Complicated Address History? Advice for how to best complete your DBS form
Not everyone has an uncomplicated past and finds it easy to fill out forms with their personal information. If someone has had a lot of addresses, this can make completing the DBS Check application a little more complex. If it is not filled out correctly, it can cause delays, or the application may be rejected.
Many people move house, as part of the natural course of life, whether that is for new jobs, relocating to be closer to family members or due to new relationships. If someone has moved frequently and not stayed at one location for long this can mean it is difficult for the DBS to liaise with the local police at the locations to check their background.
You need to show your address history with no gaps, in full, for the past five years. The address history needs to be clear about the dates that you lived at an address, with accurate addresses and post codes. You need to ensure there are no gaps in the five years where it is unclear where you lived at that time, and the information needs to be consistent. This is so that the local police for each area you have lived can be contacted, to ensure you did not commit any offences in that area.
Instances Where Your Address History Could Have Changes
There could be many reasons why you have had to move address in the past five years, some could include:
- You may have lived/worked abroad.
- You may have worked on a cruise ship.
- You could have been in prison.
- You could live or work on a boat or an oil rig.
- You could be a member of the Armed Forces.
- You could spend time living at different family members’ homes.
Providing you give accurate and detailed information on your DBS form fully covering the past five years this should be acceptable. Your address history will be checked with previous landlords, bank statements, the DVLA and local police, so it is important that this information is correct, and there is nothing contradictory.
DBS’ Unusual Address Guide
DBS do have an Unusual Address Guide which you can follow if you have an unusual address history. It will give various scenarios and steps you can work through. Each instance does have different guidelines, so try to find a scenario in the guide that fits your situation as closely as possible and follow the rules for that.
When you are completing your address history section of the DBS application you need to remember that:
- If you have not accurately completed a full address history for the previous five years, your form will not be accepted by DBS.
- Your current address is the first address you will list on your DBS form, and this is the address that your DBS certificate will be sent to, so it is important that this is where you will be living, in order to receive it.
- If you have overlapping addresses, for example if you lived on a ship and had a land address too, then you will NOT be able to fill out an online application, you will need download a paper application and complete this.
So, to summarize, ensure that your previous five-year address history is accurate so that your DBS Check application goes through smoothly.
