Written Guidance for Online Applications

CRIMINAL RECORDS SERVICES

ONLINE APPLICATION CHANNEL DBS MANAGERS GUIDANCE

Introduction

As DBS Manager for your Organisation you will be responsible for checking the identification of the applicant and for completing Section Y of the Application Form. The following guidance will enable you to do this online.  Should you have any problems do not hesitate to contact us on +44 (0) 1942 609365 for assistance.

Section 1: Setting Up Your Account

  1. In order to access the service visit www.criminalrecordsservices.com (we suggest you add this link to your favourites in Internet Explorer)
  2. On the homepage of www.criminalrecordsservices.com under the ‘Registered Companies’ heading click the link for ‘Account Managers’. Next click on “Online Application Service”
  3. You are now at the Login Page of our online application channel for the first time. You will have received an automatically generated email from us containing your username and your organisation reference, and one containing your one time password. Please enter your organisation reference and your username in the relevant fields. You will also be asked to enter a one time Date of Birth which has been set to 01/01/1998. Upon submitting this information you will be asked to enter your one time password.
  4. Once you have entered these one time details you will be asked to change your password and your Date of Birth to your own. The password restrictions will be highlighted for you on this page. Upon completing this a green box will appear above the login details section which states ‘Thank you – update successful – Click here to enter the System’. Upon clicking this link you will be taken to your application management area.

Section 2: Managing Applications

  1. As your applicants complete online DBS Checks (see section 5) they will appear in your application management area under the Dashboard heading.
  2. On your Dashboard are 3 boxes, one entitled ‘Pre Submission’ one entitled “Submitted” and the third entitled “Transfer”. In the ‘Pre Submission’ box you will see a link entitled ‘Awaiting Verification’. This is the part of the process that you as ID checker and DBS Manager will complete once an applicant has submitted their application. Click this link to see your applications awaiting ID Check and Section Y authorisation.  An application will need to be submitted before you can continue.
  3. You will now see all the applications awaiting an ID check. To open one click on the reference number “Our Ref” highlighted in blue. Once opened the top left of the application has a “Check ID” and also a “Section Y” link if it is a Standard or Enhanced check. Once these sections are completed click the “Approve button at the top of the application and the application will come through to us for invoicing and Countersigning.
  4. To complete section Y please click the “Section Y” link. You will be asked to complete 7 drop down boxes. Question 1 is the disclosure type. For all cases where employees may come into contact with children and vulnerable adults this will be ‘Enhanced’. For several positions of responsibility such as accountant or solicitor this may be ‘Standard’. For question 2 you will be asked to select the workforce. If the employee will be working with children then child workforce is required. If the employee will be working with vulnerable adults then adult workforce is required. If the employee will be working with children and vulnerable adults then child and adult workforce is required. All Standard applications will require other workforce.  Questions 3 and 4 are if you entitled to know whether the applicant is barred from working with children or adults. You can use the following link to the DBS eligibility tool checker if you are unsure if the job role is eligible for a barred list check. https://www.gov.uk/find-out-dbs-check  Question 5 should only be ticked as “Yes” if the applicant/your employee, will be working from their own home as a child minder would. Question 6 asks if the applicant is eligible to a volunteer application according to the DBS guidelines. We will send you a questionnaire if yes is selected. Finally question 7 will ask if an Adult First check is required. These are for individuals in the care field. If you do not know what an Adult First check is then select no. Once this has been completed please select ‘SAVE’. Section Y is now complete for this applicant. You will be asked to click a link to return to the application.
  5. To complete the ‘ID Check’. Please click the ‘Check ID’ link. You will be taken to the next page where you enter the applicants ID document details. This screen is relatively self explanatory and asks you to select from the drop down tab the identification that you have seen from the applicant. Guidance on relevant identification can be found in the “Policies and Guides” section on our homepage. On selecting identification you will be asked for additional information i.e. the driving license number or to verify the document age etc. You must then check that the applicants date of birth and current address match those provided on their application. You may also enter a Cost Code/Personnel Number if your company requires these for invoicing purposes otherwise, leave blank. You can then click save and you will be prompted to return to the application. Section Y and ID Check are now complete. You will then see a screen which states that the application is ready for ‘counter signatory authorisation’. Please select the approve button to forward the application to us. The application has now been forwarded to us for counter signature and approval.

Section 3: Tracking Applications

You can track the progress of your submitted applications online at anytime. To do this please do the following.

  1. In your DBS management area ensure the ‘dashboard’ tab is selected. In the right column entitled ‘Submitted’ you will see a link entitled ‘Processing’. By clicking this link it will take you to a screen which shows all the DBS checks currently being processed by the DBS from your organisation.
  2. To the right of each DBS application you will see a link named ‘Track’. Simply click this link to see at what stage the individual DBS check is up to.

Section 4: Viewing Completed Applications

  1. You can only download a snapshot of a completed application if it contains no content. To do this you can either click on the application under the “Completed” heading and, if clear, you will be able to download a snapshot of the certificate.
  2. Alternatively you can click on the application under the “Reference” heading to open it and then to the right of “certificate result” you can click on “Certificate contains no information” and then on “Download Result Snapshot”.
  3. If a certificate contains any content you will not be able to download an online snapshot and must get the applicants permission to view their certificate.

Section 5: Applicants Guidance

Applicants need to go to www.criminalrecordsservices.com and under the ‘Registered Companies’ tab on our homepage and select the level of check their employer has requested, either the Basic or Standard/Enhanced.  Next they need to enter the organisation reference that has been provided to all account managers. Please note no organisation code is required and the organisation code field must be left blank.  Applicants then simply follow the online form.

Should you have any problems using our online service do not hesitate to contact us on +44 (0) 1942 609365.  Thank You.

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