Introduction
DBS checks, or Disclosure and Barring Service checks, serve as a crucial safeguarding measure in the UK, especially for martial arts instructors working with children. These checks are designed to reveal an individual's criminal background, including spent and unspent convictions, cautions, and other relevant information, ensuring that those entrusted with the well-being of children have a clean record and pose no potential harm.
By assessing an instructor's suitability and trustworthiness, DBS checks help provide peace of mind to parents and guardians, maintain the safety of young martial arts students, and uphold the integrity of the martial arts community.
BMABA have been providing DBS checks for more than half a decade, and have completed thousands to date.
The Check Process
1. Start by ordering a DBS check for yourself, or one or more of your team from MyBMABA.
DBS checks are only valid for England & Wales. Please see the separate dropdowns for Scotland and Northern Ireland toward the bottom of this article.
2. When the order is processed by our office, you'll have an order completion email and you'll receive an instruction email from the office, outlining the two steps needed to complete a DBS application. This will include;
A.) Aarons Department Digital Form
We use Aarons Department as a trusted and professional organisation to help us take the relevant information from you needed for a check, and to help us process the application to the DBS when it's ready. We'll set you up on their system and you will receive an email from them automatically with login details. You should login and complete the application form as soon as possible.
B.) Evidence Submission
Before the check can be sent off to the DBS, you'll need to submit digital copies of proof of address and ID to us, BMABA, for countersigning. The secure link needed to do this is included in your initial instruction email.
It is crucial you complete STEP 2 - Evidence Submission. We won't know when you complete the application online, so there won't be any action from us until you submit evidence for countersigning. You have 90 days to complete this process, or the DBS application is automatically cancelled.
3. We will countersign the application and submit to the DBS for you. This is usually done within 10 working days of evidence being submitted. If your application is genuinely urgent, please jump onto web chat and let us know - we can turnaround applications within 24 hours.
You will receive automated emails from Aarons Department when your application is submitted, processed and posted out to you.
Eligibility & Check Type
The application for a DBS check for an ineligible position is unlawful under the terms of the Police Act 1997.
Certain types of role require a DBS check. There are three levels - Basic, Standard and Enhanced, with the option of additional 'barred and referred' list checks too.
Roles including work with children (as defined by regulation 5C of the Police Act 1997) and work with adults (as defined by regulation 5B of the Police Act 1997) in a position of trust or supervision will always require an enhanced disclosure and almost always with the Children's Barred & Referred List check, too.
Whilst slightly contentious in terms of the specific duration stated, the DBS deem a position to be regulated and in need of an enhanced DBS check including the Children's Barred List when;
Individuals provide teaching, training or instruction to children on more than 3 days in a 30 day period or overnight between 2am and 6am with the opportunity for face-to-face contact with the children.
Whilst there may be some instances within a 30 day period where you are not face to face with a child for more than 3 days, if you teach any sort of children's classes (or mixed classes) it's highly likely you'll meet this threshold, and you'll need to be checked to an enhanced level.
Paid or Voluntary?
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in the UK defines paid roles and volunteer roles as follows:
Paid Role: A paid role is a position in which an individual receives financial compensation or remuneration for their services or work. This can include regular wages, salaries, hourly pay, or any other form of monetary compensation. Paid roles are typically associated with formal employment or contractual agreements, where the individual is compensated for their time and efforts in a specific role or job.
Volunteer Role: A volunteer role, on the other hand, is a position in which an individual provides their services or assistance willingly and without expectation of financial gain or compensation. Volunteers offer their time, skills, and efforts to support organisations, causes, or initiatives without a formal employment relationship. Volunteer roles are characterised by the absence of payment for the work performed, and individuals engage in such roles voluntarily to contribute to their community or support a particular cause.
It's ultimately up to the person ordering the check to make the right call on whether or not someone is a volunteer. There is quite a large cost difference unfortunately, and it is an offence to deliberately mis-classify the paid or voluntary role status.
