Corporate report

DBS business plan: 2022-23

Updated 13 July 2022

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

1. Chairman and Chief Executive’s foreword

In 2019, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) board launched a new five-year strategy for the period 2020-25. We are now entering the third year of our journey to deliver the outcomes set out in the strategy, which we developed with our employees and partners. The last two years have been challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but despite this, we have maintained our operational performance. We have made good progress with the activities in our strategy to strengthen the quality of our services, enhance our technology, raise our profile, and build a diverse workforce supported by a contemporary workplace.

In 2021-22, we introduced a revised quality assurance framework to further raise standards to support safeguarding, and launched our Safeguarding and Quality charter, which is at the heart of everything we do. The way we work has evolved with the introduction of secure remote access to our IT systems, which, for the first time, means all of our employees can work more flexibly while delivering our services in a timely manner to customers.

We have improved our support to organisations that use our services through expansion of our regional services, which offer advice, guidance, and training to support our quality objectives, reaching hundreds of organisations annually. We have worked closely with the Home Office to identify opportunities to improve safeguarding and operationalise changes to legislation.

We have enhanced the capabilities within DBS to support our objectives, including the recruitment of an increasingly diverse senior management group. We have modernised our office environment at Darlington to encourage collaboration.

2022-23 will be another challenging and exciting year for DBS. We have set out an ambitious but realistic workplan in what will be a challenging year as the UK starts to recover from COVID-19 and the pressures on government finances that this brings. We continue to strive for performance improvements and are moving towards an ‘outcomes’ focus in our performance management processes, supporting Home Office priority outcomes to reduce crime.

We will continue to modernise our services, including the launch of a new portal for barring referrals and continue our work on digital identity verification. We will complete analysis to understand what the optimal service take-up should be for all our products and services to support safeguarding, and this will inform a refresh of our strategy for 2023-26. We will be actively contributing to the independent review of the disclosure and barring regime, supporting the Home Office’s commitments in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls strategy (July 2021).

Finally, we will continue to progress our People objectives, with a particular focus on the introduction of the DBS Academy, the aspirations in our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion charter, and the development of our future workplace.

We look forward to working with our employees, stakeholders, partners, and customers to support our important work to make recruitment safer this year.

2. Introduction

The DBS 2022-23 business plan focuses on the actions we need to take over the next 12 months to deliver the ambitions set out in our five-year strategy.

Quality is at the heart of our work and everything we will do is designed to improve the quality of our services and the decisions we make. Our intention is to continue to modernise the services we provide, the way we work, and the way we interact with our stakeholders.

The actions we will deliver this year form part of the objectives identified in our co-produced strategy and will make significant contributions to improving the quality of service, the technology we use, our profile, and our work with, and for, our partners, customers, and staff. Some of these deliverables form part of ‘business as usual’ while others are transformational changes.

Delivery of the business plan is supported by the Change and Transformation plan, the technology roadmap, and eight strategic plans for wellbeing, partnerships, green, marketing and business development, police, Registered Bodies, equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and organisational development.

The Change and Transformation plan outlines all current and planned change activity for 2022-23, and also captures exploratory work we are doing to understand what changes might be needed in future years.

The technology roadmap provides a pathway to the improvement of digital services through modernisation, technology transformation, managing supplier services, and maintaining the IT estate.

The DBS Organisational Development (OD) strategic plan is a dynamic and purposeful document that aims to ‘bring to life’ the DBS organisation of 2025 and articulate how we will deliver our vision of Making Recruitment Safer. The role of OD is to facilitate organisational success by providing a plan and way of working which help align the structural, cultural, and strategic realities of DBS and the environment we operate in.

3. Who we are and what we do

DBS provides disclosure and barring functions on behalf of government. This includes DBS checks for England, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man, and barring functions for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We carry out this work from bases in Darlington and Liverpool, with employees both in these areas, and across the UK.

DBS was created under the provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. We are a non-departmental public body (NDPB) accountable to Parliament through the Secretary of State for the Home Office. We provide an important service, helping to safeguard and protect people in our society while ensuring proportionality and protecting the rights of individuals. We do this by providing relevant information and, where necessary, making barring decisions to help employers make safer recruitment decisions.

