Late and retrospective representations to the DBS

Usually because the original Minded to Bar letter never reached you. Without a response, the DBS carried on and included your name on one or both barred lists.

From the cases I have handled, the common causes are a delay between the incident and the referral during which the person moved house, so the former employer gave the DBS an out of date address; the letter being returned by the Post Office marked not known at this address; or the letter simply never arriving for some other reason.

Where the DBS cannot locate someone, or its correspondence is returned, the Minded to Bar process continues and the person is barred in order to safeguard vulnerable groups, with the file recording that the address is unknown. The logic is that if that person later applies for an enhanced DBS certificate from a new address, the application flags the barring and they are told at that point. That is why so many people find out through a routine certificate application for a new job.

Where the DBS accepts that you did not receive the original Minded to Bar documentation, it can offer you the chance to make written representations after the event. It will send a copy of the original papers and set a period for your response. This is the opportunity you should have had first time round.

No. The DBS will not remove a barring while late representations are being considered. The barring stays in force throughout. Your name is only removed once the Late Representations have been considered and the DBS decides it is no longer appropriate to include you on a barred list. Until then you must not work or volunteer in regulated activity with that group.

The DBS will not automatically agree to accept late representations. You have to persuade it that the original documentation was not received, which is why the request itself needs to be made properly and supported by whatever evidence exists about where you were living and when. Getting this stage right is what opens the door to everything that follows.

You will speak directly to a solicitor who specialises in this, including appealing barring decisions and securing Late Representations. I regularly act for people who have only just discovered they are barred, from advising on how to persuade the DBS to offer Late Representations through to preparing and submitting the full representations on their behalf.