DBS checks for childcare and early years

The right childcare DBS process depends first on the type of provider. A registered childminder, a nursery on non-domestic premises and a group provider operating on domestic premises do not have identical routes for obtaining checks or deciding who is suitable. A school nursery also has school recruitment duties. Treating every setting as a generic “childcare employer” can leave a household member unchecked, delay an assistant who must not start yet, or prompt an application at a level the role does not justify.

The Department for Education brought two Early Years Foundation Stage frameworks into force on 1 September 2026. One is for childminders. The other is for group and school-based providers. Their safeguarding and suitability sections set out who arranges checks, which people must be assessed, when work may start and what records providers need. Ofsted's childcare DBS guidance explains its own checking role and the separate responsibilities of registered providers. Read the framework that fits your registration before translating a rule into an application or a staff policy.

Identify the registered arrangement before checking a person

Write down the provider's registration type, the premises on which care is delivered, and the ages of children served. A childminder with domestic premises may care for children at home and has household checks that do not arise for every nursery. A childminder without domestic premises has a distinct registration and uses the childminder framework, but the household rule attached to domestic childminding premises should not simply be copied across. Group childcare on domestic premises has another route for Ofsted or a childminder agency to assess relevant people.

Next, identify what the individual actually does. Do they deliver or assist with childcare, live on a domestic premises used for care, work in the part of a group setting used for care, or provide a service without access to children? Record whether the person is an employee, assistant, student, apprentice, volunteer, visitor or contractor. The same person may hold more than one capacity. The checks for the registered provider are not automatically the checks for every worker, and a title such as “manager” does not tell you who makes the suitability decision.

This initial classification controls the handoff. Ofsted or a childminder agency may complete suitability checks for particular registered people. A nursery provider is responsible for checks on other staff. The provider must still make its own safeguarding and recruitment decisions, even when another organisation processes the criminal-record application. A certificate is one item of evidence, not a substitute for references, identity, qualifications, supervision and ongoing suitability.

Childminders: the regulator or agency assesses relevant people

The 2026 childminder framework says Ofsted or the childminder's agency completes suitability checks for the childminder and every other person looking after children on the premises. For childminders with domestic premises, that also includes every other person aged 16 or over living or working on domestic premises where childminding takes place. The framework requires Enhanced criminal-record and barred-list checks for relevant people, with a narrow exception for supervised volunteers who only help occasionally. Overseas history can call for additional criminal-record evidence.

An assistant includes a person who helps with childminding even if unpaid. The framework treats students, volunteers and apprentices who work with the childminder as assistants. This matters when someone is described informally as a “friend helping out”. The provider should ask what the person will actually do, whether the narrow occasional volunteer exception applies, and whether the person's details have been supplied for the suitability process. Informal labels do not remove a check requirement.

The childminder framework says assistants must not begin work or volunteering at the setting until the Enhanced criminal-record and barred-list check has been received. It also says a person whose suitability has not been checked by Ofsted or the agency must not have unsupervised contact with the children being cared for. Keep these as separate controls. Having an adult present does not generally let an assistant start in breach of the framework's receipt requirement. A provider should plan enough lead time for checks and references rather than relying on an emergency staffing workaround.

Domestic premises and people aged 16 or over

A household member can fall within the suitability process even if they do not provide childcare. The childminder framework's domestic-premises rule concerns people aged 16 or over who live or work where childminding is provided. For group childcare on domestic premises, the group framework gives Ofsted or the relevant agency responsibility for checking the provider, other people looking after children there, and people living or working on those premises. The detail depends on the registration and where children are actually cared for.

Do not treat an adult's age as the whole decision. Record whether the premises are domestic, whether the person lives or works there, and whether work takes place in the part used for childcare or while children are present. A tradesperson who services an isolated area while no children are there may have a different position from a regular household resident. The framework's footnotes and Ofsted guidance help decide who is in scope. A provider should ask the regulator or agency when a borderline premises arrangement is unclear.

Domestic-premises arrangements can change. A young person reaches 16, a lodger moves in, a partner starts working from the property, or childcare moves to another address. The childminder framework sets notification duties for relevant changes to people and premises. The 2026 group framework also added clearer notification requirements for childcare on domestic premises when people aged 16 or over living or working there change. Put a prompt into the provider's change process so a new household member is not discovered only during an inspection.

