Guidance

Eligibility for Standard DBS checks legislation

Published 1 September 2026

1. Introduction

This webpage sets out the legislation which underpins the guidance on the Standard DBS checks eligibility webpage.

DBS have provided this to organisations to support them in their decision making. DBS may not be able to provide further context surrounding this wording.

This is not intended as legal advice. Organisations should seek professional guidance as needed.

2. Roles eligible ‘on entry’ to a profession only

Wording from Article 3 of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975:

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), neither section 4(2) of, nor paragraph 3(3) of Schedule 2 to, the Act shall apply in relation to—

• a)    any question asked by or on behalf of any person, in the course of the duties of his office or employment, in order to assess the suitability—
• (i)    of the person to whom the question relates for admission to any of the professions specified in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Order

Professions listed in Part I of Schedule 1:

• Barrister (in England and Wales), solicitor
• Chartered accountant, certified accountant
• Veterinary surgeon
• Actuary
• Registered foreign lawyer
• Chartered legal executive or other CILEx authorised person
• Chartered management accountant
• Notary public of England and Wales

3. Judicial and court-based roles

Roles listed in Part II of Schedule 1:

• Judges’ clerks, secretaries and legal secretaries within the meaning of section 98 of the Supreme Court Act 1981.
• Court officers and court contractors, who in the course of their work, have face to face contact with judges of the Supreme Court, or access to such judges’ lodgings.
• Persons who in the course of their work have regular access to personal information relating to an identified or identifiable member of the judiciary.
• Court officers and court contractors, who, in the course of their work, attend either the Royal Courts of Justice or the Central Criminal Court.
• Court security officers, and tribunal security officers.
• Court contractors, who, in the course of their work, have unsupervised access to court-houses, offices and other accommodation used in relation to the courts.
• Contractors, sub-contractors, and any person acting under the authority of such a contractor or sub-contractor, who, in the course of their work, have unsupervised access to tribunal buildings, offices and other accommodation used in relation to tribunals.
• The following persons—
  • a)    Court officers who execute county court warrants;
  • b)    High Court enforcement officers;
  • c)    sheriffs and under-sheriffs;
  • d)    tipstaffs;
  • e)    any other persons who execute High Court writs or warrants who act under the authority of a person listed at (a) to (d);
  • f)     persons who execute writs of sequestration;
  • g)    civilian enforcement officers as defined in section 125A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980;
  • h)    persons who are authorised to execute warrants under section 125B(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, and any other person, (other than a constable), who is authorised to execute a warrant under section 125(2) of the 1980 Act;
  • i)     persons who execute clamping orders, as defined in paragraph 38(2) of Schedule 5 to the Courts Act 2003.
• Court officers and court contractors who exercise functions in connection with the administration and management of funds in court including the deposit, payment, delivery and transfer in, into and out of any court of funds in court and regulating the evidence of such deposit, payment, delivery or transfer and court officers and court contractors, who receive payments in pursuance of a conviction or order of a magistrates’ court.
• Justice system intermediaries who are commissioned on behalf of His Majesty’s Government through an approved scheme or contracted service in force, such as the Ministry of Justice Witness Intermediary Scheme or His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service Appointed Intermediary Services.

4. Other roles

4.1 Offices, employments and work listed in Part II of Schedule 1

• Designated officers for magistrates’ courts, for justices of the peace or for local justice areas, justices’ legal advisers
• Any employment which is concerned with the administration of, or is otherwise normally carried out wholly or partly within the precincts of, a prison, remand centre, removal centre, short-term holding facility, young offender institution, Borstal institution or young offenders institution, and members of boards of visitors appointed under section 6 of the Prison Act 1952

• Any office or employment which is concerned with:

  • (a) the provision of care services to vulnerable adults; or

  • (b) the representation of, or advocacy services for, vulnerable adults by a service that has been approved by the Secretary of State or created under any enactment;

and which is of such a kind as to enable a person, in the course of his normal duties, to have access to vulnerable adults in receipt of such services.

