enhanced check shows the same plus any information held by local police that is considered relevant to the role.
• An employer can only get a standard or enhanced check if the law lets it ask about spent convictions for that role.
• Custodial sentences and specified offences are never filtered.
• A DBS certificate has no official expiry date.
• If a standard or enhanced certificate is wrong, you have 3 months from the date on the certificate to dispute it.

The questions that decide the answer

1. Where is the job? England or Wales: this guide. Scotland or Northern Ireland: see that guide.
2. Which level of check is it? Basic, standard, enhanced, or enhanced with barred lists. If you do not know, ask the employer. This guide cannot say what will show without it.
3. Is the caution or conviction spent? A basic check shows only unspent ones. Use the spent convictions guide to work this out.
4. For a standard or enhanced check: was it a caution or a conviction, how old were you, how long ago was it, did you get a custodial sentence, and is it a specified offence?
5. Are you self-employed, or employed directly by a family? Different rules apply to who can apply (see below).
6. Is something on the certificate wrong, or not relevant to the job? See "If the certificate is wrong".

What each check shows

Basic check

Shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions. Spent ones are not shown. It can be used for any purpose, including a job. You can apply for one yourself online, or an employer can apply for one for you with your consent.

Standard check

Shows spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings held on the Police National Computer, except those that are filtered (see below). It is for certain roles, such as applying for a security guard licence. You cannot apply for a standard check yourself: the organisation that needs it applies through a registered body.

Enhanced check

Shows the same as a standard check, plus any information held by local police that is considered relevant to the role. It is for certain roles, for example working with children or in healthcare.

Enhanced check with barred lists

Shows the same as an enhanced check, plus whether you are on the list of people barred from doing the role. DBS keeps two barred lists: the children's barred list and the adults' barred list.

Filtering: what a standard or enhanced check leaves out

A standard or enhanced certificate shows every unspent caution and conviction. It also shows a spent one if it is on this list:

• a caution for a specified offence given when you were 18 or over, however long ago;
• any other caution given when you were 18 or over, if it was less than 6 years ago;
• a conviction for a specified offence, at any age, however long ago;
• a conviction that led to a custodial sentence, at any age, however long ago;
• any other conviction, if it was less than 11 years ago (less than 5 years 6 months if you were under 18).

Anything not on that list is filtered and does not appear, including spent youth cautions, reprimands and warnings. A specified offence is a serious offence, mostly sexual or violent or relevant to safeguarding. The full list is on GOV.UK (the list of offences that will never be filtered from a DBS certificate).

Since 28 November 2020 each conviction is looked at on its own: having more than one conviction does not stop an old one being filtered.

Filtering is not the same as being spent. A conviction can be spent (so you need not mention it for most jobs) but still appear on a standard or enhanced check for a job that is eligible for one.

Who applies

• Basic: you can only apply for a basic check for yourself. Your employer may ask you to get one and show it to them.
• Standard and enhanced: only employers who are entitled by law to ask about spent convictions for the role can get these. The employer applies through a registered body or umbrella body, and you fill in the form and prove your identity.
• Self-employed people and personal employees: since 21 January 2026, if you are paid for your work and the role is eligible, you can apply for an enhanced check, or an enhanced check with barred lists, yourself through a DBS umbrella body. A personal employee is someone employed directly by a private individual to deliver services to them or their family, such as a carer. This helps people such as private tutors offering lessons directly to children. An organisation that hires a self-employed person for an eligible role can still apply for them.
• If someone hires a self-employed person or personal employee for themselves or their family, they cannot request a DBS check for that person. The worker requests it and shows them the certificate.
• Childminders: get their check through Ofsted.
• An employer that carries out criminal record checks must have a policy on employing ex-offenders and show it to any applicant who asks for it.
• The certificate is sent to you. The employer asks to see it.

How long a certificate lasts

• A DBS check has no official expiry date. The information is accurate at the time the check was carried out. The employer decides when a new check is needed.
• An employer can accept a certificate from a previous role, but must check that your identity matches it, that it is the right level and type for the new role, and whether anything has changed if you are on the Update Service.

The DBS Update Service

• The Update Service keeps a standard or enhanced certificate up to date, and lets an employer check online, with your permission, whether anything has changed. It is not for basic checks: for those, you use a DBS online account instead.
• If you already have the certificate, you must register within 30 days of the date it was issued, using the certificate number. If you register while applying, you use the application form reference, and DBS must receive your form within 28 days.
• You can take your certificate from one job to the next, unless the new employer asks for a new certificate or you need one for a different workforce (for example, you have an adult workforce certificate and need a child workforce one).
• It is free for volunteers.

If the certificate is wrong

• For a standard or enhanced certificate, you can raise a dispute if you think there is a mistake in the records (such as wrong or irrelevant information about convictions) or in your personal information (such as your name).
• Report it within 3 months of the date on the certificate. Use the DBS certificate dispute form. For a mistake in personal information only, fill in Section A of the form or call DBS customer services.
• The police may ask for your fingerprints to prove your identity if there is a mistake in the records.
• DBS works with the police to decide the dispute. If the police do not agree, the dispute goes to the Independent Monitor only if your objection is that the police information on an enhanced certificate is not relevant to the job or should not be included. You must raise the dispute with DBS first. If the Independent Monitor agrees with you, the enhanced certificate is corrected.
• If you are on the Update Service and want to dispute a change in your certificate's status, call DBS customer services. They send you the forms.

The barred lists

• DBS keeps the children's barred list and the adults' barred list. A barred person is not allowed to engage in regulated activity with the group they are barred from, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• A barred person breaks the law if they seek, offer or engage in regulated activity with that group. An employer breaks the law if it knowingly employs a barred person in regulated activity with that group.

Deadlines

• Dispute a standard or enhanced certificate: within 3 months of the date on the certificate.
• Update Service: register within 30 days of the certificate being issued, or DBS must receive your application form within 28 days if you register while applying.

Money figures

• DBS fees from 5 October 2026: basic check £20; standard check £20; enhanced check £41; Update Service £15 a year.
• Before 5 October 2026 (from 2 December 2024): basic check £21.50; standard check £21.50; enhanced check £49.50 (also £49.50 with barred lists); Update Service £16 a year.
• Standard and enhanced checks for volunteers are free. The Update Service is free for volunteers.
• An organisation that processes checks may charge you an administration fee on top of the DBS fee. DBS does not set these charges.

Traps

• A basic check shows only unspent convictions and conditional cautions. A standard or enhanced check can show spent ones.
• Filtered and spent are different things. A spent conviction can still appear on a standard or enhanced check.
• A conviction that led to a custodial sentence, or a specified offence, is never filtered.
• An enhanced check can include local police information, not only cautions and convictions.
• You cannot apply for your own standard check. Since 21 January 2026 self-employed people and personal employees in eligible roles can apply for their own enhanced check through an umbrella body.
• The 3 months to dispute run from the date on the certificate, not from when you read it.
• A DBS check does not cover time lived outside the UK.
• For a job in Scotland or Northern Ireland, a different body does the check.