Nurseries and other group settings

For registered group and school-based providers other than childcare on domestic premises, the 2026 group framework requires the provider to obtain Enhanced criminal-record and barred-list checks for people aged 16 or over in the specified categories. Those categories include direct work with children and certain people who live or work on the premises. The framework has express exceptions for a person with no access to the part used for childcare or who does not work there when children are present. It also distinguishes supervised occasional volunteers.

This is more useful than a table that says every “nursery worker” has the same route. A room practitioner caring for children, a kitchen employee who works in the childcare area during the day, a facilities worker with no access when children are present, and a volunteer at an annual event need separate facts. The provider should identify the EYFS category and any exception before sending an application. If the role has a child regulated-activity basis as well, document that basis rather than treating the EYFS job title as the legal reason.

The group framework says covered individuals must not start work or volunteering until the provider has received the Enhanced check and barred-list result. The narrow supervised occasional volunteer exception must be assessed on its own terms. It also bars unsupervised contact with children for someone whose suitability checks are incomplete. A nursery should therefore connect offer letters, rota permissions and room access to the check status. The person who schedules cover needs a clear answer about what duties may begin, not a vague “DBS pending” note.

Volunteers after the September 2026 change

The DBS change notice explains that the former supervision exemption for certain unpaid child activities was removed on 1 September 2026. Supervised teaching, training, instruction, care or supervision can now be regulated activity when the applicable frequency or overnight condition is met. This calls for a review of recurring volunteers and assistants previously classified solely because someone supervised them. It does not make every visitor eligible for a barred-list check.

The current EYFS frameworks retain a narrow exception for a supervised volunteer who helps only occasionally. Their footnotes give an ordinary parent or carer on a trip as an example, but exclude overnight or personal-care circumstances from that example. The role still needs an assessment. Someone who assists children weekly is different from a person who serves refreshments once while supervised. Record the tasks, contact, frequency, supervision and framework category. When the person starts helping more often, reassess before expanding the assignment.

There are two separate financial and legal questions. The role may support an Enhanced check with children's barred-list information, yet the application might not meet the DBS definition for a free volunteer check. Conversely, an unpaid label alone does not establish barred-list entitlement. The volunteer DBS guide owns the fee-concession decision. The child regulated-activity guide owns the broader legal activity test. This page is for the childcare provider's operating process under the EYFS.

Students, apprentices and agency staff

An apprentice can be an employed practitioner, a childminder assistant, or another kind of trainee. A student on placement may work directly with children. The frameworks require suitability to be assessed for the actual assignment, and the group framework addresses references for staff including students and volunteers. Do not assume a college has completed the provider's checks merely because it arranged the placement. Decide who will obtain the relevant confirmation and who authorises work in a room.

The group framework says providers must obtain at least one written reference before recruiting staff, including students and volunteers. Childminders have a similar requirement for assistants. A reference is not a DBS result and a DBS result is not a character reference. The provider should check who supplied it, whether it covers relevant recent work and how any concern was resolved. Sensitive information should be available only to staff who need it for the suitability decision.

Where an agency supplies a temporary practitioner, identify the employer, the person who initiated the check, the evidence the provider will receive and the identity check at arrival. A replacement person needs their own assurance. The agency-worker guide has a fuller cross-sector handoff. In childcare, the immediate question is whether this specific worker may enter this specific room and undertake these duties under the EYFS framework. A supplier's generic “cleared” status cannot answer every part of that question.

Disqualification is a separate decision

Childcare disqualification does not simply mean a DBS certificate disclosed information. The Childcare Act 2006 disqualification guidance describes separate restrictions on providing or managing relevant childcare. The 2026 EYFS frameworks require providers to respond to disqualification and significant events affecting suitability. A person may be disqualified under the statutory scheme even where a provider's immediate DBS record does not state the reason. The provider needs a process for disclosure, escalation and any regulator notification.

The phrase “disqualification by association” needs care. DfE's school guidance says the association rule applies to childcare in domestic settings and not to ordinary staff in non-domestic school settings. Schools should not ask employees for household members' conviction histories simply because they work in reception or wraparound care. A domestic childminder's household suitability checks are a different issue. Keep the two routes separate and ask a specialist before collecting information about another adult in the worker's home.