• Any employment or other work which is concerned with the provision of health services and which is of such a kind as to enable the holder of that employment or the person engaged in that work to have access to persons in receipt of such services in the course of his normal duties.

• Any employment or other work in England or Wales concerned with—

  • (a) the investigation of fraud, corruption or other unlawful activity affecting the national

health service, or

• (b) security management in the national health service,

where “the national health service” means, in respect of England, the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006 and, in respect of Wales, that continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006.

• Any employment or other work which is carried out for the purposes of an adoption service, an adoption support agency, a voluntary adoption agency, a fostering service or a fostering agency and which is of such a kind as to enable a person, in the course of his normal duties, to have contact with children or access to sensitive or personal information about children.

Interpretation taken from art. 2(1):

“adoption agency” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002;

“adoption service” —

• a) in relation to England, means the discharge by a local authority in England of relevant adoption functions within the meaning of section 43(3)(a) of the Care Standards Act 2000, and
• b) in relation to Wales, means the discharge by a local authority in Wales of
• c) functions under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 of making or participating in arrangements for the adoption of children or the provision of adoption support services as defined in section 2(6) of that Act;

“adoption support agency” has the meaning given by section 8 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002

“fostering service” means—

• a) in relation to England, the discharge by a local authority in England of relevant fostering functions within the meaning of section 43(3)(b)(i) of the Care Standards Act 2000, and
• b) in relation to Wales, the discharge by a local authority in Wales of functions under section 81 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (in connection with placements with local authority foster parents) or regulations made under or by virtue of any of sections 87, 92(1)(a), (b), (d) or 93 of that Act;

“voluntary adoption agency” —

• a) in relation to England, has the meaning given by section 4(7) of the Care Standards Act 2000, and

• b) in relation to Wales, means a provider of an adoption service within the meaning of paragraph 4(a) of Schedule 1 to the 2016 Act

• Any employment in the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals where the person employed or working, as part of his duties, may carry out the humane killing of animals.
• An individual designated under section 2 of the Traffic Management Act 2004
• Staff working within the Public Guardianship Office, (to be known as the Office of the Public Guardian from October 2007), with access to data relating to children and vulnerable adults.
• Individuals seeking authorisation from the Secretary of State for the Home Department to become authorised search officers.
• Any employment or other work where the normal duties
  • a)    involve caring for, training, supervising, or being solely in charge of, persons aged under 18 serving in the naval, military or air forces of the Crown; or
  • b)    include supervising or managing a person employed or working in a capacity referred to in paragraph (a).
• Fire and rescue authority employees
• Any employment which is concerned with the delivery of electronic monitoring and field services by a contractor in accordance with arrangements made by the Secretary of State under section 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007

4.2 Regulated occupations listed in Part III of Schedule 1

• Approved legal services body manager
• A head of finance and administration of a licensed body
• A head of legal practice of a licensed body
• CILEx approved manager

4.3 Licences, certificates or permits listed in Schedule 2

• Licences granted under section 8 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001.

4.4 Bidding for public contracts

Wording from Article 3(1) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975:

• j)     any question asked by or on behalf of a contracting authority or utility in relation to a conviction for an offence listed in regulation 57(1) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or regulation 38(8) of the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 which is a spent conviction (or any circumstances ancillary to such a conviction) for the purpose of determining whether or not a person is excluded—
  • (i) for the purposes of regulation 57 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015,
  • (ii) from participation in a design contest for the purposes of regulation 80 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015,
  • (iii) for the purposes of regulation 80 of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016,
  • (iv) from participation in a design contest for the purposes of regulation 96 of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, or
  • (v) for the purposes of regulation 38 of the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016,

where the person questioned is informed at the time the question is asked that, by virtue of this Order, spent convictions for such offences are to be disclosed;

Interpretation taken from art. 2(1):

“contracting authority” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, regulation 4(1) of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 or regulation of the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, as appropriate;

“utility” has the meaning given by regulation 5(1) of the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 or regulation 5 of the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, as appropriate;

4.5 Football stewards

Wording from Article 3(1) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975:

• k)    any question asked, by or on behalf of the Football Association, Football League or Football Association Premier League in order to assess the suitability of the person to whom the question relates or of any other person to be approved as able to undertake, in the course of acting as a steward at a sports ground at which football matches are played or as a supervisor or manager of such a person, licensable conduct within the meaning of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 without a licence issued under that Act, in accordance with section 4 of that Act.

