Getting Removed from the DBS Barred List
Being placed on a DBS Barred List (Children’s or Adults’) is a life-altering event that legally prevents you from engaging in regulated activity. Whether you were added due to a criminal conviction or a workplace referral, the consequences for your career are severe.
Most individuals end up on the barred list needlessly, often because they submitted inadequate representations or failed to respond to a Minded to Bar letter within the strict eight-week deadline.
While the rules for removal are difficult, depending on your circumstances, you may be able to challenge the decision and get removed from the barring list via a formal DBS appeal or a specialist administrative review.
If you’re interested in a particular section, use the links below to navigate straight to it:
- What is a DBS barred list?
- The different types of DBS barred list offences
- How do you know if you are on the barred list?
- Does the DBS barred list show on a DBS check?
- Reviewing a DBS barring decision
- How to get removed from a DBS barring list
Have you been placed on the DBS barred list and want to get removed? Speak to our DBS solicitors to assess whether the decision can be challenged and overturned.
What is a DBS barred list?
The DBS barred list is a register maintained by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) of individuals banned from working with children or vulnerable adults due to past behaviour or offences.
There are two separate lists, one for those barred from working with children and another for working with vulnerable adults (called Regulated Activity). However, an individual may be placed on both lists if they qualify through their past history.
Being on the DBS barred list legally prohibits a person from working in roles involving Regulated Activity, such as in schools, childcare settings, or care services. The DBS regularly updates and maintains these lists to protect vulnerable people from harm.
Employers must check the DBS barred list before employing for roles involving regulated activities. Organisations must submit a referral to the DBS using a DBS barring referral form if they dismiss an employee who has caused, or poses a risk of, harm to vulnerable groups.
Key fact: Many individuals attempt to draft their own representations to the DBS but fail because they do not address the specific legal criteria, leading to a ‘default’ barring that might have been avoidable with expert guidance. Approximately 80% of these people who enter the barring process end up on a list.
The different types of DBS barred list offences
Many offences can mean people are added to the DBS barred list. Usually, any serious crime that suggests a person will be a risk to children or vulnerable adults forever will result in being added to the list. Some examples include:
- Murder
- Sexual assault
- Possession or distribution of indecent images of children
- Bad treatment of patients
- Other offences involving minors
- Serious violence or kidnapping
- Neglect of a vulnerable adult
In addition to specific criminal convictions, the DBS can also add someone to the list based on ‘relevant conduct’. This covers behaviour that indicates a person may harm a vulnerable group in the future, even if that behaviour hasn’t led to a criminal conviction yet.
How do you know if you are on the DBS barred list?
You will not be added to a barred list in secret. If the DBS intends to place you on a list, they have a legal requirement to formally notify you in writing. You will receive one of the following two types of notification:
Notification of Inclusion (Automatic Barring)
This is sent when you have been convicted of a serious ‘Autobar’ offence. Because of the severity of the crime, you are added to the list immediately. In these specific cases, the law does not provide an opportunity to provide a statement (representations) before the bar is finalised due to the immediate risk involved.
Notification of ‘Minded to Bar’
This is a formal letter stating that the DBS is considering adding you to a barred list but has not made a final decision. This occurs if you have been convicted of a “relevant offence” that allows for a defence, or if an employer has referred you to the DBS for workplace misconduct (such as a referral for patient neglect).
When you receive a ‘Minded to Bar’ letter, you are invited to make representations. This is your chance to explain your side of the story and provide evidence as to why you should not be barred. You are typically given an eight-week window to respond; if you do not respond effectively during this time, the DBS will likely move forward with the barring.
Does the DBS barred list show on a DBS check?
Yes, but only on the highest level of disclosure. Information from the DBS Barred Lists will only appear on an Enhanced DBS check. It is important to note that the DBS barred lists are not checked for every role. The inclusion of this information depends entirely on the level of check requested:
- Basic and Standard DBS Checks: These do not include a check of the DBS barred lists. They only show criminal convictions and cautions (and, in the case of Standard checks, reprimands and warnings).
- Enhanced DBS Checks: These only include a barred list check if the applicant is eligible and the employer specifically requests it because the role involves working closely with vulnerable groups.
Reviewing a DBS barring decision
If a DBS appeal is not possible, the alternative is to request a review. Unlike an appeal, which argues that the original decision was legally wrong, a review argues that circumstances have changed and you no longer pose a risk. Essentially, it is an application back to the DBS to reassess a past decision. It can only be done in two specific circumstances:
- After the minimum period for the barring has expired (either 1, 5 or 10 years)
- Where there is information not originally provided to the DBS that may have resulted in a different decision
The Minimum Barring Period (MBP)
To begin with, there is a minimum barring period (MBP), which means unless there has been a successful challenge (of the type set out below), you will remain on the lists for a period of at least 10 years (if 25 or over when placed on the lists; shorter periods apply if younger).
Even after the MBP has expired, removal is not automatic. The DBS must be persuaded through extensive representations that their initial concerns regarding your suitability no longer apply. This is done through a specific process after the MBP has expired, requiring extensive representations.
How to get removed from a DBS barring list
Between the date of the DBS decision to place you on the barring lists and before the MBP has expired, there are two other potential means of challenging the DBS’s decision that could result in being removed from the barring lists.
Appeal to the Upper Tribunal
The first is through an appeal to the Upper Tribunal. This is effectively taking the DBS to court, asking a judge to rule on whether the DBS have made a substantial error in how it came to its decision.
Although a very effective route for making a challenge, it is highly complex and requires legally drafted documents to be exchanged, which will be beyond most laymen. There is only a three-month window after the DBS decision in which an appeal can be lodged before the opportunity expires.
Further Information Review
The final way a DBS decision can be challenged is through a specific type of review. This type of review can be used at any time after being placed on the barring lists, and although it has a narrow number of criteria that can be used to make such a challenge, it is often the best and only one open to many of the people who have received an unjust or needless negative decision.
Who may benefit from this type of review?
This review is a potential lifeline for those who may have:
- failed to respond to the original DBS letter before the deadline expired
- submitted their own representations to the DBS, which failed,
- had legal help, but the outcome was unfair or disproportionate in some material way.
Whether this route is available in your case would need to be considered, concerning the history and specific details surrounding your case, as well as the reasons given in the DBS decision. We provide that service and can then continue to prepare and submit your representations to the DBS should your case be suitable.
How we can help
If you have been placed on the DBS barring list and feel the decision against you was unfair, or you failed to respond to the DBS in time, or possibly with the right comprehensive response, we can explore whether we can use this review route to get you removed.
For most people on the DBS barring list, this is the only way to have that decision reversed. Please call our DBS solicitors on 0333 888 4040 or contact us.