Costs
An enhanced DBS check for a paid role through BMABA is £65.00.
An enhanced DBS check for a volunteer role through BMABA is £25.00.
This fee includes the DBS charge (if relevant), Aarons Department administration fees, VAT and our administration costs.
Acceptable Evidence & Countersigning
When you've submitted the application online to Aarons Department, you'll be prompted to return to the above instruction email. You must follow the link, and upload proof of ID and proof of address. All the information on this is contained on the submission page, but here's a summary of what's needed, what's acceptable, and what is not;
You must provide 2x Proof of Address and 1x Proof of ID. The same document can not be used for both proof of ID and proof of address.
The evidence needs to be checked as a legal part of the check process. Even if you've uploaded proof of ID and address as part of prior BMABA account validation, that is not sufficient.
If you upload this information via the verification section of MyBMABA, and not in the DBS application form, the team will not see it and the application will not complete.
The following documents are accepted for proof of ID.
We need to see atleast one form of ID.
Passport
Biometric residence permit
Current driving licence photocard – (full or provisional)
Birth certificate – issued at time of birth
Adoption certificate
The following documents are accepted for proof of address.
If the document is not an annualised document (such as council tax) it must be within 3 months date of issue.
We need to see atleast two proofs of address.
Driving Licence (If not used as proof of ID)
Mortgage statement
Bank or building society statement
Bank or building society account opening confirmation letter
Credit card statement
Financial statement, eg pension or endowment
P45 or P60 statement
Council Tax statement
Work permit or visa
Letter of sponsorship from future employment provider
Utility bill
Benefit statement, eg Child Benefit, Pension
Central or local government, government agency, or local council document giving entitlement, eg from the Department for Work and Pensions, the Employment Service, HMRC
EU National ID card
Cards carrying the PASS accreditation logo
Letter from head teacher or college principal
IMPORTANT: If you provide a passport number or driving licence number as part of the application we will need to verify these documents.
If you have completed STEP 1 of the DBS application with Aarons and are looking for the online form needed to complete the DBS application, and to upload evidence of address and ID, please click here.
Delays & Urgent Applications
To avoid delays with your application, please ensure you carefully read the instruction email and follow the steps as outlined. You'll need to complete the online application fully, and then submit evidence through the online form linked from the instruction email above.
If you step outside of the process or manually submit evidence, please be aware it can significantly delay the process.
If your application is genuinely urgent, please let us know via email or webchat and we'll do our best to prioritise processing. If your DBS expires during the check process, we can write a letter of support to venues or schools that require the check in place, to confirm it is just awaiting completion. Please discuss this with us via chat.
The Update Service
Rather than completing a full application every 3 years at the full cost, we would recommend instructors who will be needing an enhanced check going forwards instead sign up with the Government's DBS Update Service. This costs £16 per year for paid roles, or £0 for volunteers, and ensures that your current DBS remains valid for so long as you are subscribed to the update service. You can share the certificate number with us for re-checking at any point.
You must ensure you sign up to the update service within 28 days of your check processing, or you will not be able to use this service.
You can sign up directly with .GOV from the below link;
DBS For Scotland (PVG Scheme)
In Scotland, rather than an enhanced DBS check there is instead a 'PVG' or Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme. This scheme functions separately to the DBS, but is regarded under the 'DBS' category for suitability vetting. We don't process PVGs in-house, but we do recommend ChildSafe who have been brilliantly processing checks for our Scottish clubs for a number of years. You can specify BMABA as a referral, and we'll be automatically updated when you enrol.
DBS For Northern Ireland (NI Direct)
Northern Ireland has a separate process for their version of a DBS check, known as a 'NI Direct' enhanced criminal record check. We can't run this internally, so we recommend you visit the NI Direct Government website for approved umbrella bodies. If you find any umbrella body requires an organisation to 'sponsor' you, please reach out to our team and we can validate the check for you.