4.6 Applying for membership of the Master Locksmiths Association

Wording from Article 3(1) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975:

• m)  any question asked by or on behalf of the Master Locksmiths Association for the purposes of assessing the suitability of any person who has applied to be granted membership of that Association;

4.7 Holding a restricted interest in a licensed body

Wording from Article 3(1) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975:

• o)    any question asked by or on behalf of any body which is a licensing authority within the meaning of section 73(1) of the Legal Services Act 2007 (licensing authorities and relevant licensing authorities) where—
  • (i)    it is asked in order to assess whether, for the purposes of Schedule 13 to that Act (ownership of licensed bodies), the approval requirements are met in relation to a person’s holding of a restricted interest in a licensed body; and
  • (ii)  the person to whom the question relates is informed at the time that the question is asked that, by virtue of this Order, spent convictions are to be disclosed.

4.8 Financial roles

Wording from article 3(1) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975:

(g) any question asked by, or on behalf of, the person listed in the second column of any entry in the table below to the extent that it relates to a conviction (or any circumstances ancillary to a conviction) of any individual, but only if–

• (i) the person questioned is informed at the time the question is asked that, by virtue of this Order, spent convictions are to be disclosed; and
• (ii) the question is asked in order to assess the suitability of the individual to whom the question relates to have the status specified in the first column of that entry.

	Status	Questioner
1	A person with Part 4A permission.	The FCA, the PRA or the Bank of England.
2	(a) A person in relation to whom an approval is given under section 59 of the 2000 Act (approval for particular arrangements). (b) An associate of the person (whether or not an individual) mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).	The FCA, the PRA or the authorised person (within the meaning of section 31(2) of the 2000 Act) or the applicant for Part 4A permission who made the application for the approval of the appropriate regulator (within the meaning of section 59(4) of the 2000 Act) under section 59 of the 2000 Act in relation to the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of the first column.
3	(a) The manager or trustee of an authorised unit trust scheme (within the meaning of section 237 of the 2000 Act). (b) An associate of the person (whether or not an individual) mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).	The FCA or the unit trust scheme mentioned in the first column.
3A	(a) The operator or depositary of an authorised contractual scheme (within the meaning of section 237(3) of the 2000 Act).	The FCA.
	(b) An associate of the person (whether or not an individual) mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).
4	(a) A director of an open-ended investment company. (b) An associate of that person (whether or not an individual) mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).	The FCA, the PRA or the open-ended investment company mentioned in the first column.
5	An associate of the operator or trustee of a relevant collective investment scheme.	The FCA, the PRA or the collective investment scheme mentioned in the first column.
6.	An associate of a UK recognised investment exchange, recognised clearing house or recognised CSD.	The FCA, the PRA, or the Bank of England or the investment exchange, clearing house or CSD mentioned in the first column.
7	A controller of a person with Part 4A permission.	The FCA, the PRA or the person with Part 4A permission mentioned in the first column.
8	(a) A person who carries on a regulated activity (within the meaning of section 22 of the 2000 Act) but to whom the general prohibition does not apply by virtue of section 327 of the 2000 Act (exemption from the general prohibition for members of a designated professional body).	The FCA or the PRA.
	(b) An associate of the person (whether or not an individual) mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).	In the case of a person mentioned in subparagraph (b) of the first column, the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that column.
9	A key worker of the FCA, the PRA or the Bank of England.	The FCA, the PRA or the Bank of England.
10	An ombudsman (within the meaning of Schedule 17 to the 2000 Act) of the Financial Ombudsman Service.	The scheme operator (within the meaning of section 225 of the 2000 Act) of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
11	An associate of the issuer of securities which have been admitted to the official list maintained by the FCA for listing under section 74 of the 2000 Act.	The FCA.
12	A sponsor (within the meaning of section 88(2) of the 2000 Act).	The FCA.
13	(a) A Primary information provider (within the meaning of section 89P of the 2000 Act).	The FCA or the PRA.
	(b) An associate of the person (whether or not an individual) mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).	In the case of a person mentioned in subparagraph (2) of the first column, the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) of that column.
14	An associate of a person who has a Part 4A permission and who is admitted to Lloyd’s as an underwriting agent (within the meaning of section 2 of Lloyd’s Act 1982).	(a) The Council of Lloyd’s.(b) The person with Part 4A permission specified in the first column (or a person applying for such permission).
15	An associate of the Council of Lloyd’s.	The Council of Lloyd’s.
16	(a) Any member of a UK recognised investment exchange, recognised clearing house or recognised CSD .	The UK recognised investment exchange, recognised clearing house or recognised CSD specified in the first column.
	(b) An associate of the person (whether or not an individual) mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).	In the case of a person mentioned in subparagraph (b) of the first column, the person mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that column.
17	A director or person responsible for the management of the electronic money or payment services business of an electronic money institution.	The FCA.
18	A controller of an electronic money institution.	The FCA.
19	A director or a person responsible for the management of an authorised payment institution, a registered account information service provider or a small payment institution.	The FCA.
20	A person responsible for the management of payment services provided, or to be provided, by an authorised payment institution, a registered account information service provider or a small payment institution.	The FCA.
21	A controller of an authorised payment institution, a registered account information service provider or a small payment institution.	The FCA.

