Disputing disclosure on your DBS certificate
An enhanced certificate can carry information the police chose to release under the heading "Other Relevant Information disclosed at the Chief Officer's discretion". If what appears on yours is inaccurate, or you think it should never have been there, you have a right to dispute it.
Three months from the date on the certificate
That is the window for raising a dispute with the DBS, and it runs from the date of the certificate rather than the date you read it.
Your questions, answered
The questions people ask me most in this situation. If yours is not here, call and ask.
Because part of the application process for an enhanced certificate is a request to the police for anything relevant they hold, and in roles involving children or vulnerable adults that is not limited to convictions and cautions.
The police can disclose information held by local police forces, such as complaints, allegations or investigations, even where these did not result in any further police action. Details of safeguarding concerns discussed at a multi-agency safeguarding meeting the police attended, such as a LADO or MASH meeting, can also be disclosed. The police must, however, believe that the disclosure is relevant and that it ought to be disclosed.
The police may offer you the chance to make representations before releasing it, but they are under no statutory obligation to do so. It is released at their discretion.
Yes. If disclosure appears under the Other Relevant Information section of your enhanced DBS certificate and you believe it is inaccurate or should not have been included, you can raise a dispute with the DBS within three months of the date of the certificate.
To dispute any disclosure on your enhanced DBS certificate, you need to set out properly why the information should not have been disclosed. In practice that means identifying where the police have misunderstood the facts being reported, and where they have failed to comply with the strict criteria that must be satisfied before anything can be disclosed. A dispute that simply denies the allegation rarely succeeds. To succeed, it needs to show that the disclosure criteria have not been met.
If you appeal the disclosure on your enhanced DBS certificate by raising a dispute, and it is unsuccessful, it is not the end of the road. Depending on the grounds you selected on the dispute form, the case can go to the Independent Monitor for review, which is a separate process and gives you an opportunity to make further representations.
You will speak to a qualified solicitor with extensive experience of disputing disclosure on an enhanced DBS certificate, and a record of drafting successful disputes against information that was inaccurate or disproportionate in the circumstances. I will give you my honest opinion on whether there is any merit in pursuing your appeal, then prepare and lodge a dispute that deals comprehensively with the relevant criteria.
What I do for you
- I check the date on your certificate first, because the three month window is the thing most often missed.
- I test the disclosure against the statutory criteria the police must satisfy, rather than arguing the underlying allegation.
- I draft the dispute, dealing with accuracy, relevance to the role and proportionality.
- Everything is agreed on a fixed fee before any work starts, and there is no VAT to add.
148 cases won since 2021
Every outcome is published, with the profession involved and the allegation that was made. Here are some of the most recent.
| Date | Profession | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | Support Worker | Successful representations to remove Disclosure from DBS certificate, resulting in a clear certificate |
| July 2026 | Foster Carer | Successful representations to remove Disclosure from DBS certificate, resulting in a clear certificate |
| March 2026 | Foster Carer | Successful appeal to DBS and resulting in removal of disclosure to produce a clear DBS certificate |
| August 2026 | Night Care Assistant | Successful representations to prevent inclusion on the Adults' Barred List following dismissal for allegations of sleeping on duty and fabricating records |
| July 2026 | Teacher | Successful representations against inclusion on Children's Barred List and Adults' Barred List following court conviction |
| July 2026 | Support Worker | Successful representations against inclusion on Children's Barred List and Adults' Barred List following dismissal for allegations of inappropriate conduct towards service users |
Related situations
My DBS dispute has been rejected
If the DBS has refused your dispute, the Independent Monitor is your next route to a clear certificate, and it is regularly successful.
The police have written proposing disclosure to the DBS
The police are proposing to put information on your certificate. Stopping it here also stops the DBS from ever seeing it.
I need advice on DBS filtering rules
Whether an old caution or conviction is filtered from your certificate depends on rules that changed in 2020 and remain widely misunderstood.
I've received a Minded to Bar letter from the DBS
The DBS has made a preliminary decision to include you on a barred list. Your written representations are usually your one real chance to change that.
Talk to me before you reply to anything
The first conversation is free and it costs you nothing to find out where you stand. Whatever you have been sent, I have almost certainly seen it before.