DBS issues four levels of certificates of criminal records, known as DBS certificates, and we operate a system of updating certificates through our Update Service. We also bar individuals from working or volunteering in certain circumstances. Our work is funded by the fees from our disclosure (DBS check) customers.

Basic DBS check

A Basic DBS check is available for any position or purpose. A Basic certificate will contain details of convictions and conditional cautions that are considered to be unspent.

Standard DBS check

Standard DBS certificates show relevant convictions and cautions held on the Police National Computer (PNC), subject to filtering rules.

Enhanced DBS check

An Enhanced DBS check is available to anyone involved in work with vulnerable groups, and other positions involving a high degree of trust. Enhanced certificates contain the same information as a Standard certificate, with the addition of relevant local police force information.

Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS check

An Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS certificate contain the same information as an Enhanced DBS certificate but includes details of whether the individual is included on one or both of the Barred Lists. These lists include individuals barred from working with children and vulnerable groups where the role is in regulated activity.

Barring

We make considered decisions about whether an individual should be barred from engaging in regulated activity with children and/or adults and maintain the Children’s and Adults’ Barred Lists. We also make decisions as to whether it is appropriate to remove a person from a Barred List.

Enhanced DBS checks for healthcare professionals (fast-track)

In support of the government’s COVID-19 response, we are currently providing a temporary service for certain roles, such as nurses, midwives, and social workers. When an application for an Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS check comes in, and has been identified as an application for particular roles relating to COVID-19, we will do a check of both Barred Lists within 24 hours. A full Enhanced DBS check is then progressed.

4. DBS priorities and strategic objectives

Our Purpose

Protecting the public by helping employers make safer recruitment decisions and by barring individuals who pose a risk to vulnerable groups from working and volunteering in certain roles.

Our Vision

Making Recruitment Safer: By being a visible, trusted, and influential organisation, providing an outstanding quality of service to all our customers and partners, where our people understand the important safeguarding contributions they make and feel proud to work here.

Our strategic objectives

We have identified three strategic priorities that really matter to everyone - Quality, Profile and People. We have developed six objectives within these priorities to help us deliver our vision of Making Recruitment Safer.

Quality - Objective 1

We will provide high quality, reliable, consistent, timely and accessible services for our customers.

Quality - Objective 2

We will embrace technology to drive improvements to the quality of our work.

Profile - Objective 3

We will raise awareness of DBS and the services we offer, keeping people informed through our communications, to increase public understanding and confidence in our organisation.

Profile - Objective 4

We will be a respected and trusted organisation, working with our partners to play an influential role in the environment in which we operate.

People - Objective 5

We will develop a talented and diverse workforce that understands how their contributions help to achieve our objectives.

People - Objective 6

We will build a flexible, vibrant, and contemporary workplace where our staff will be able to do their jobs using modern ways of working that promote OneDBS.

5. Delivering our strategic objectives

To achieve our vision and deliver year three of our strategy, we have identified the following deliverables to be completed this year, in each quarter. We have strong governance in place through our board, committees, and Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) to ensure we focus attention on delivering the priorities in the plan.

All deliverables will be tracked quarterly by SLT, and assurance will be completed by our Quality, Finance and Performance Committee and People Committee. Those included within the Change and Transformation plan will also be tracked through our Transformation Steering Group and assured by our Change Management Committee.

As our delivery progresses, we will use our governance processes to make decisions to ensure our strategic approaches and milestones continue to be appropriate and valid for this plan.

6. Strategic Objective One: We will provide high quality, reliable, consistent, timely and accessible services for our customers

In year two of our strategy, we maintained a strong focus on quality in our operational service delivery, identifying opportunities to improve services for customers and continue to raise standards, introducing our Safeguarding and Quality charter, and implementing a revised quality assurance framework and a new excellence model in our Barring and Safeguarding directorate. We developed new capability to support insight and intelligence to inform our decision making, and continued work to ensure ongoing compliance with legislative changes.

In year three of our strategy, we will progress changes needed to be compliant with future safeguarding legislation, improve the quality and inclusivity of our existing products and services, and consider future service improvements. We will embed our Safeguarding and Quality charter, and our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion charter in everything we do, by improving our approach to quality and the accessibility of our services. A cross-cutting theme will be ensuring value for money and efficiency in everything we do.

