Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS)

You will be required to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure before enrolling (or returning from a break in study), which will provide details held within a criminal record, and whether you are barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. The DBS check is part of your enrolment requirements and will stop you from fully enrolling onto the course, which will impact your student finance funding.

Step one – You will receive an email telling you how to complete your online application.  The email will come from the following address: shudbs@ebulk.teammatrix.com

Please check your junk folder to ensure you access this.  You will need your SHU ID number which can be found in your offer email.

If you do not receive the email within 2 weeks of receiving your offer, please contact  hwb-professional-issues@shu.ac.uk

Step two – Once you have completed your online application, you will be sent another email about completing an online digital ID check (you will need a valid biometric passport to do this).  If you do not have a valid biometric passport, you must attend one of the drop-in sessions below at the University to complete a face-to-face ID check.

Tuesday            10:00-12:00 or 14:00-16:00         Robert Winston Building, Room F409, Collegiate Campus, S10 2BP

Wednesday      10:00-12:00 or 14:00-16:00         Bryan Nicholson Building, S1 4QL

You need to bring three forms of ID to the session, and we can only accept the Government approved documents listed here. One of the documents must be from Group 1. The remaining two documents can be from any of the three groups. If you would like to see the full Government ID checking guidelines, please click here.

Step three – The DBS certificate will be processed by the DBS service once Step 2 is complete and go through all the relevant checks such as the national police database. Certificates are normally issued within 7 – 14 working days and are sent via second class post to the address on your application. It is worth noting that a check can take up to 60 days to go through the relevant databases, and we can only escalate a DBS check once the 60-day period has passed.

The University is informed whether your DBS certificate has a positive disclosure or whether it is clear – note that the University does not receive a copy of your certificate or any detail about any positive disclosure.  You must retain your DBS certificate in case your placement provider asks to see it.  You are advised to track your certificate to ensure that you receive it.  If you don’t receive your DBS certificate, you must contact the Disclosure and Barring Service about a reprint certificate.

A positive DBS result? If we receive a positive DBS result (something is disclosed on your certificate) we will ask you to bring the certificate into us so we can assess this alongside your pre-admission declaration form. If your DBS contains information that matches your original declaration form, then no further action will be taken.

If your DBS contains information that hasn’t been disclosed on your original declaration form, then you will be subject to the Universities Fitness to Practise procedures due to non-disclosure of a criminal record.

Lived/worked abroad for longer than 12 months in the last 10 years (while aged 18 or over)? A Disclosure and Barring Service check will only consider the time that you have lived in the UK. You must provide a criminal record certificate for any country (excluding the UK) where you have lived for 12 months or more (whether continuous or in total), in the 10 years before your application.

We require confirmation from an official governmental body of your previous criminal record status, translated into English. Please note if is easier to obtain this check whilst you are still in that country. Further information can be found on the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants

It is your responsibility to inform us of any changes to your criminal record whilst you are studying.