Charity DBS check eligibility planner

Official sources to check

• DBS eligibility guidance collects the official guidance used to decide whether roles may be eligible for basic, standard, or enhanced checks.
• Find out which DBS check is right for your employee is the GOV.UK eligibility tool for England and Wales employers.
• DBS checks: guidance for employers covers application process, Update Service, overseas applicants, certificate validity, and previously issued checks.
• Eligibility guidance for Standard DBS checks and Eligibility guidance for Enhanced DBS checks should be checked before selecting a higher-level route.
• Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees explains why role suitability checks sit inside trustee safeguarding responsibilities.

Related trustee tools

• Charity safeguarding policy checker for trustee oversight, reporting routes, policy review, training, and incident response.
• Charity data protection readiness checker for criminal record data, retention, access controls, and privacy notices.
• Charity password and access security checker for secure storage of recruitment, safeguarding, and certificate decision records.
• Charity serious incident reporting checker where suitability concerns connect to harm, allegations, dismissal, or referral duties.

What this planner should prevent

• Requesting standard, enhanced, or barred list checks without a role-specific legal eligibility record.
• Using one blanket check level for every trustee, employee, volunteer, event helper, or online moderator.
• Accepting old certificates without checking workforce, level, role match, identity, Update Service status, and date of issue.
• Keeping DBS certificates, scanned copies, or criminal record notes in uncontrolled folders or shared inboxes.