Deliverables	Supporting milestones	Desired outcomes
SO1.1: Respond to legislative change	SO1.1a: Progress changes needed to ensure compliance with any changes to the legislation that impact our products and services	We will be ready to deliver changes required by new legislation.
SO1.2: Improve quality and inclusivity of products and services for customers	SO1.2a: Agree preferred operating model for customer services function across DBS, in readiness for HGS contract cessation SO1.2b: Go live with the new barring portal SO1.2c: Continue to improve accessibility and usability of DBS services for our customers	We will improve customer experience. We will maximise opportunities to access DBS services for all.
SO1.3: Identify opportunities to improve products and services for the future	SO1.3a: Develop capacity to manage the PLX algorithm SO1.3b: Establish an innovation framework for DBS to support future service improvements SO1.3c: Establish a plan of research and horizon-scanning activities to provide insight to inform future service improvements SO1.3d: Complete remaining organisational design changes to support enabling functions (Strategy and Performance) SO1.3e: Complete remaining organisational design changes to support enabling functions (Business Transformation)	We will create further capability and insight to identify and drive improvements that benefit customers.
SO1.4: Embed the DBS Safeguarding and Quality charter in everything we do	SO1.4a: Develop an approach to articulate directorates’ contributions to Safeguarding and Quality charter principles SO1.4b: Develop a DBS-wide excellence model linked to organisational development and the DBS Academy SO1.4c: Deploy and evaluate our new safeguarding learning resources for internal and external use	We will ensure everyone at DBS knows what contribution they make to safeguarding and why quality matters, with improved performance management to drive excellence in delivery.
SO1.5: Ensure the services we provide deliver value for money	SO1.5a: Streamline our working practices to support efficient and effective delivery of public services	We will continue to deliver value for money for our customers.

7. Strategic Objective Two: We will embrace technology to drive improvements to the quality of our work

In year two of our strategy, we prioritised delivery of the technology roadmap. We improved our capacity and capability to provide digital services, striking a balance between building our own and buying services from third parties. We introduced remote access to our systems so all of our staff can work remotely if needed and progressed digital certificates to prototype stage. Implementing year two of this strategic objective was not without challenge. It was a good learning opportunity regarding optimal distribution of resources and level of ambition. We have, as part of our learning and due to limited capital funding availability in government, repurposed some commitments into years three to five of our strategy.

In year three, we will focus on maintaining and enhancing existing technology, which is critical for a legacy estate, continuing to progress modernisation of our digital services (with a focus on paperless applications), and ensuring we have the technology tools we need to be an efficient organisation.

Deliverables	Supporting milestones	Desired outcomes
SO2.1: Progress digital services modernisation	SO2.1a: Award contract to new strategic digital supplier SO2.1b: Complete onboarding of new strategic digital supplier SO2.1c: Deliver planned phases of new digital service development activity, starting with implementing paperless applications for Standard, Enhanced, and Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS checks	We will optimise our supply-chain arrangements to support digital delivery. We will continue to improve the digital customer experience.
SO2.2: Improve governance regarding data management	SO2.2a: Appoint senior information asset owners and implement quarterly governance report process	We will protect the personal information we hold as effectively as possible.
SO2.3: Maintain existing technology	SO2.3a: Complete R0 migration to virtualised servers SO2.3b: Complete new DBS hosting environment set up in the Crown Hosting Datacentre	We will improve the sustainability of our technology solutions for the future.
SO2.4: Complete required technology transformation	SO2.4a: Further improve future tooling for DBS SO2.4b: Deliver operational document management solutions SO2.4c: Modernise the accounts receivables system IT platform SO2.4d: Award contract to a new hosting provider	We will ensure we have the systems and capability we need to support the activities of teams across DBS. We will have a clear path to transforming our future technology, based on a good understanding of our requirements.
SO2.5: Improve the use of HR and finance data in DBS decision-making	SO2.5a: Implement use of available Metis reporting functionality across DBS, including in workforce and financial planning, and encouraging self-service approaches	We will ensure our working practices support efficient and effective delivery of public services.

