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Original poster

Waiting for a DBS is so frustrating

39 replies

TravellingSpoon · 06/03/2020 20:00

Gaaaahhhhh!

I am just waiting on a dbs to start my new role and its dragging on. It's making me anxious and now that I have finished my last job I have nothing to do but sit around and refresh the tracking page on the website.

Anyone have any positive stories about quick DBS turnaround to cheer me up?

OP posts:
Largeyellowdaffodil · 06/03/2020 20:10

3 days for a repeat
7 days for a new application

How long have you been waiting?

LIZS · 06/03/2020 20:14

Mine took 4 days recently - submitted on Monday arrived on Friday

whojamaflip · 06/03/2020 20:17

Is it sitting with Thames Valley Police by any chance? One of my volunteers recently had to wait nearly 3 months for theirs to come back (no issues) and wasn't allowed to attend until it was Sad

lampsandrain · 06/03/2020 20:19

Mine took nearly 3 months recently. I lost a job because of it.

Elouera · 06/03/2020 20:19

I've had many, and my latest took less than a week. How long have you been waiting OP? Is it your first?

Goostacean · 06/03/2020 20:20

What a weirdly niche post, which was also the weirdly niche question I was about to ask... Crumbs, I can’t afford for it to take 3 months...

Frankiecandle · 06/03/2020 20:21

My last one came back in about 5 days.

Namey32 · 06/03/2020 20:22

I just had one back in a week.

islandislandisland · 06/03/2020 20:22

Mine took weeks and weeks last time I changed role, the day I could submit a complaint/follow up request finally came, submitted it and it was done that afternoon..very frustrating that you have to wait so many weeks when it's clearly just at the bottom of someone's tray.

MrsChoc · 06/03/2020 21:05

The ones I’ve put through for staff and volunteers over the past few months have consistently been taking only about a week. It’s a lot quicker than it used to be in my experience.

WotcherHarry · 06/03/2020 21:06

I had one last year that took 7 weeks. It was stuck at police checks for ages (I’m a nurse)... I started to get a bit paranoid that I’d been investigated for something that I wasn’t aware of 😂 very frustrating time, I feel your pain!

LilouBlue · 06/03/2020 21:12

Mine took about four weeks, from Feb to March this year. I'm wondering if the fact it's my first one made a difference, as a colleague had hers done at the same time and hers was back about a week sooner, but she's had several before.

Original poster
TravellingSpoon · 06/03/2020 22:04

I have been waiting 5 days which I know it isnt ages but it feels like it is.

What's frustrating is I have a portable dbs but because the new job is with the council they wont accept it.

OP posts:
MrsBooks · 06/03/2020 22:11

If you already have one it should speed the process up. I do them regularly for now employees and it does vary from a few days to a month in my area (Hampshire). It would make sense that this varies by area.

Russellbrandshair · 06/03/2020 22:13

You can ring the police station it’s with currently and ask them to prioritise it. We advise employees to do this all the time. Police stations really vary as to how quickly they return results but if you rang and gave them the reference number and said you were waiting to start the job they might get to it quicker. This has worked with a few of my employees

shadesofwinter · 06/03/2020 22:14

I have one outstanding at the moment for a new member of staff that's been about 3 weeks so far. Very frustrating.

They've been fairly quick recently as well.

TattiePants · 06/03/2020 22:17

I completed mine a couple of days before Christmas and only got confirmation this week (still waiting to receive something in writing). Someone else was organising it so I don’t know why it took so long. Mine’s for a voluntary role which I’ve been able to do anyway so it hasn’t caused me any issues.

Original poster
TravellingSpoon · 07/03/2020 07:47

If you already have one it should speed the process up.

This is what I had hoped.

OP posts:
curiouslypacific · 07/03/2020 07:51

Blimey, I had mine come through the same afternoon I submitted it about a month ago! Was suprised it was so quick, but assumed they'd finally brought their systems up to date so could process in near realtime. Apparently not.

PlomBear · 07/03/2020 09:44

I’ve had a few over the past year and it’s taken around a week,

Waiting for security clearance is another matter!

Russellbrandshair · 07/03/2020 10:23

How it works is- they submit the application to DBS then they verify details. Then they check the barred lists (one for adults, one for kids). Then the application is sent to the police station at each place you’ve lived to see if any crimes/ cautions have been committed. If someone has moved around a lot it takes longer because there are more stations to check. Each police station varies according to how quickly they deal with paperwork so some are slow, others fast. If you can get your dbs reference number you can ring the police station and ask them to hurry it up and this works 80% of the time. It makes no difference if you have had one before- they still have to go through the exact same process each time. The only difference to this is if you have a portable one.

PlomBear · 07/03/2020 10:36

In a previous life (not working in the police) I had to look up details on the PNC. It was a very old fashioned 80s system. It used to take a minute or so to look someone up. I also wonder why it takes so long to do a DBS!

Looking on the PNC website it’s accessed via a web server now.

PotteringAlong · 07/03/2020 10:37

I had one but needed a new one for a new job. Applied at the end of October. It arrived the middle of February. It was ridiculous.

PineappleDanish · 07/03/2020 10:40

Do you have a lot of addresses over the last 5 years across several police forces? Have you changed your name a lot? Is it London? Is it an enhanced disclosure?

All those factors will mean it takes longer.

PineappleDanish · 07/03/2020 10:41

hen the application is sent to the police station at each place you’ve lived to see if any crimes/ cautions have been committed.

Not quite - it will be sent to the Police HQ for that particular force. Not each individual station.

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