FAQs

It is unlikely you will be subject to disciplinary.  We encourage you to tell us about any prior convictions prior to the DBS being undertaken. Each case will be treated individually.  A risk assessment will take place with your Senior Manager who will take into account: -

• The summary of offence(s) and the length of time since the offence(s) occurred.
• Whether there is a pattern to the offending behaviour, or whether it was a one-off
• The circumstances surrounding the offence(s), and any explanations provided by you.
• Whether your personal circumstances have changed.
• Any attempt by you to reform, where applicable.

Your manager will then seek guidance as to your suitability for the role you undertake. 

A criminal record does not necessarily prevent a person from working for the Fire and Rescue Service.  

Both standard and enhanced DBS check will disclose convictions and cautions which are spent and unspent, so it would be best to advise your manager in advance. 

WSCC terms and condition of employment state: “During the course of your employment you are required to inform your manager if you are the subject of Police proceedings, including investigation, prosecution, conviction or bind over orders, or if you are made aware you are or have been referred to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (Disclosure and Barring Service). Failure to disclose such information at the appropriate time could lead to disciplinary action being taken.”

Any custodial sentence over two and a half years stays unspent. If you were found guilty of a criminal offence by a court, following the specified time-period, your conviction will be considered “spent”. 

A spent conviction or caution means:

• it’s not on your basic criminal record anymore
• it will only show up on a more detailed DBS check known as ‘standard’ or ‘enhanced’, unless it’s removed (‘filtered’) from the DBS certificate (opens in new tab)

A refusal to to submit to a DBS check is unlikely to be a reasonable response by a member of staff.  Each case will need to be considered on its own merits and if you refuse, the Service will need to go through a fair disciplinary process with you, which ultimately could lead to termination of your contract. 

Technically, any criminal offence an individual is convicted of in a court forms part of their criminal record. In practice, however, many motoring offences – eg, speeding, careless driving, and failing to provide driver details – do not appear on a criminal record and therefore do not need to be disclosed (unless you are required to as part of a driving role).

It is an offence not to produce your driving licence, certificate of insurance and MOT certificate when requested to do so by a police officer.   If you have lost yours you can apply for a new one here. A new driving licence costs £20.  If your licence has been stolen you should also report it to the police. 

Once a check is complete a result will be received that states, 'Contains no information' which equates to a clear result or 'Wait to see certificate'.

 A result that ‘Wait to see Certificate’ means the DBS certificate the applicant has received may show cautions, warnings, reprimands and/or convictions. Where this is the case the ‘positive disclosure’ process must be followed using the guidance (opens in new tab) and Positive Disclosure Decision Sheet.

Whether a criminal record will bar an ex-offender from working with/for WSCC will depend on the offence and the relevance of the offence in relation to the position applied for in line with WSCC Recruitment of Ex-offenders Policy (opens in new tab)

You are responsible for providing your own identification documents, including any associate costs.

Yes, please carry on as usual, including visiting places in which you might find 'vulnerable people', such as schools. 

DBS Checks are background checks carried out on individuals that detail all or some of their criminal history. DBS stands for “Disclosure and Barring Service”, and this check replaced the “Criminal Records Bureau” check (CRB) as of December 2012. A DBS Check, also known as a Disclosure, will identify any convictions, cautions, final warnings or reprimands, relevant to the prospective employment and can also include intelligence from the police that may affect an individual’s suitability for certain employment.

Disclosures do not have and expiry date, only a start date. However, as part of this process and guidance, you will  be required to carry out a new DBS check.

In most cases, the application is completed, and the certificate sent out within 14 days from the point where the applicant has satisfied all of the application requirements.

The Disclosure is the property of the person whose name is printed on the certificate.

The certificate is posted by regular post once processing has been completed to your home address supplied on the application. Please note that once you apply you cannot alter the postal address.

WSCC covers the cost of the DBS Check

Standard DBS Checks will show any unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings, as well as any spent convictions or cautions that were not removed by filtering.

These checks are suitable for eligible roles within industries such as finance or security and now Fire & Rescue Services, where there’s no regular contact with children or vulnerable adults. There are also occasions where a Standard level will be applicable in certain establishments such as administration roles within hospitals.

DBS Checks produce a certificate that details any information about an individual’s criminal record and if they have one relevant to the position they are applying for. If the certificate shows information on any convictions, cautions, warnings or reprimands, this does not mean that the individual has ‘failed’ the DBS Check.

Employers must, by law, consider whether the offences committed, and the length of time since they were committed, are relevant to the role the individual has applied for or is working in. The only exception to this is if a check of a barred list has found that the individual is barred from working with a vulnerable group. In this case, their employer cannot legally employ them to work in regulated activity with that vulnerable group.

The amount of information shown depends on the level of check. The details of unspent convictions will be listed regardless of application, but there is a grey area when it comes to disclosing cautions, and certain convictions.

Certain cautions and convictions are protected so as they don’t show up on DBS disclosures, those that are eligible for filtering are removed from DBS check documents once the application is made.

Changes to the criminal records disclosure regime now means that certain offences will be filtered when certain criteria are met. Previously all offences were disclosed automatically. The new rules mean that:

Warnings, reprimands and youth cautions (including conditional cautions) will no longer be automatically disclosed on a DBS certificate.

The multiple conviction rule has been removed. This means that individuals with more than one conviction will have each conviction considered individually against the criteria, rather than all being automatically disclosed.

So ultimately this means:

• Any youth caution, reprimand or final warning will be excluded from Standard and Enhanced DBS Checks, regardless of whether it was for a specified offence or not (more on that later).
• Adult cautions will be excluded from Standard and Enhanced DBS Checks after 6 years have elapsed, as long as it isn’t for a specified offence.
• Adult convictions will be excluded from DBS Checks if 11 years have passed since the conviction date, it did not result in a prison sentence, and, it was not for a specified offence.
• Child convictions will be excluded from DBS Checks if 5.5 years have passed since the conviction date, it did not result in a prison sentence, and, it was not for a specified offence.

Specified offences are those which will never be excluded from a DBS Check. This classification is usually given to those that involve violence, fraud, or sexual offences but there are many others that make the list. For example, endangering the safety of an aircraft is a specified offence.

A comprehensive list of every specified offence is available for your information.