8. Strategic Objective Three: We will raise awareness of DBS and the services we offer, keeping people informed through our communications, to increase public understanding and confidence in our organisation

In year two of our strategy, we focused on growing the profile of DBS as a professional and trusted organisation. We launched our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) charter containing our aspirations for inclusive service delivery. We strengthened our capability for marketing and business development activity, and we widened our social media communication channels by introducing Facebook alongside existing channels.

Internally, we introduced the DBS Employee Engagement Forum, completed our new Employee Engagement Survey and embedded the ‘Engage for Success’ internal engagement model within DBS.

In year three, we will concentrate on developing an enhanced understanding of where take-up of all our services should be encouraged to support safeguarding, informing marketing activity and events to support the 10-year anniversary of DBS. We will align our communications planning to the government functional standard for communication and review our online content to ensure it is streamlined and accessible for all customer groups.

Deliverables	Supporting milestones	Desired outcomes
SO3.1: Deliver the Marketing and Business Development strategic plan	SO3.1a: Complete a programme of cross-directorate work to understand the optimum service take-up for all disclosure and barring products and services to support safeguarding objectives SO3.1b: Develop a programme of marketing campaigns for our products and services SO3.1c: Undertake a brand refresh for DBS to coincide with the 10-year anniversary SO3.1d: Implement a series of sector-specific market economic analysis and engagement events SO3.1e: Implement a more commercial/business-like approach to current, new, and identified opportunities within our products and services portfolio	We will better understand our customers, their needs, and any gaps in provision, improving products and services for the future. We will raise awareness of DBS products and services to ensure safeguarding objectives are met.
SO3.2: Further develop our approach to external and internal engagement	SO3.2a: Implement an external and strategic communications plan to align with the functional standard for communication SO3.2b: Implement a refreshed internal communications and engagement plan SO3.2c: Deliver a full review of DBS content on GOV.UK	We will ensure that all communications activity is timely, targeted, and tailored so that awareness and engagement grows in support of achieving our objectives. We will ensure our employees are continuously involved in shaping the progress of DBS towards achieving our objectives. Our guidance, information, and products will become more inclusive and customer-focused.

9. Strategic Objective Four: We will be a respected and trusted organisation, working with our partners to play an influential role in the environment in which we operate

In year two of our strategy, we continued to build our regional delivery model within Barring and Safeguarding and Regional Outreach, improving the support and guidance available to the organisations that make use of our services. We built a successful strategic partnership with the Government Digital Service and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, focused on digital identity verification to modernise our approach for the future. We continued with the rightsizing of the Registered Body network and improved our processes for working with the police to make DBS checks more efficient, and to support swift safeguarding decisions.

In year three, we will embed a more effective model for supplier management and compliance to support our activities and ensure they are effective and efficient. We will continue to shape our place as an influencer in the safeguarding landscape, including through a refresh of our strategy and further partnership-building activity. We will also move to an increasingly outcomes-focused planning model, to better show how we contribute to safeguarding objectives.

Deliverables	Supporting milestones	Desired outcomes
SO4.1: Ensure DBS compliance with government functional standards	SO4.1a: Develop a plan to ensure compliance with all government functional standards	We will ensure our working practices support efficient and effective delivery of public services.
SO4.2: Improve the effectiveness of supplier management activities by DBS	SO4.2a: Improve supplier compliance with relevant Crown Commercial Service or Home Office 2021 to 2025 greening targets SO4.2b: Embed, through effective strategic supplier relationship management, an intelligent client function and mature supplier model across DBS	We will ensure suppliers comply with measures to increase sustainability and minimise negative environmental impacts, and those relating to equality, diversity, and inclusion. We will ensure we have the capacity and capability to support efficient and effective delivery of public services.
SO4.3: Deliver year two of the Partnerships strategic plan	SO4.3a: Continue to enhance our approach to national partnerships to support safeguarding objectives SO4.3b: Deliver a DBS 10-year anniversary influencing programme, to raise our profile in support of our strategic objectives	We will adopt the principles of effective partnerships across DBS to strengthen, build, and co-ordinate strong external partnerships. We will raise awareness within key sectors, and position DBS as a safeguarding partner.
SO4.4: Approve a refreshed DBS strategy for 2023-26	SO4.4a: Co-produce and approve a refreshed DBS strategy for 2023-26	We will ensure our strategy continues to support delivery of our vision for the future of DBS to 2026.
SO4.5: Introduce a new outcomes-based framework for strategic planning	SO4.5a: Develop a standardised performance-reporting approach across directorates, for tier 3 key performance indicators SO4.5b: Implement a new framework for annual business planning	We will ensure our working practices support efficient and effective delivery of public services in line with the wider government delivery agenda.
SO4.6: Deliver the Police strategic plan	SO4.6a: Agree vision for future police model in partnership	We will improve the efficiency with which we work with the police to deliver Enhanced and Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS checks, and identify wider improvements that can be made in future to improve service to customers, balancing safeguarding considerations with the rights of individuals.