Interpretation taken from art. 2(1):

“associate”, in relation to a person (“A”), means someone who is a controller, director or manager of A or, where A is a partnership, any partner of A;

“authorised payment institution” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017

“collective investment scheme” has the meaning given by section 235 of the 2000 Act;

“controller” has the meaning given by section 422 of the 2000 Act;

“Council of Lloyd’s” means the council constituted by section 3 of Lloyd’s Act 1982;

“depositary”, in relation to an authorised contractual scheme, has the meaning given in section 237(2) of the 2000 Act;

“director” has the meaning given by section 417 of the 2000 Act;

“electronic money institution” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011;

“the FCA” means the Financial Conduct Authority;

“key worker” means—

• a)    any individual who is likely, in the course of exercising the duties of that individual’s office or employment, to play a significant role in the decision making process of the FCA, the PRA or the Bank of England in relation to the exercise of its public functions (within the meaning of section 349(5) of the 2000 Act ); or

• b)

• (i) any individual who is likely, in the course of exercising the duties of that individual’s office or employment, to support directly an individual mentioned in paragraph (a);

“manager” has the meaning given by section 423 of the 2000 Act;

“open-ended investment company” has the meaning given by section 236 of the 2000 Act;

“operator”, in relation to an authorised contractual scheme, has the meaning given in section 237(2) of the 2000 Act;

“Part 4A permission” has the meaning given by section 55A(5) of the 2000 Act;

“payment services” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017

“the PRA” means the Prudential Regulation Authority;

“recognised clearing house” means a recognised clearing house as defined in section 285 of the 2000 Act;

“recognised CSD” has the meaning given by section 285(1)(e) of the 2000 Act;

“registered account information service provider” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017;

“relevant collective investment scheme” means a collective investment scheme which is recognised under section 272 (individually recognised overseas schemes) of the 2000 Act;

“small payment institution” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017;

“trustee”, in relation to a unit trust scheme, has the meaning given by section 237 of the 2000 Act;

“UK recognised investment exchange” means an investment exchange in relation to which a recognition order under section 290 of the 2000 Act, otherwise than by virtue of section 292(2) of that Act (overseas investment exchanges), is in force;