The DfE disqualification guidance was last updated in 2018. Its rules should be checked against current legislation, especially where a decision depends on an exact offence, order, waiver or premises arrangement. A provider should not attempt to adjudicate a person's legal disqualification from a short website summary. Record the concern, restrict access to sensitive details, obtain qualified advice and follow the regulator's process. A waiver, where available, is not the same as a clean DBS certificate.

Update Service and previous certificates

Ofsted's current childcare DBS guidance strongly recommends that new provider and childminder applicants and associated people aged 16 or over join the DBS Update Service. It no longer makes that a universal registration requirement. For staff whose checks Ofsted does not perform, such as employees of a nursery on non-domestic premises, the provider decides whether to require subscription. Do not tell every childcare worker they must join.

There is a narrower practical case where Update Service membership matters to Ofsted: it accepts a previous certificate from another organisation only under specified conditions. Its guidance requires the appropriate Enhanced child-workforce certificate and an active Update Service subscription, with a home-based role condition for domestic-premises work. This acceptance policy applies to people for whom Ofsted makes the suitability decision. For staff whose suitability the registered provider decides, the provider makes the portability decision using the correct role and certificate criteria.

Update Service status is not an expiry date and does not itself decide whether someone is suitable. A provider needs the applicant's consent, identity assurance, an appropriate original certificate and a process for any changed status. The Update Service guide owns the mechanics. The certificate reuse guide owns a new employer's acceptance decision. If a role changes from one workforce or check level to another, a previous certificate should not be treated as automatically sufficient.

What to record and what to avoid retaining

The group EYFS framework requires records of staff qualifications and the identity checks, vetting processes and references completed. It identifies the criminal-record check reference number, date and the person at the setting who obtained it. The childminder framework says Ofsted or the agency keeps relevant identity and vetting information for the people it checks. The provider should maintain enough operational evidence to know who may work, when a check was received and what decision was made, while following the correct framework for its type.

Do not turn the staff record into a collection of full DBS certificate copies by default. Ofsted's guidance says providers should not retain disclosure certificates for other people whose suitability they decide, but should be able to show that checks were completed. The DBS also has handling rules for certificate information. A setting should set restricted access, purpose and disposal rules, then record only what its legal and safeguarding process requires. The DBS record-keeping guide discusses the privacy decision in detail.

Avoid calling a DBS check “expired” merely because a three-year policy review date arrives. Certificates do not have a universal statutory expiry date. A nursery can set a recheck policy and record its next review, but the policy date is not a date printed by DBS as legal validity. EYFS qualifications, paediatric first aid and other credentials may have different renewal rules. Keep those dates separate from criminal-record evidence so staff do not assume one reminder represents every requirement.

Three realistic handoffs

A childminder's adult son moves home. The setting must assess the new household arrangement under the domestic-premises framework and notify Ofsted or the childminder agency where required. Record when he moved in, whether he is 16 or older, what suitability steps are pending and any access controls. The childminder should not assume that he is outside scope because he never changes nappies or is not paid.

A nursery asks a parent to help each Friday. What started as an occasional supervised visit is now regular assistance. The provider should describe the tasks and frequency, reassess whether the occasional volunteer exception still applies, obtain the checks required by the group EYFS framework before covered work begins, and update room access. Calling the helper “a parent” does not freeze the original classification.

A school nursery uses a supply worker. The group EYFS suitability duties apply to the early years provision, while the school also has recruitment and single central record duties under current school guidance. Identify the worker, supplier, check confirmation, role and start point. Do not assume the school record alone demonstrates the EYFS requirements or that a nursery spreadsheet automatically fulfils the school record. The schools DBS guide owns the school-wide workflow.

Set a review rhythm around real changes

Ask a named person to monitor new assistants, household residents, agency substitutions, changed volunteer schedules, new premises and changes in children's ages served. Review the registration route and EYFS framework when those events occur. Include a check that training, references, qualifications and disqualification processes have been completed. A dashboard can help surface missing dates, but only a provider can decide suitability and access under the relevant rules.

Complys may support generic worker evidence, documents and reminders where the product owner confirms the capability. It does not submit DBS applications, make Ofsted suitability decisions, perform barred-list checks, determine disqualification or verify Update Service status. Do not describe an internal recheck date as a DBS certificate expiry. See Complys for childcare. A useful free tool would ask for provider type, premises, duties, age, frequency and who makes the suitability decision, then produce a checklist of questions and links to current official sources. It should never output a definitive legal eligibility result.