10. Strategic Objective Five: We will develop a talented and diverse workforce that understands how their contributions help to achieve our objectives

In year two of our strategy, we concentrated on enhancing our internal capability through organisational restructuring to support effective and efficient service delivery. We had a strong focus on introducing more diversity within our workforce to support our strategic objectives. We continued to embed the use of the Metis HR and finance system and introduced a new reward and recognition policy to ensure staff are fairly recognised for going above and beyond.

In year three of our strategy, we will focus on the development of the DBS Academy as we move towards becoming an exemplar organisation, produce an action plan to act on the findings of our Employee Engagement Survey 2021-22, and continue to deliver the commitments in our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategic plan.

Deliverables	Supporting milestones	Desired outcomes
SO5.1: Respond to the Employee Engagement Survey 2021-22 findings	SO5.1a: Produce an action plan to act on the findings of the Employee Engagement Survey 2021-22	We will be responsive to insights from the survey.
SO5.2: Create social value by supporting local community initiatives where this contributes to achievement of DBS strategic objectives	SO5.2a: Increase the promotion of initiatives that benefit our local communities through the use of volunteer days	We will encourage a culture where contributions that add value to social objectives relevant to DBS are supported.
SO5.3: Enhance organisational development capability	SO5.3a: Build capability in organisational development to evolve this service towards a true centre of subject matter expertise	We will have the capacity and capability to support efficient and effective delivery of public services for the future.
SO5.4: Continue the development of the DBS Academy as per phase two of the agreed plan	SO5.4a: Building on interim solutions, develop and launch the initial components of the DBS Academy SO5.4b: Create the ‘emerging talent’ component of the DBS Academy SO5.4c: Define the apprenticeship levy opportunity and work towards optimising our usage	We will co-ordinate learning and development activity, and will effectively ensure the continuous professional development of our employees. We will be seen as an exemplar organisation where talent from diverse backgrounds is supported and successful.
SO5.5: Deliver revised pay business case for submission to the Home Office	SO5.5a: Re-construct pay business case, building upon local pay policy and arrangements	Work will continue to ensure staff are appropriately rewarded and recognised for their achievements.
SO5.6: Enhance organisational capability to respond to changes in business needs for the future	SO5.6a: Explore and identify additional tools and approaches to inform workforce planning	We will have an improved workforce plan that better supports evolving business needs.
SO5.7: Deliver year two of the EDI plan (People)	SO5.7a: Establish a joint network to support the maturing of EDI at DBS SO5.7b: Extend EDI training offer to all staff at DBS	Our staff will have an improved understanding of why EDI is important in making recruitment safer.

11. Strategic Objective Six: We will build a flexible, vibrant, and contemporary workplace where our staff will be able to do their jobs using modern ways of working that are smart and which promote OneDBS.

In year two of our strategy, we focused on transitioning to a new more flexible working model following COVID-19 and invested in improvements to our Darlington offices. We developed a new wellbeing offer for staff and embedded OneDBS ways of working into our culture. We also introduced better knowledge management through investment in capability and the introduction of SharePoint to modernise our file management.

In year three, as part of refreshing our strategy, we will co-create a vision for the future of working for DBS and deliver year two of the Wellbeing strategic plan.

