UK Government Expands Enhanced DBS Checks to Self-Employed Workers

Written by Jennifer Miller2 on 23 January 2026. Posted in ISS News

London, UK — New UK government legislation that came into effect on 21 January 2026 now allows self-employed individuals and personal employees to apply directly for Enhanced DBS checks and Enhanced DBS checks with Barred List(s) through a registered DBS umbrella body — closing a long-standing gap in the safeguarding system.

Under the previous rules, self-employed people could only obtain a Basic DBS check, with higher-level checks like Enhanced DBS available only if an employer or organisation applied on their behalf.

The recent change means that professionals such as private tutors working with children or personal carers employed directly by private individuals can now independently secure more detailed background checks, provided their role is legally eligible.

The move is designed to strengthen safeguarding protections for vulnerable groups by giving individuals who hire self-employed workers greater confidence and oversight when checking criminal records and barred-list status. Applicants must apply through a DBS registered umbrella body, and standard DBS fees apply.

Source: GOV.UK — Disclosure and Barring Service (UK government announcement).

Please click here to read the full policy.

Multi-agency child protection teams: regulation-making powers

Written on 07 January 2026. Posted in ISS News

Introduction

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (the bill) is a key step towards delivering the government’s opportunity mission to break the link between children’s background and their future success.

The child protection measures strengthen multi-agency responses to significant harm. Clause 3 creates a new duty for safeguarding partners – local authorities, police and integrated care boards – to establish multi-agency child protection teams (MACPTs).

It allows the Secretary of State for Education to use regulations to further prescribe the:

functions of MACPTs
qualification and skills requirements for MACPTmembers
relevant agencies that safeguarding partners can approach to facilitate the operation of MACPTs

Purpose of this policy statement

The purpose of this policy statement is to provide clarity on the intended scope and content of the regulations. It seeks to address concerns raised in the House of Lords about the operation of MACPTs and level of prescription in regulations. The information set out is the first step in developing the regulations.

To develop regulations further, we will:

engage with sectors
use existing best evidence of effective multi-agency working
use emerging evidence from the Families First for Children pathfinder areas (pathfinders)
use emerging evidence from the implementation of the Families First Partnership (FFP) programme national rollout

Regulations will be subject to consultation and robust Parliamentary scrutiny with the aim for them to come into force in late 2027, subject to royal assent.

Please click here to read the full policy.

Operation Encompass Guidance Released

Written on 14 November 2025. Posted in ISS News

Operation Encompass new guidance has been released outlining clarity on the obligations on the Police in England and Wales.

The guidance explains the legal duty on police forces in England and Wales to notify a child’s educational setting—such as their school or college—whenever officers attend a domestic abuse incident in that child’s home. This requirement applies to all children linked to the household, whether or not they were present during the incident.

This duty forms part of the existing Operation Encompass schemes currently operational.

The guidance covers:

the legislative requirements that apply to police forces in England and Wales
how to make Operation Encompass notifications, including recommended best practice
a toolkit of supporting resources

Although written for policing, the guidance should also be read by educational establishments and local authorities who are involved in these referrals.

For a copy of the guidance, click here.

Youth Warnings, Reprimands and Cautions no Longer Automatically Disclosed to Employers

Written by Jennifer Miller2 on 30 November 2020. Posted in ISS News

Youth warnings, reprimands and cautions will no longer be automatically disclosed to employers who require Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates from 28 November.

The changes, which come as a result of a Supreme Court judgment that found some elements of the existing filtering rules for Standard and Enhanced DBS checks were disproportionate, are intended to make it easier for people with certain convictions to find employment.

The multiple conviction rule will also be removed, meaning that if an individual has more than one conviction, regardless of offence type or time passed, each conviction will be considered against the remaining rules individually, rather than all being automatically disclosed on the certificate.

Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock – a group that campaigns for people with convictions – welcomed the changes, but said they did not go far enough to improve access to work for some people with childhood convictions.

“The changes coming in on 28 November are a crucial first step towards achieving a fair system that takes a more balanced approach towards disclosing criminal records,” he said. “However, we are still left with a criminal records system where many people with old and minor criminal records are shut out of jobs that they are qualified to do.

