Question 1

What is a DBS check and what shows up?

Accepted Answer

A **Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)** check reveals criminal record information for employment and volunteering purposes in England and Wales. There are levels, and **which level applies is determined by the role**, not by employer preference.

**Basic.** Available to anyone, including for your own record. Shows **unspent convictions and conditional cautions** only.

**Standard.** For specified roles. Shows **spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings**, except those subject to filtering.

**Enhanced.** For roles involving regular work with children or vulnerable adults. Shows everything a Standard check does, **plus** any information a chief police officer **reasonably considers relevant** — which can include **allegations, investigations and non-conviction information**, at police discretion. This is the most significant and least understood element.

**Enhanced with barred list check.** Additionally checks whether the person appears on the **children's or adults' barred lists**. Working in a regulated activity while barred is a criminal offence.

**What "spent" means.** Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, most convictions become **spent** after a rehabilitation period depending on the sentence, after which they need not be disclosed for most purposes. Serious sentences are **never spent**.

**Filtering.** Certain old and minor convictions and cautions are **filtered** from Standard and Enhanced checks. The rules were reformed in 2020 after a Supreme Court ruling, removing the previous automatic disclosure of all offences where someone had more than one, and removing youth cautions and reprimands. Serious offences on a specified list are **never filtered**.

**Practical points:**

**The certificate is issued to you**, not the employer — you show it to them.

**The Update Service** lets a certificate be reused across roles, avoiding repeat applications.

**You can dispute** inaccurate information, and can make representations about Enhanced disclosure before it is released.

**Asking for a higher level than the role permits is unlawful.**

**Scotland uses Disclosure Scotland**; Northern Ireland uses AccessNI.

Question 2

When does a criminal conviction become spent?

Accepted Answer

After a rehabilitation period that depends on the sentence, after which you generally do not have to disclose it — with significant exceptions that catch people out, particularly for certain jobs.

Question 3

What is the difference between a caution, a fixed penalty notice and a conviction?

Accepted Answer

They are three different things with very different consequences — and the most important distinction is whether you have admitted an offence. Conviction. A finding of guilt by a court, after a trial

Question 4

What are police stop and search powers, and what are your rights?

Accepted Answer

Powers to stop and search a person or vehicle in defined circumstances — and the key distinction is between searches requiring reasonable grounds for suspicion and the much rarer powers that do not.

Question 5

Who decides whether to prosecute someone?

Accepted Answer

In England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides in most cases — not the police, and not the victim. That separation is deliberate and is the point of the arrangement. Why the CPS

Question 6

Why are freedom of information requests refused?

Accepted Answer

Because the Freedom of Information Act contains a set of exemptions, some absolute and some qualified — and the majority of refusals rely on a small number of them. The basic right. Anyone, anywhere,

Question 7

How are criminal sentences actually decided?

Accepted Answer

By applying published guidelines to the specific case — a structured process that is considerably more constrained than the common perception of judges choosing freely. The Sentencing Council. An

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