Deliverables	Supporting milestones	Desired outcomes
SO6.1: Modernise ways of working for DBS	SO6.1a: Complete Liverpool re-design SO6.1b: Conclude any approved activities to onboard with GPA (Government Property Agency) (Darlington) SO6.1c: Create a vision for the future of work at DBS SO6.1d: Produce a plan to realise the vision for the future of work	We will have a flexible, vibrant, and contemporary workplace where staff work smartly as OneDBS to achieve business objectives.
SO6.2: Deliver year two of the Wellbeing strategic plan	SO6.2a: Deliver emotional wellbeing workstream of the delivery plan SO6.2b: Deliver physical wellbeing workstream of the delivery plan SO6.2c: Deliver financial wellbeing workstream of the delivery plan SO6.2d: Deliver social wellbeing workstream of the delivery plan SO6.2e: Deliver accessible and connected wellbeing workstream of the delivery plan	We will continue to enhance our wellbeing offer for our staff; a holistic programme covering all factors of wellbeing, available to all.

12. Measuring success against the plan - key performance indicators

Performance management is one of the controls we use to ensure we are delivering against the strategic objectives in the DBS 2020-25 strategy, and contributing to the outcomes desired by the Home Office (HO) and government for citizens and society. The Home Office has four priority outcomes in its Outcome Delivery Plan. DBS contributes to HO Priority Outcome 1: Reduce Crime. DBS also contributes to other government priority outcomes, including those for health and social care, employment, education, protecting the public, and economic growth.

We measure our progress using a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets agreed by our board. Our KPIs are grouped into four themes: quality, timeliness, finance/Value for Money, and people. We have a strong focus on the quality and timeliness of our products and services. These are the issues that customers tell us are important to them and it is these that ensure we are supporting the safeguarding of vulnerable groups including children, as effectively as possible.

As part of our performance management framework (PMF), progress towards targets is reviewed monthly by our Strategic Leadership Team and board, with the Quality, Finance and Performance Committee and People Committee providing assurance that performance is being managed appropriately. KPIs are supplemented by other measures which operate at a corporate, directorate, service, and team level.

In 2021-22, our ability to achieve all our performance targets was affected by COVID-19, although we continued to provide a high quality of service and were praised for our overall operational response. We will continue to strive to achieve all our performance targets in 2022-23 as we transition to a post-COVID-19 ‘new normal’, and in some cases we have stretched our targets where we feel we are able to do better. We have improved transparency for the public by providing labels that describe in plain English what our KPIs mean to our customers and employees, and linked these to our strategy commitments.

Quality

Our quality KPIs support our commitment to providing high quality, reliable, consistent, and accessible service for our customers. Quality is at the heart of everything we do, as outlined in our Safeguarding and Quality charter.

Reference	Label	Key performance indicator	Target
BP1	Accuracy of all decisions and information issued on a certificate	Percentage of criminal and barring information that DBS should place on a certificate is included	≥99.98%
BP2	Quality of barring decisions (incorrect barring outcomes)	Barring quality rate of closures (IBO)	99.5%
BP3	Our customer satisfaction index	Customer experience of those raising a complaint with DBS within the previous 3 months (index measure)	85

Timeliness

Our timeliness KPIs support our commitment to providing service for our customers. These KPIs help us to demonstrate our speed of service to the public, ensuring safeguarding decisions can be taken by employers and that those individuals who should not be allowed to work with children and/or vulnerable adults are identified and barred as quickly as possible.

Reference	Label	Key performance indicator	Target
BP4	Basic DBS check processing time	% of Basic applications dispatched within two days	≥80%
BP5	Standard DBS check processing time	% of Standard applications dispatched within five days	≥80%
BP6	Enhanced DBS check processing time	% of Enhanced applications dispatched within 14 days	≥80%
BP7	The speed at which we bar people who are cautioned or convicted of more serious crimes, including time for them to make representations	Autobar: Percentage of Barred List inclusion cases completed within 6 months	95%
BP8	The speed at which we complete barring cases (excluding those who have been cautioned/convicted of more serious crimes)	Percentage of proposed Barred List cases (excluding autobar) completed within 9 months	50%

Finance/value for money

Reference	Label	Key performance indicator	Target
BP9	Efficiencies delivered as a percentage of DBS spending	Percentage efficiencies delivered as a percentage of total spend excluding supplier and police costs, cost of change and depreciation	≥3%

People

We are committed to developing a talented, diverse, and inclusive workforce that is engaged in delivering the best possible services to the public. Our people KPIs demonstrate progress against the People commitments in our strategy. We have a range of more detailed people measures, and breakthrough diversity measures, that we use internally.

