Do I Need to Update or Complete a new DBS Check After a Name Change?
A DBS Check looks to see if you have a past criminal history and gives a record of this to you and your place of employment. There are various levels of DBS Checks: Basic (which an individual can request), Standard, and Enhanced with Barred List. If you need a Standard or Enhanced DBS Check with Barred List your employer needs to request these on your behalf. If you have recently changed your name, perhaps due to a marriage or divorce, you may have gone through the process of getting your name changed on official documents such as your driving license, passport, and at places like the bank/Council Tax etc. You may wonder what you should do regarding a DBS Check that you have in your previous name – this article will give you the information:
Why Might a Person Change Their Name?
There are numerous reasons why someone could change their name. The two most common reasons are after a marriage/civil partnership, or a divorce. It could be to include a double-barrelled name. But other reasons can be for adoption, to honour a relative, to feel more part of a new family (perhaps with a step-family), because their name was difficult to spell or pronounce, as part of changing gender, to sever connections from the past, or for reasons of professional identity.
Do I Need to Notify DBS About a Name Change?
You are not legally required to let DBS know that you have changed your name. But, if it has been a while since you have last completed a DBS check, it may be worth renewing it. DBS don’t do any updating of names upon request, so you would need to get a fresh DBS Check under your new name or use the Update Service. You will need to pay the DBS Check fee (which can be up to approx. £40 at the time of writing this). Your employer ‘may’ pay it for you, if they want this name change to be reflected on your latest DBS Check.
What is the DBS Update Service?
When you apply for a DBS Check you can pay an additional £13 a year to join the Update Service, and this allows you the opportunity to update any information on the certificate. You do need to join this service within 14 days after you receive your DBS Certificate. So, if you didn’t do it previously, you will need to apply for a new certificate to get your name changed this time. But it could be worth doing if you need to keep your DBS up to date with any other changes.
If you are applying for a new DBS Check, you will need to include all your previous names with your new application (as well as your existing one) so that DBS can check your past criminal history and find relevant information. If you didn’t include all past names, this would delay your application as they wouldn’t be able to find you. If you have changed your name to something that is very common, there is a small risk that your information could be mistaken for someone else’s information, so do always check your certificate very carefully when you receive it back, to make sure it states what you would expect it to.
To conclude, it is not necessary to inform DBS you have had a change of name, but if you belong to the Update Service you will want to update that information. If you don’t belong to it, you may wish to apply for a new DBS Check.
