HR Connect Discusses Ongoing DBS Delays with BBC Radio Sussex
HR Connect's Managing Director, Gill Nye, was delighted to join BBC Radio Sussex on Tuesday 25th November to discuss the impact of ongoing police force delays on DBS checks.
During the interview, Gill explained how DBS checks help safeguard recruitment and why backlogs, particularly within Sussex Police, are still causing extended wait times, while also outlining the steps being taken to speed up processing, including extra staffing, funding, and faster training models.
Listen to the interview now >>
You can also read the transcript below:
Interview Transcript
Gill Nye is managing director of HR Connect, a company that provides payroll and HR services to other companies, including processing 300,000 DBS checks on behalf of employers annually. And Gill is with us now.
Morning, Gill.
Morning, Danny.
First of all, just so we're all clear, what is a DBS check, and how do they do it?
A DBS check is a record of a person’s criminal convictions—released cases, looking back at any criminal activity. It’s a process that helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevents unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, such as adults and children.
And we had a driving instructor there—so how broad is the range of jobs that you need a DBS check for?
Oh, it’s huge. It’s a very well-managed process, and there are requirements and criteria you have to meet to be able to undertake a DBS check. But it’s quite a list of positions, including regulated activity and other activities.
And tell us the difference between the DBS checks you do for employers and the ones that are carried out by Sussex Police on behalf of the Disclosure and Barring Service.
They’re the same, actually. Just to put it in context: there are 52 police forces and law enforcement agencies that the DBS commissions to carry out checks on their behalf. We provide the facility for someone to commence the employment check—the DBS check goes through our system—and then the DBS sends that off to the relevant police force for any activity that’s relevant to that individual. So they all go to the police at the end of the day. They’re sending around 3 million checks per year over to these forces, so it's a considerable number.
And the backlog we’re seeing from Sussex Police—12,000 a year ago and still 7,000 now, with an average wait time of 25 days—how typical is that for police forces?
It’s not typical. The DBS aims to have all enhanced checks—well, the target they have is that 80% will be completed within 14 days. And certainly, our experience is that turnaround in our system is ten days or less. But there are three forces, unfortunately, including Sussex, that are still experiencing this large backlog of delays, which is coming from an increase in demand.
In fact, 92% of older cases—and that’s where someone has been waiting 60 days or more—sit within the three forces experiencing delays, which include Sussex at the moment.
And do you think they can catch up? Are the measures I was talking about a moment ago good enough to get them up to speed?
Sussex has seen some improvements. They’ve introduced several actions to address the backlog: they’ve seconded staff from other areas within the force to complete checks; they’re using DBS funding for additional staff to handle increased volumes; they’re funding overtime to minimise the impact; and they’ve changed the way they train individuals. They’ve adopted a more risk-based approach so staff can be trained much more quickly. It used to take between six and nine months to train someone to do a DBS check, and they’ve really focused on how to make that process quicker—while still completing checks accurately.
Gill, thanks a lot for chatting to us today.
All the best to you.
Listen to BBC Radio Sussex Live on BBC Sounds here >>
Find out more about our Employment Check DBS Check services here >>
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