DBS Checks

[Ray Sayers]

Does anyone run a club/association where they have had DBS checks done by a 3rd party agency?

I was checking on the Government website and it says if your organisation is small, you should get DBS checks done via an umbrella company. Confusingly, it also says 'volunteers' qualify for free DBS checks. Some of these umbrella companies charge £60+ per person, so I thought I would ask if anyone had been down this route before?

[Neill Cooper]

I am now starting up a new Junior Chess Club in Wallington and we would like to have DBS checks for our volunteers. In the past I used the service the ECF offered to registered coaches which worked very well but this has now ceased. Is there any free route for chess clubs or do we now have to pay an 'administration fee'? What sort of price have others paid for DBS checks for volunteers?

[Mick Norris]

I have heard a figure quoted of £24 from a colleague who is looking into this

[John McKenna]

There is no DBS Check cost for the volunteers to pay. However, organisations will have to pay a small administration fee if they use an umbrella body (at uCheck, it's just £10.40 per check). The DBS do not issue free Basic Checks for volunteers because Basic Checks are not a legal requirement.

[Mike Gunn]

Two years ago we (Guildford) paid about £30 for up to (about) 10 DBS checks. According to information on the web we should have got it done by some organisation in Woking that helped voluntary organisations but when we eventually tracked them down we discovered they didn't do it anymore and were redirected to the local (Woking) Council who were very helpful.