An employee has told me that they are on the annual update service, how do I check that this is true?

You should ask the employee bring in their disclosure certificate. You would then go to the DBS website and fill in some information about yourself (company name and your name), you would then fill in the employees disclosure certificate number, surname and date of birth.

You will be provided with one of the following responses:

• This Certificate did not reveal any information and remains current as no further information has been identified since its issue. This means that the individual’s Certificate contains no criminality or barring information and no new information is available.
• This Certificate remains current as no further information has been identified since its issue. This means that the individual’s Certificate did contain criminality or barring information and no new information is available.
• This Certificate is no longer current. Please apply for a new DBS check to get the most up to date information. This means that the individual’s Certificate should not be relied upon as new information is now available and you should request a new DBS check.

You should print out this report and take a photocopy of the employees disclosure certificate to keep for your records.

Please note that an applicant has the right to refuse to show you their disclosure certificate however if you have not seen a copy of it this could put your organisation at risk so you should take this into consideration when deciding whether or not to recruit the individual.