Reference	Label	Key performance indicator	Target
BP10	The engagement level of our employees	Employee engagement index	≥66%
BP11	The diversity of our employees	Percentage of employees from a minority ethnic background as a percentage of the total DBS workforce	≥7%

13. Strategic risks to delivery of the plan

We identify, monitor, and mitigate risk through the DBS risk management process. Risks are reviewed on a monthly basis by our Strategic Leadership Team and board, with the Audit and Risk Committee providing assurance that risk is being managed appropriately. Risks are held at strategic, corporate, and directorate level. The table shows risks that, if they materialised, would impact on delivery of business plan strategic objectives.

Strategic risk	Context	Quality - SO1	Quality - SO2	Profile - SO3	Profile - SO4	People - SO5	People - SO6
Failure to protect DBS systems from a cyber-attack Risk 199	Ensuring data and systems are protected using cyber-security measures	X	X
Failure to safeguard Risk 393	Ensuring we make timely decisions that safeguard the public by assuring quality and managing work effectively	X		X	X	X
Failure to attract, retain, and develop talent to ensure we have the capacity to deliver our strategic objectives Risk 456	Ensuring we can attract, retain, and develop staff who produce quality work in support of our strategic objectives	X	X	X	X	X	X
Failure to respond to a business continuity or disaster recovery event Risk 530	Maintaining appropriate plans to ensure we can respond effectively to a business continuity or disaster recovery event	X	X	X	X	X	X
Failure of technology systems leading to reduced service Risk 637	Ensuring systems are stable and enable us to operate our services	X	X	X
Failure in supply chain performance Risk 668	Ensuring our suppliers enable us to meet our performance levels	X	X		X
Failure to comply with statutory obligations Risk 669	Ensuring data is managed appropriately through adherence to relevant legislation	X	X
Failure to manage financial resources Risk 670	Ensuring we make use of our budget in accordance with Managing Public Money	X	X	X	X	X	X
Failure to improve DBS Profile Risk 671	Engaging effectively with our partners to ensure we have a reputation as a highly-valued public organisation that has the trust of stakeholders and customers	X		X	X
Failure to deliver the strategic objectives from the DBS 2020-25 strategy Risk 674	Ensuring we meet our strategic ambitions to make recruitment safer	X	X	X	X	X	X
Failure to manage change and transformation Risk 675	Effectively manage change activity to ensure service continuity for our customers	X	X	X	X	X	X

14. Budget - delivery of the plan

The budget sets our estimated costs to deliver our services and business priorities this financial year, reflecting financial estimates of service demand, efficiency, and risk. The budget reflects the business plan milestones that support the delivery of our strategic objectives.

Key financial highlights include changes to our product fees from April 2022, which demonstrate our commitment to delivering value for money to our customers. The product fees have been set to align with full product cost recovery. We will be reducing our fees for Basic DBS checks (from £23 to £18), Standard DBS checks (from £23 to £18), and Enhanced and Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS checks (from £40 to £38) on 6 April 2022. The efficiencies driven through our finance/value for money KPI will allow us to continue to deliver products and services that represent value for money to our customers and the Home Office in future years.

The budget overall is in line with our financial goal of a balanced budget with a fair view of risk and opportunity. As we enter year three of our strategy, our activities to build capacity and capability are starting to deliver benefit and support the ongoing desire for transformational change and efficiency set out in our strategy. Our modernisation plans remain dependent on capital funding availability within government and the pace of change is constrained by this, but we are on track to deliver our capital-dependent commitments within the life of the DBS 2020-25 strategy.

Budget	£m
Income	188.7

Third party costs	£m
Suppliers’ costs	26.7
Police	44.1

Other direct costs	£m
Pay costs	54.6
IT costs	39.5
Other costs	15.1
Depreciation	8.3

Capital	£m
Capital	9.0
Cost of capital	0.4