DBS paper certificates

The DBS always post the paper certificates directly to the sponsor or the applicant. They will send Basic certificates to the sponsor’s address if this is the address listed on the application, otherwise it will always go to the applicant’s address listed in the application. The applicant is the person who the check was carried out on. The sponsor is the company or organisation paying for the check.

The DBS always send Standard and Enhanced certificates to the applicant, never the sponsor. Staffvetting never see these certificates either and cannot change where they are sent. Once a DBS check is submitted, the recipient’s address cannot be changed either.

You can request a reprint within 93 days of the original issue date.

The DBS only sends only one copy of the paper certificate out, either to the sponsor or the applicant. But one reprint – and only one – can be sent to the same address again. The applicant always receives a confirmation from the DBS that the check was carried out, and instructions on how to create an online DBS account so that they can access a digital copy of their certificate.

If they don’t create this account within the 30 days, they will not have access. So, you could choose to send a copy of the paper certificate to them if you wanted but it’s probably cheaper for you and more secure to advise them to create that account and access it themselves directly.

You can find out more detail about how to make this request here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-certificate-reprint-guide/dbs-certificate-reprint-guide

However, Disclosure Scotland use a different process.

They send the Basic paper certificates directly to us – the Umbrella Body – and then we send them to the client. This will be to the address listed in the client’s account. We can change this address if needed, but not after a check has been submitted.

We also receive Standard and Enhanced paper certificates from Disclosure Scotland, but we are not permitted to send them to anyone else due to GDPR. But Disclosure Scotland do send a copy to the applicant, and the client would need to ask the applicant to share it with them if they wanted to see it.

The applicant can request a copy of their certificate within 84 days of the original print date, but not before 10 days of the original’s issue date. After that date, the information is archived and unavailable.

You can find out more information about requesting a reprint here: https://www.mygov.scot/disclosure-certificate-reprint