What information do you need to make a barring referral to the DBS?
Barring referrals are essential for the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to be able to function. Without them, individuals who pose a danger to children, vulnerable adults, or both could easily seek employment with access to these groups. Barring referrals make sure that people who do pose this kind of threat are recognised on the appropriate Barred List.
When making a barring referral to the DBS, it’s important that you try and provide as much good-quality information as you can. The better the quality of the information provided, the easier it is for the DBS to make informed decisions. Below you will find a breakdown of exactly what information you need to make a good quality referral to the DBS. For more information on how to actually make a referral, click here.
Personal Information
For barring referrals, the DBS require the individual's full name, gender and date of birth. This information is used to place someone on the barred lists, and to check a person’s barred list status in the future.
On top of this, contact details are of vital importance. If possible, this should include their phone number, email address, most up-to-date home address and date that they were last contacted or confirmed as living at this address.
Details of work
Details of the individuals working you are referring is important for the DBS to understand what kind of ‘regulated activity’ they have been involved in.
This should include their current job title, a description of their job role and the types of activities they would normally carry out. It also helps to include knowledge of a person’s qualifications and training.
On top of this, the individual's employment history is important as this also provides evidence towards the individual satisfying the ‘test for regulated activity’. Documents that should be used to support this can include job descriptions, application forms and CVs.
Information from disciplinary investigations
In most cases, when it comes to making a barring referral a disciplinary process will have been carried out. In these instances, it’s important that any evidence you’ve gathered throughout the disciplinary process is shared with the DBS.
This evidence could include:
copies of signed and dated witness statements
victim statements
the account of the person who is alleged to have caused harm or caused a risk of harm
investigation meeting minutes and reports
any available physical evidence such as CCTV
Any other evidence relied upon during the disciplinary process should also be provided if possible. Sometimes, an individual might have resigned partway through the disciplinary process, or other circumstances arise that mean an investigation can’t be held. If this happens, it’s important that you still provide any information that would have been used to support the disciplinary process.
Details of the victim or potential victim, and what harm was caused, are also important. These details should include:
The victim’s age,
Why are they viewed as ‘vulnerable’? Are they a child or an adult receiving care for example?
What type of harm was caused? This could be financial, emotional, physical or any other kind of harm
If you are referring from the care sector and a care plan exists, you don’t need to supply the whole document, just parts that you deem relevant to the case. Minutes and notes from any disciplinary hearings are also useful alongside copies of any outcome letters.
It may also be the case that as part of your investigation, certain elements of the case could not be proven. This should not deter you from making a barring referral. The DBS often hold information from other organisation’s such as previous employers, or the police, that contain similar details.
When the DBS receive similar reports from multiple sources, even if nothing was proven, it enables them to make additional findings on the ‘balance of probabilities’. This means they will consider the additional information and use it to make an informed decision about whether something actually occurred and said individual poses a threat.
External Information
If there has been an external investigation into the individual that you’re referring, the DBS also require details of this. This could include interviews, police intervention or details of multi-agency meetings. The DBS need to be aware of any of the other agencies involved including contact names and reference numbers.
Other relevant information
It’s also useful to have any other relevant information and supporting evidence about the person’s time when they were employed by you, such as previous investigations, allegations or concerns.
If possible, provide the DBS with a timeline of events of when this individual was working with you. This helps the DBS gain greater insight into how the behaviour occurred and any potential triggers.
Things to be aware of
Redaction
As part of the barring decision-making process, any information provided in a barring referral may be used by the DBS and could be disclosed to the referred person or other parties. If you redact any information, it would be helpful if you could code your redaction, so the DBS caseworker can determine who is being referred to.
Sharing information
If the DBS decide that it is appropriate to bar someone on either list, they are legally obligated to share all the information they have used to reach this decision, with the referred individual.
Prior to sharing this information, they remove all non-essential personal details. In cases where the referring person or organisation have requested to remain anonymous, we will make sure that this request is respected.
The same principles apply if an individual makes a subject access request.
Why are good quality referrals important?
The DBS has no investigatory powers, so they rely on the information provided in barring referrals. When you provide good-quality, relevant information, they are better able to make fair and informed decisions in terms of whether or not to bar someone.
This ensures that the work the DBS carry out continues to be an effective safeguarding measure for the most vulnerable members of society. Barring those who pose a significant risk, from working or volunteering in specific workforces is an incredibly difficult task but important task. Without barring referrals and the work of the DBS, dangerous individuals would be left to pose a threat by seeking employment with malicious intent.