Parallel DBS and professional regulator investigations
If you are facing a DBS investigation, you may well be facing a fitness to practise or disciplinary investigation by your own regulator at the same time. Most people treat them as two separate problems. They are not, and that mistake can be expensive.
What you say to one can be demanded by the other
The DBS and professional regulators exchange information under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. Anything said or submitted during a regulatory investigation may later be considered by the DBS when it decides whether to place you on a barred list.
Your questions, answered
The questions people ask me most in this situation. If yours is not here, call and ask.
Yes, and most professionals are surprised by how routine it is. The exchange happens under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which means evidence submitted to one organisation can have serious consequences in the other investigation.
Yes. Your own regulator can refer you to the DBS. Under section 45 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, regulators have a legal power to refer individuals to the DBS where the safeguarding criteria are met. If you are under investigation by your regulator, or have been found impaired, made subject to conditions or undertakings, prohibited from practice, or sanctioned following safeguarding concerns, you may also become the subject of DBS barring consideration.
Yes. The DBS can request information from your regulator. Under section 46 of the same Act, the DBS can require regulators to provide information relevant to its decision, including investigation reports, witness evidence and disciplinary documentation. Regulators are under a legal duty to comply. There is no realistic prospect of keeping the two matters separate.
Because representations made to the DBS can affect your fitness to practise proceedings, statements given to your regulator may later be read closely by the DBS, and an inconsistent approach can seriously undermine your position in both.
An explanation that sounds sensible in a disciplinary hearing can read very differently to a DBS caseworker assessing risk of harm. The accounts need to be consistent, and they need to be built that way from the start rather than reconciled afterwards.
Most commonly the Teaching Regulation Agency, the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Health and Care Professions Council and Social Work England, along with other statutory and professional regulators. The principles are the same whichever body is involved.
I can handle both investigations together as one coordinated strategy rather than two separate cases. That means representations that are legally robust, evidence presented consistently across every set of proceedings, and care taken that an admission or explanation in one investigation does not needlessly damage you in the other.
Regulators this most often involves
| Regulator | Who it covers |
|---|---|
| Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) | Teachers |
| General Medical Council (GMC) | Doctors |
| Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) | Nurses and midwives |
| Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) | Allied health and care professionals |
| Social Work England | Social workers |
Other statutory and professional regulators have the same powers to refer to the DBS and the same duty to provide information to it.
What I do for you
- I can handle the DBS matter and the regulatory matter, so the accounts given to each are consistent.
- I check what has already been said to your regulator before anything goes to the DBS, because that material may already be on its way there.
- I address the safeguarding issues strategically, with your ability to keep working in your chosen career as the objective.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
| February 2024 | Physiotherapist | Successful representations to direct regulator (HCPC) to close investigation |
| October 2023 | Social Worker | Successful representations to direct regulator (SWE) to remove sanctions from social worker and close investigation |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| July 2026 | Teacher | Successful representations against inclusion on Children's Barred List and Adults' Barred List following court conviction |
Related situations
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.
I've been referred to the DBS
An employer, agency or regulator has referred you. Knowing what happens next, and preparing for it now, puts you in a far stronger position.
I want to appeal a decision to bar me
A barring decision can be appealed to the Upper Tribunal on a point of law or a mistake of fact, but permission is needed and the time limits are strict.
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.
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.