England & Wales · basic, standard, enhanced

Which DBS check does your job actually need?

Employers ask for the wrong level all the time — and DBS will not issue a certificate the law does not allow. We work the answer out from the statutory tests themselves, show you today's government fee read straight from the regulations, and find the mistakes that get application forms returned before you send one. The answer is free. The £14.99 pack tells you exactly what to change.

1. What is the job?

A job title does not decide your check level — the statutory tests do. Picking a role fills in the answers we can be sure of and asks you the ones that genuinely depend on your particular job.

reg.5A(zd) — suitability to possess, acquire or transfer prohibited weapons or ammunition under s.5 Firearms Act 1968.

2. Your details

Optional — but this is where the form actually goes wrong.

Check levels by job

53 roles, each with the provision it relies on.

Adult social care

Healthcare

Education

Childcare

Transport & licensing

Security

Public service

Legal

Finance

General employment

Questions people actually ask

Will my DBS come back clear?

We have no idea, and neither does anyone else selling you a check. We never receive criminal record information, we hold no field that could store it, and any service that tells you your certificate will be clean is guessing with your money. What we can do is make sure the form is not returned.

How long will it take?

We will not put a number on it. The timetable belongs to DBS and, for enhanced checks, to each police force that has to respond. A site promising “24-hour DBS” is promising something it does not control. What is in your hands is whether the form comes back — and that is what this tool is for.

Can I get my own enhanced check?

No. A standard or enhanced application must be countersigned by a registered body, so there is no route for an individual to obtain one about themselves (Police Act 1997 ss.113A(2), 113B(2)). You can apply for your own basic check. If a “service” offers to sell you your own enhanced check, ask them which registered body is countersigning it.

Why does your fee figure differ from other sites?

Because we read it from the regulation on every check rather than typing it in once. S.I. 2024/1111 changed the fees on 2 December 2024 and S.I. 2026/985 changes them again on 5 October 2026. If our check against legislation.gov.uk fails, we show no figure at all rather than a stale one.

What do you do with my details?

They are checked and discarded in the same request. Nothing personal is written to a database, and the pack you buy contains no name, date of birth or address — only the list of what to fix. See our privacy notice.