To ask how important it is for your cleaner to be DSB checked?

[cleaningismything]

Just that really, wanted to ask in a different way. Is it important to you? Would you never hire one without it? Would you ask about this immediately?

It never occurred to me. Are any of them DBS checked? Are they supposed to be?

I'd say very important...they're getting a key to your home and having access to all of your possessions. Could also be in the home when teenagers are at home alone without adults or even just around toddlers / young kids when adults are there. V important imo,

My dog walker was dbs checked and I hadn't given it a thought prior to her telling me, but made complete sense.

I would rather hire someone word-of-mouth, if possible, so a DBS wouldn't be important. I do that with everyone, Gardeners, Decorators etc.

If through an agency, they usually are anyway.

The problem with DBS and Cleaners (or anyone doing work in your house), is that useless you had a level of proof, the CPS wouldn't take a case to Court, so there wouldn't be anything on the DBS, even if they had been suspected of robbery etc.

If the cleaner was Male and I had young children, or was single, then I would want a DBS etc. Because like it or not, Men tend to target where they can get access, if they are sex offenders.

CIF checked maybe.

I don't know about private cleaners but I used to clean a school while I was at college and we all had DBS check.

Unless you are planning to leave your cleaner in charge of your children/a vulnerable adult, it's not important at all. It's not a general criminal background check, it's for a specific purpose which is in no way relevant to a cleaning job.

Do you ask if they've had a criminal background check?

No but I do make sure I have a current address. Only so much you can do really.

I'm a cleaner and I wouldn't work for anyone who asked. I'm not a nanny or a carer. I noticed a few companies say that they have DBS checked cleaners. I just don't get it.
My own cleaner (because I cba doing my own) I have no idea if she has ever been checked and if I came home to find my ming vase stolen I'd report it to the police.

Never occurred to me to check as I don't have kids. But I knew she'd have been done for her other job.

No, because they dont care for my children .

Anyway I have already removed 98% of the risk of hiring someone who I might abuse my children by employing a female cleaner.

I’d never ask a cleaner for a DBS 😳 Cringing at the thought! I don’t have anything worth nicking! What they going to do, walk off with the TV or sideboard? If they want to smell my pants that’s their problem not mine and I don’t intend to leave my child alone with them so why? Even if they nicked a bit of cash from the side it wouldn’t be the end of the World, not like I’ll be leaving 50’s around for them.

I might just do a basic criminal background check to cover my own back as PP mentioned. Do you think I could request the cleaner to bring a copy with them for the interview?

I can also tell that most of you are fairly relaxed about this sort of stuff, and me personally I wouldn't ask for a DSB check or anything like that, If something was stolen from my home I'd just report it to the police.

But you know, some people want all sorts of checks done before they let someone into their home.

You can't just demand DBS checks because you fancy doing one.

I think you need to do a lot more reading about the different levels of DBS checks and what is disclosed on each one before leaping in at the deep end. Also you might like to look into exactly what sort of people/employers are approved to look at ID proof and submit DBS checks. (Clue - it's not private individuals hiring a cleaner).

By all means you can ask whether they have any convictions which are not considered spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. If they say not and you find out they are lying, you can sack them. But you can't just run police checks willy nilly.

Especially not on a (presumably) self-employed person coming into your home to provide a service.

If your cleaner is employed by a company/agency they can do a check but if you employ them directly you'd have to order it.

I'm a cleaner and have a dbs certificate. Only one client has ever asked if I have one. However I felt I should have one to show as I'm in people's homes.

That said, a woman I know who works in a primary school in the kitchen, and as a cleaner must have a dbs, yet she seems to have been accused of stealing from at least three jobs she's had. So a dbs doesn't really reflect a person's past if they haven't been convicted.

It wouldn’t occur to me. I’d far rather go on personal recommendation.

I’ve been hiring cleaners for over ten years now and had four, none of them were DBS checked. The first lady became ill so had to give up cleaning, the second lady did absolutely steal from us on several occasions and was selling our belongings on EBay etc. She claimed we’d said she could have them but we’d actually left things to be recycled for charity and she’d took them and sold them. She also properly stole from us. She stole our house keys and a car key and cash. Nothing could be proved. When we confronted her about the money she never returned. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d had a record. The third lady was lovely but was stupidly dishonest. At the time we had no car temporarily and had some clothes needing repairing and a regular person that we used for alterations. It was about £30 worth of work. She offered to drop them off on her way home and bring them the following week. She was paid an extra hour for her time and we sent her with the cash.

When the clothes came back the work hadn’t been done right. A green zip had been sewed with yellow thread and a hem was coming down after one wear. We contacted the alteration lady to say the work hadn’t been done to the usual standard. She asked us to come in and took one look at the clothing and said “I didn’t do this work.”. We contacted the cleaner and she was adamant the alteration lady had done it and the alteration lady fell out with us. My relative decided to ask her face to face if she had taken the work to the alteration lady and asked her to describe the woman she’d dropped the clothing off to. She couldn’t describe her and broke down, admitting she’d done the repairs herself and kept the money. It was a silly mistake and I don’t think she’d meant any harm but my relative was no longer comfortable having her in the house because she’d been dishonest in the first place, pocketed the money and then lied about it. I would have given her a second chance and don’t for a second think she regularly did things like this.

Our current cleaner has been with us for 7 years and is one of our closest friends now. I’d trust her with anything, she’s amazing.

So we’ve got about a 50/50 success rate! I can understand why you’d want to DBS someone but it could easily offend. It’s a difficult call!