Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) electronic application system guidance

Guidance to support applicants in completing the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) application form

DBS I.D. documents to produce

New arrangements regarding documentation

If you are unable to produce the required documents, read the information on the External Validation process.

External Validation

The Government has reduced the number of acceptable ID documents that can be provided as part of DBS application; documents such as mobile phone bills or a TV licence are no longer eligible to prove your identity. If you are unable to provide the correct combination of documents, then you can still have a DBS check carried out. Hampshire County Council use an external provider (Equifax) to run a supplementary check on your identity to corroborate that you are who you say you are. This would be done at no cost to you.

We will ask for your verbal consent to carry out the check but you can refuse. However if we are unable to continue with your DBS check then unfortunately you would not be able to take up the job role that requires you to have a DBS check in place. Your current name, date of birth and address will be entered into the Equifax system. Up to three addresses can be added to help increase the likelihood of an identity match.

The search will return a Pass or Fail. This is dependent upon the number of matches found by the Equifax system across a range of databases (for example the electoral roll). If the search result is a Pass, then your DBS application will continue through the process. If it is a Fail, then a final option will be discussed with you at that time. The requester will see the full list of resulting information, but will only give the result of Pass or Fail to the recruiting manager. If you wish to see the result you can make a Subject Access request to the County Council.

The result is not held in the Equifax system but data is stored about the actual request for audit/security purposes. We will keep a printed copy of the resulting information for seven months; afterwards it will be confidentially destroyed. We abide by the Data Protection Act 1998.

Filtering of convictions

The DBS filtering guidance contains full details of the filtering rules along with a list of offences that will never be filtered, which has been derived from legislation.

Contact us

If you are having trouble completing your online application form and would like some help, contact the named person at the end of your application email in the first instance. If they are unable to help, contact the relevant team:

Applications for schools (excl. catering staff and school escorts)

Contact the relevant school

HC3S catering staff in Hampshire schools

02380 627712

Non-Schools (incl. school escorts)

Contact the person who asked you to complete your application. Alternatively web chat with us.

Taxi / Coach Companies providing transport for Hampshire County Council

01962 845297

Duke of Edinburgh volunteers

01962 876224

Prospective Foster Parents / Adopters

Contact the named person at the end of your application email.

Oxfordshire County Council

Contact the person who asked you to complete your application.

Tracking / contact the DBS

DBS contact information

General enquiries / disputes - 03000 200 190

DBS Website

Tracking your application

Disclosure Tracking Service

Update Service

If you are an applicant, information about the Update Service can be found in the DBS update service applicant guide.

If you are an employer, information about the Update Service can be found in the DBS update service employer guide.

Positive Disclosure

Hampshire County Council - Schools

If you have any concerns about the content of the disclosure you should contact Education Personnel Services (EPS) on 02380 383500

Hampshire County Council - Departments

Ask the employee to bring you their original disclosure certificate and sit down with them to discuss the nature of the offence(s). This may be a brief discussion if you are already aware of the offence(s). Following the discussion, contact the DBS team via the ‘Enquiry’ form on your Portal and request a DBS Positive Decision Justification form to be sent to you for completion. If you have any concerns about the content of the disclosure, you should contact HR Operations via the Portal.

Oxfordshire County Council - Schools

Refer to your local guidance.

Oxfordshire County Council - Departments

Ask the employee to bring you their original disclosure certificate and sit down with them to discuss the nature of the offence(s). This may be a brief discussion if you are already aware of the offence(s).

Following the discussion, contact your relevant HR Business Partner to discuss the next steps and to confirm whether there is a specific form you need to complete and retain on the employees records.