DBS nightmare - post office refusing to accept certified copy of marriage certificate?

[Toxicblackmould]

Is this a thing? I could literally walk in and get a passport/driving license with it! They are saying it has to be the one issued on the day (which is long gone). Enhanced check so they require 3 IDs (passport, driving license and trying to use my marriage certificate!)

You can request a paper copy of your council tax bill to be sent for no charge. This same applies to most utilities. Justrequest a paper statement. Most banks will also send a paper statement of you ask as a one off.

I take id in my job, it has to be exact to what the list says. Some are slightly unclear so i have use my best judgement, my best judgement is not someone elses. If i get this wrong i could potentially be assisting criminals or terrorists ect and even worse lose my job that pays the bills. Alternatively i could say no and the worst thing that happens is someone calls me a jobsworth. It sucks but you could get lucky elsewhere or find an alternative id from the list.

I'm talking specifically about the DBS Clearance, though, which is what will apply for the work I'm qualified in.

I've used bank statements before, I just logged into my credit card account and printed it off. Two photo ID's and a bank statement are sufficient.

It should be 1 form of ID (group 1) like a passport or driving license, then 2 proof of addresses e.g. driving license, bank statement (can always just pop into your bank to get a printed/signed copy directly if you don’t have these posted to you), a council tax bill, utility bill (again not online copy). Always worth looking online for full list of accepted documents and length of time they’re valid for. For the person who says an organisation isn’t accepting the DBS subscribed to update service - if you still have the original dbs certificate and can thus prove the level of check performed is adequate, pointless to not accept it!

DBS really need to look at this in light of most statements and correspondence being online.

My passport has expired and I'm not yet in need of a new one. I had a nightmare finding 2 suitable documents to add to my driving licence.

As for my 17 yr old daughter getting hers in preparation for her 18th birthday... That was even worse!

You will be able to print off any online PDF bill to use - it is after all exactly the same as what you would be sent in the post?!
There must be something else you could use there are lots of unmarried folk who would need to find a different, third form of ID

If you have a government gateway account you can download a letter from there with your NI number on it - I just had to provide IDs for DBS and this is what I used as the third. Also, I have a Monzo acc - you can download statements as PDF and print them.

@Lotty101 i tried the Monzo print out and they refused because it had to be one sent to me 🙈 in the end, I popped into Lloyds and they printed me out a bank statement! I don’t use that account at all so it was totally blank apart from 1 transaction in the last 3 months 😆 but they even stamped it for me! Glad it’s over and done with, that was a lot of stress!!

I keep most bills and bank statements as paper rather than online only for this reason, I only opt for online bills if there's an additional charge for paper copies. People say you can just print off a pdf but it isn't accepted everywhere. It's just sensible to have a source of paper proof of address for these instances.

A certified copy of a wedding certificate should be accepted but it sounds like the PO staff don't really understand what they are and that's not unusual.

The last time the DBS guidelines were updated was in 2021, but it's unlikely that the need for original (posted) documents to prove address is unlikely to change as a PDF document is easily altered. In fact, it's the most commonly fraudulently created document. All you need is adobe acrobat and you can easily change a PDF.

I submit DBS's in my job, and it's the most difficult part to get completed because of this. If I was looking for a job, I would order bank statements, utility bills and a council tax (valid for one year), make sure my driving license was a) in the right name and b) with the right address.

I see about 10 driving licenses a week I can't accept as no one appears to update their address for free when they move. It's a £1000 fine if the police stop you so it's a necessity!

This ultimately makes it easier for someone to employ you.

As a final note, please can everyone take their documents in one organised folder, out of plastic wallets and without mysterious stains on! (From a tired recruitment consultant)

different dbs requirements for different places etc is a nightmare. I have an enhanced dbs as I work in a preschool but when I wanted to go in and help in my sons class at school I had to have a different dbs as mine wasn’t valid as came via capita and not my local county council even tho my dbs allows me to work with children 🤷🏻‍♀️ they like to make it all very complicated! I used passport, licence and bank statement I downloaded and printed myself and was fine so maybe try a different branch

We tried to hire someone recently who when asked for Right to Work documents produced a passport in a completely different version of her name to the one on her CV (without any kind of explanation) and a utilities bill in her parents' names. Not the best start.

you can't use a print out, and many people don't have driving licences or passports.

A recruitment consultant with a car presumably - what an ignorant and over privileged post!

I used to work in a role that involved a lot of volume recruitment with enhanced DBS, often for people who weren't UK citizens and who came from countries that used different alphabets (leading to a range of spellings on documents). The ID side of things was definitely a challenge! And explaining to a UK citizen that they could use an expired passport but not a driving license to prove right to work, but it was the other way round for DBS was always fun!

Oh, and people who handover their passports in those posh leather wallets - urgh. Or there was one candidate who brought in their degree certificate for a qualification check...framed. They did eventually let me remove it from the frame to photocopy it, but only on the proviso I "put it back properly".

What are you on about?

She's not complaining about people without a driving licence, she's talking about people who do have driving licences but haven't been arsed to update them when they move house.

no, she is complaining about people carrying their documents around in plastic folders

Oh I see. I grant you that's a little bit picky.

The applicant could carry them in plastic folders on the bus but then take them out before handing them over to be copied, but it's not a huge deal.

@dirtyblond wow, you have really misinterpreted what I was saying.

A) driving licenses might as well be made out of strawberry jam if they have the wrong address on

B) When people turn up for a 20 minute appointment half an hour late, with everything in 5 different carrier bags, covered in mould (this does happen), in photo frames, with the wrong names and addresses on, printed off the internet and it takes 30 minutes for them to sort them out it is exasperating.

I hope this clears things up for you.

and do you have a car?

I'm not sure what that has to do with anything but yes. Can I ask what your issue is with me driving?

Provisional driving licenses are the cheapest form of photo and address ID available in the UK.

because it shows in your posts that you have no idea the sense of vulnerability and anxiety you can feel from carrying your most valuable and private documents around unprotected on public transport. Not only the travelling, but the awful day you then have with no where safe to lock them away, and having to be aware of where they are every second. I recently had to take all my ID for a DBS check in another city- it was horrendous. Yes, I carried them protected from rain, creasing, muggers, and everything I could think of

You could just stick them in your car and drive them wherever, and not think about it, and then lock them in your car all day and drive them home, not have to carry them about carefully all day, conscious of them for every single second

provisional driving licences are not available to everyone, even if you can afford the £35, and that was not my question, anyway.

@dirtyblond I am going to politely suggest this is a you problem.

The government creates the ID requirements for DBS's so it may be worthwhile you contacting them to discuss how carrying your ID on a bus makes you feel.