Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) checks

For some courses, including - but not limited to – teaching, nursing, paramedicine and social work, applicants are required to complete a compulsory Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check as a pre-enrolment condition once they have met all their academic conditions. All DBS checks are completed online using our service provider, First Advantage.

Applicants must complete an online DBS application and a face-to-face identification check before their application can then be passed to the Government's Disclosure and Barring Service.

The University will receive automatic notification of the result and you will receive a hard copy DBS certificate through the post. It is important that you keep your DBS certificate safe as only one copy will be printed and your future school or placement provider may request to see this.

International students

In addition to completing a DBS check, applicants who have lived for 12 months or more in any country excluding the UK (whether continuous or in total), in the last 10 years while aged 18 or over are also required to provide either a Certificate of Good Conduct or equivalent document, such as a completed police or criminal records check, from their country of origin.

Guidance on criminal records checks for overseas applicants can be found on the Home Office website.

No content on Disclosure and Barring Services certificate

If the certificate is returned with no content, this completes the DBS process.

Content on Disclosure Barring Service certificate

If your certificate has content, you will need to email it directly to disclosures@ntu.ac.uk to complete the process. This will be checked to see if the content is relevant and has been previously declared as part of the application process.

Where there has been no previous declaration, the details are referred to Serious Criminal Convictions Panel for a suitability decision to be made. Applicants who fail to provide a copy of the Paper Disclosure Certificate by the given deadline will be withdrawn from their studies under the appropriate regulations.

Important information

All applicants must have completed the online DBS application form and the necessary identification checks before being allowed to collect their NTU Smartcard or start their course. Applicants who attend University but fail to complete the DBS process will be withdrawn from their studies three weeks after the course start date under the appropriate regulations.

Department for Education List 99 checks

Where applicants have not been cleared by the start of the course, they will, as a minimum, be checked against the online Department for Education List 99 (to check that the applicant is not barred from working with Vulnerable Adults or Children). Where a positive result is shown, the case will be referred to the Serious Criminal Convictions Panel and, as required for compliance, the Disclosure Barring Service will be notified.

Disclosure Barring Service update service

Nottingham Trent University supports the DBS update service. For an annual subscription of £13 (free for volunteer checks), you can have your DBS certificate kept up to date and take it with you from role to role, within the same workforce, and where the same type and level of check is required. View further information from the UK Government on the DBS update service.