“We found that over a five-year period, 380,000 checks contained childhood convictions, with 2,795 checks including convictions from children aged just ten. Many of these childhood convictions will continue to be disclosed despite these changes.

“Reviews by the Law Commission, Justice Select Committee, former Chair of the Youth Justice Board Charlie Taylor and David Lammy MP have all stressed the need to look at the wider disclosure system. The government’s plan for jobs should include a wider review of the criminal records disclosure system to ensure all law-abiding people with criminal records are able to move on into employment and contribute to our economic recovery.”

New DBS guidance advises organisations to update their recruitment processes in light of the changes and check the Ministry of Justice website for which convictions or cautions should be disclosed by job candidates.

It suggests that employers ask job candidates: “Do you have any convictions or cautions (excluding youth cautions, reprimands or warnings) that are not ‘protected’ as defined by the Ministry of Justice?”

It also urged employers to include the following paragraph in their standard job application forms: “The amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (2013 and 2020) provides that when applying for certain jobs and activities, certain convictions and cautions are considered ‘protected’. This means that they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account.”

The guidance says: “Employers can only ask an individual to provide details of convictions and cautions that they are legally entitled to know about.

“If an employer takes into account a conviction or caution that would not have been disclosed, they are acting unlawfully under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

“Employers should conduct a case-by-case analysis of any convictions and cautions disclosed and consider how, if at all, they are relevant to the position sought. It would be advisable for the employer to keep records of the reasons for any employment decision (and in particular rejections), including whether any convictions or cautions were taken into account and, if so, why.”

Cedit: Ashley Webber - Personnel Today

Forty children as young as 14 recruited to deal drugs inside school

Written on 26 August 2019. Posted in ISS News

A county lines drug gang forced 40 children to deal cannabis and cocaine at a single school.

The teens, some as young as 14, had been supplied with drugs and dealing kits including deal bags and scales.

Police say grown-up dealers had a network of 40 pupils dealing at the school which has just over 1,200 pupils - meaning one in thirty was possibly selling drugs.

It is suspected that girls as young as 14 at Kingsdown School in Swindon, Wiltshire, have been pestered for sex in exchange for cocaine.

And the dawn police raid yesterday - on the eve of GCSE results - revealed the extent of the teens coerced into the operation.

Wiltshire Police arrested a 27-year-old man during the raid. He has since been released under investigation.

Sgt Nathan Perry, who planned the 7am raid, said: "We found the person we're looking for, we've managed to safeguard the children who were at risk and we've found drugs.

"We all know about county lines and the risks associated with that.

"The difficulty with this type of drugs operation is that it's specifically targeting very young children in order to get them to deal drugs.

"Some of the information we've been passed is that children are not only being coerced into this activity, but they're also being physically threatened.

"If they go to police or teachers they'll be harmed," he added.

Police were said to have been alerted to the gang at Kingsdown School.

A pair of older teen boys, both 16, are believed to have been supplying a network of up to 40 children in their mid-teens at the Swindon school.

The 27-year-old was arrested during the morning raid on suspicion of possession of class B drugs with intent to supply and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The raid came as Swindon police focused their sights on modern slavery.

Nationally, police have increasingly turned to modern slavery laws to target drug dealers who force children and vulnerable adults to peddle their product.

Sgt Perry said those convicted could expect sentences of up to 15 years imprisonment.

"You've got children being exploited and young kids being forced to run the drugs. We will take it seriously," he said.

"The sheer nature of the exploitation of these young people is unacceptable.

"If we don't do something to stop that they're potentially going to be at risk for the rest of their lives.

"Unfortunately, those children that are at risk now become the suspects of tomorrow and we lose them completely," he added.

"They need that positive engagement and we're not going to be able to do that until we remove their handlers, for want of a better word."

If children start becoming more withdrawn, secretive about their possessions and start acquiring cash and expensive clothes without explanation, it could be a sign they are being exploited by the gangs.

Article reported by Tom Seaward for the Mirror.