As a general rule, roles that involve contact with vulnerable people require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. This is especially true for volunteers who work with children or vulnerable adults. However, the requirement for a DBS check depends largely on the work you want a volunteer to do and the level of supervision you provide. Volunteers in schools, for example, in “specific locations”, that are supervised at a reasonable level do not need a DBS check.
Unsupervised school volunteers must submit to a DBS check with a list of prohibited people, as they are considered to be carrying out a “regulated” activity. Careful consideration should be given to whether monitoring is necessary or if other safeguards provide adequate protection. Only certain volunteer functions and activities are eligible for review, and it's a crime to request a check from DBS if the position isn't eligible for one. DBS checks should not be used simply to check boxes “just in case”.
However, in order to carry out a DBS check, it is essential that someone make decisions about whether people are fit to carry out certain activities. It's important to note that, on its own, DBS verification doesn't mean someone is eligible to work as a volunteer. It is important that good protection practices and awareness are maintained, even in these circumstances. If the tasks undertaken by a volunteer fall into any of these categories, the organization may request improved verification and a comparison with the corresponding DBS list of prohibited tasks.
For example, if a person usually drives adults to the hospital and back from there, but now also helps with shopping, there would be no need for a new DBS test. Because DBS checks have no expiration date, you should talk to the organization where you are going to work or where you are going to work as a volunteer. These activities were defined with the intention of excluding volunteer functions whenever possible, so supervised volunteering with children generally do not fall into this category. If you do, the organization where you work as a volunteer will most likely have to request DBS verification on your behalf; people can only request a basic DBS check on their own, and most volunteer positions that require a DBS verification will need a standard DBS check or an improved DBS check.
DBS controls apply to the group of people a volunteer or employee is going to work with, such as children or vulnerable adults. As an example, a volunteer educational worker at a museum who supervises children, but who works as a volunteer only occasionally (for example, once a week) would have the right to receive more information, while a museum store volunteer who volunteered every day would not have the right to do so, despite the likely presence of children. Remember that if your volunteers are not engaged in a regulated activity, they may be eligible for improved outreach. Could a volunteer from my group receive a check from DBS if they visit a home where there is a child or a vulnerable adult? For example, the DBS Code of Practice states that disclosures should not be kept for more than six months, except in exceptional circumstances.
There may be some ambiguity about this, so if a volunteer were to request a standard or improved DBS check and subsequently did not meet the criteria, the DBS could recover administration costs. This is also the case for volunteers who work with vulnerable adults: for example, if it is a regulated activity, a person who has become a surveyed entity would only manage money, pay bills or make purchases for the beneficiary frequently. If the answer is yes, criminal convictions should be taken into account when evaluating a person's suitability for the volunteer position. Yes, organizations that regularly use DBS services may have the opportunity to send checks on behalf of new community groups.
Either way, it's crucial that you understand everything related to volunteers and DBS checks, as not all volunteers qualify.
