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Over 20 years experience of training in the care sector
Call us on
020 3129 5667
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) refreshed its adult social care guidance on 17 September 2026, giving providers updated information on which roles may be eligible for Basic, Standard, Enhanced or Enhanced with Adults’ Barred List checks.
The September 2026 supervision-exemption change concerns regulated activity with children; it does not change the criteria for regulated activity with adults.
For registered managers and area directors, the key message is simple: the level of DBS check depends on what a person actually does, where they do it and, in some cases, how often they do it, not simply their job title.
Employers must establish legal eligibility before requesting Standard, Enhanced or barred-list information. The official DBS eligibility guidance was last updated on 13 October 2026, when pre-September guidance was removed. Start with those current guides and assess the actual duties of each role.
So when did you last review the DBS eligibility attached to each role in your service?
The adult social care guidance covers roles including care and support workers, healthcare professionals, social workers, transport workers, Shared Lives carers, befrienders and people working in adult care settings.
It also reinforces an important point: if the duties attached to a role change, the appropriate level of DBS check may change too.
The DBS guidance applies to criminal record checks in England and Wales. Different disclosure arrangements operate in Scotland through Disclosure Scotland and in Northern Ireland through AccessNI.
A Basic DBS check has no role eligibility restriction and shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions. Standard and Enhanced checks disclose additional information under their respective rules and are only available for eligible roles; barred-list information requires separate eligibility.
In adult social care, an Enhanced DBS check with an Adults’ Barred List check may be available where someone carries out regulated activity with adults.
That can include a care or support worker providing personal care to an adult because of age, illness or disability. It can also include someone responsible for the regular day-to-day management of workers carrying out that regulated activity.
The important point is that employers need to understand why a role qualifies rather than assuming everybody working around adults is automatically eligible for a barred-list check.
The refreshed guidance gives personal care as a key example of regulated activity.
This includes physically helping someone to eat, drink, wash, dress, use the toilet or care for their skin, hair, nails or mouth where they need that support because of age, illness or disability.
It can also include prompting and supervising those activities where the adult is unable to make the decision independently.
Workers carrying out these activities may therefore be eligible for an Enhanced DBS check with an Adults’ Barred List check. Regulated activity with adults has no minimum frequency threshold; it is important not to apply the separate period condition for other work with adults to personal care.
Working in a care setting does not automatically make someone eligible for an Adults’ Barred List check.
In a care home, someone carrying out other work with the opportunity for contact with residents may be eligible for an Enhanced DBS check without an Adults’ Barred List check where the relevant frequency conditions are met.
For care-home work outside regulated activity, the opportunity for contact with residents and the frequency of work matter. The period condition is met by work on more than three days in a 30-day period, at least weekly on an ongoing basis, or once overnight between 2am and 6am. Cleaning, administration, and maintenance roles can qualify. Less frequent work with an opportunity for contact may qualify for a Standard check.
Supported living can be different again. Eligibility depends on the work performed and the applicable frequency conditions. Maintaining communal areas alone does not create eligibility for an Enhanced check. Providing advice, guidance or assistance to help people live independently may qualify for an Enhanced check without an Adults’ Barred List check where the applicable frequency conditions are met.
That is why job titles alone are not enough.
The updated guidance also highlights transport.
Transporting adults because of age, illness or disability, on behalf of an organisation, to or from healthcare, personal care or social work can be regulated activity. The adult social care guidance explains the conditions and excludes transport by friends, family and taxi drivers from that particular category.
For managers, the principle remains the same: assess the actual activities within the role.
For CQC-registered providers in England, safer recruitment forms part of Regulation 19: Fit and proper persons employed.
CQC expects providers to operate robust recruitment procedures, undertake relevant checks and keep evidence that people are suitable for the work they perform.
It also expects providers to continue monitoring staff suitability after appointment rather than treating recruitment checks as a one-off administrative exercise.
The updated DBS guidance is a useful prompt to review your recruitment arrangements:
✅ Do we determine DBS eligibility from actual duties rather than job title?
✅ Can we explain why each role is eligible for the level of check we request?
✅ Have any roles changed since their DBS arrangements were last reviewed?
✅ Do our processes cover agency staff, contractors and volunteers where relevant?
✅ Are recruitment decisions and any risk assessments clearly recorded?
Where there is uncertainty, providers should use the official DBS eligibility guidance and eligibility tool rather than automatically requesting the highest available check.
A DBS check does not prove that someone is suitable, competent or safe to work in care.
Providers also need effective recruitment processes, references, employment history where required, identity and qualification checks, appropriate interviews and ongoing assessment of competence and conduct.
CQC specifically expects providers to have processes for checking the competence, skills and experience needed for a role and to maintain relevant records.
A strong safeguarding culture also continues after recruitment. Staff need to understand how to recognise concerns, speak up and report unsafe or inappropriate practice.
CareTutor provides safeguarding and management learning for adult social care teams, including our Creating a Safeguarding Culture course, designed specifically for social care managers. The course covers safeguarding policies and procedures, positive culture, management, and supervision.
Our wider safeguarding training supports recognising concerns and reporting unsafe practice. Pathway LMS helps managers monitor assigned learning and keep completion records. These records support training oversight; the LMS is not presented as a DBS checking service or a substitute for recruitment evidence. DBS eligibility decisions should always be based on current official DBS guidance and the specific duties of the role.
CareTutor provides online training for the health and social care sector. Our eLearning courses help staff build knowledge and confidence at a time that suits them, while Pathway LMS helps managers organise learning and track progress in one place.
Contact CareTutor to discuss staff learning or book a Pathway LMS Demo.
Resources
DBS adult social care role guidance