Sorry never done this before so I’m not sure. My new employer is requesting an enhanced DBS which is fine, but they want to rob £106 off me for it. If I can get it for cheaper I’d rather do it another way since I really can’t afford to drop one hundred quid.
I’d be grateful if anyone could give me some advice. I heard the post office do them but when I looked online I can’t find an actual place to apply.
Needs to be an enhanced DBS
Thank you
8 comments
Surely if the employer requires this they should pay
No you can’t get an enhanced one your self.
Your employer should pay for it.
You can get them via the post office – [https://www.postoffice.co.uk/identity/dbs-checks](https://www.postoffice.co.uk/identity/dbs-checks)
They cost £38 for the employer through the government service but you can’t get one as an individual, you have to go through a third party such as the post office.
You can get them done for free if you’re a volunteer. So maybe chat up a local dance school or account troop and explain your situation and they may put in the paperwork for you. Costs them nothing, as long as you’re not getting paid.
You may have to/want to offer to do some chaperoning for them. For a dance school that’d be watching the kids backstage for a show and making sure they get to the stage on time. For scouts if you volunteer as a parent leader (which they should bite your arm off for), you could always drip out after a few weeks once you’ve got it (but you’d need them to note you as a volunteer again next year, tricky.)
Either way, this is slightly against the rules as it’s meant for volunteers and you’d also be using it to get paid.
In short, your employer needs you to work at the school and if they won’t pay for your DBS then you can’t. So either they have to pay, reimburse you, or post you elsewhere.
Aren’t DBS’s role related? I didn’t think they were transferable? Or have the rules changed?
You can’t get a standard or enhanced DBS check without the involvement of an employer or similar organisation. (It’s so employers can more easily be held to account if they do those checks without legal justification.)
I’m a DBS countersignatory at an umbrella body (a body registered with the DBS to perform DBS checks on behalf of employers who are too small or CBA with doing DBS checks in house).
As others have said you can’t get an enhanced DBS check by yourself as an employer has to be in position to request it. That being said, there are some umbrella bodies out there who are happy to look the other way and process individual applications as long as you bend over for it and pay their extortionate fees.
Your employer is theoretically the one who is obliged to arrange the DBS check, although there’s no regulation on whether they pay for it or make you pay for it.
£106 is daylight robbery.
Do you have any sort of relationship with the school because it’s worth explaining the extortionate cost and asking if they would consider using their own DBS supplier (provided an externally produced DBS is satisfactory for your employer).
Or
Do you have any sort of decent relationship with your employer/management because it’s worth explaining to them that there are [absolutely fuck tonnes](https://www.gov.uk/find-dbs-umbrella-body)of DBS umbrella bodies who they can engage to do the same exact thing for almost half the price (you would expect around £50-70 depending on provider/volume of applications).
If this £106 umbrella body is the provider that your employer insists on you using then I think the next step is to speak to your union rep (optional step: join a union) and see if they can add any pressure.
If your employer refuses to pay for you DBS then that isn’t somebody you want to work for