Screening beyond DBS

What Screening covers #

Screening holds every check you need before someone starts, other than the DBS check itself: right to work, references and employment history, licences such as SIA and CSCS, professional registers such as the NMC and HCPC, and industry checks such as sanctions and directorships.

ClearDBS is in prelaunch. Screening records are for your own checks; ClearDBS does not carry out a check on your behalf unless the check says so.

Assign a package #

A package is the set of checks an industry expects: BS 7858 for security, CQC Schedule 3 for care, the NHS Employment Check Standards, Keeping Children Safe in Education for schools, and others. Select people in the table and choose Assign package, or pick a package when you create a check. Each required check then shows as requested against that person.

Some checks in a package are only needed for some roles, such as Section 128 for school managers. Mark those not applicable with a reason; the reason is kept.

Record a check you performed #

Most official services, such as the SIA register, the NMC register and the teacher record service, are licensed to you as the employer. You run the check there, then record what you found in ClearDBS: the date, the outcome, the details the check asks for and, where you have one, a screenshot or PDF as evidence.

Open a person, go to Checks, choose the check and fill in the form. A licence or registration with an expiry or renewal date gets a follow-up date, and the check shows Follow-up due four weeks before it.

Right to work #

From 1 October 2026 right to work checks also cover worker's contracts and individual sub-contractors. Record the share code, manual or Employer Checking Service check you performed, or, for a worker supplied by another business, the supplier's check and the contract terms. A Basic DBS check is a criminal record check and never shows right to work.

Sensitive checks #

Criminal record and health checks can only be seen in full by owners and organisation admins. Health checks can only be recorded after a conditional job offer, which you record on the person's Overview.

When someone leaves #

Record the date employment ended on the person's Overview. Each check is then kept for its retention period, two years for right to work, and deleted with its evidence after that.

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