DBS DILEMMA..DBS DILEMMA.. DBS = DELAY, BAN, SUSPENSION?


By Donna Short Director NPHTA


Without a doubt, one of the most contro- versial aspects of taxi and private hire licensing has been the advent of the DBS enhanced criminal record check for drivers.


Existing drivers all know the script for renewal of their badge: Fill in application form, pay licence fee, get new medical (when required), take local knowledge test, take local numeracy/literacy test, send off for DBS. The usual jumping through hoops for the privilege of earning a living in this industry.


All very tiresome but necessary. But what if the DBS application process goes wrong: that is to say, it takes too long? This is the area where both new applicants and exist- ing licence holders have contacted us and told their stories… and of course those sto- ries vary greatly depending upon where in the country they are licensed, or are apply- ing for a licence.


It has to be said that, whilst there is a huge disparity in respect of taxi and private hire licensing regimes amongst all 362 licensing authorities across the UK, most councils have a similar policy surrounding the obtaining of DBS checks: you can’t drive without a current DBS.


What does “current” mean exactly? According to the Disclosure and Barring Service, a DBS check does not technically have an expiry date; however most councils by way of “best practice” require a new DBS every three years, often now to coin- cide with the period of the licence itself. PHTM readers will be very pleased to know that the DBS has lowered its fees as of the 1st October: the enhanced check is now £40 instead of £44. In addition, more and more councils are mandating that licensed drivers subscribe to the online DBS Update Service: this costs £13 annually, and acts as a “top-up” every year providing informa- tion which may not have shown up on the original DBS; plus whether a driver has changed “workforce” categories.


The majority of licensing authorities send out notification to existing licence holders


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well in advance of their badge renewal date, advising that they should put in their DBS application in plenty of time, as “there can be delays in getting them back”. Trou- ble is, those delays can be many weeks – and in some cases months.


We’ve fielded many a complaint from licence holders who said their council “forgot to notify me”, or “they didn’t give me enough notice” etc. The council is not obliged to notify any licence holder; they do this as a matter of courtesy and expediency, to try to allow for the entire licence renewal process to run as smoothly as possible.


LET’S BE REASONABLE…


We’ll put aside for the moment the appli- cant who makes application for his DBS three days before his badge expires, despite such reminders from the licensing department. The more reasonable sce- nario – and the one that is causing the most hardship and setbacks – is when the applicant has sent off for their DBS two or three months prior to their licence expiry, and it still hasn’t come back in time. They are then put out of work until their DBS comes back.


For the most part the licence holders we’ve referred to here have a totally clean record; they haven’t been issued with so much as a parking ticket, and certainly nothing has shown up on their previous DBS checks. But the licensing department is insistent upon “sticking to their policy” and sus- pending them until the DBS check is made available to them.


Over the past few years we’ve received emails and phone calls from countless drivers in different licensing areas, whose hardship included possible loss of their home if they could not keep up their mort- gage payments.


NPHTA feels that this is far from reasonable behaviour on the part of the council, and we said as much: we have written to Chief Executives, we’ve spoken to heads of licensing, we’ve spoken to no end of licens- ing and enforcement officers – who repeatedly told us that “the council must be consistent”. Does “consistent” equal “reasonable”? Don’t think so somehow…


One of our NPHTA members from an affil- iated local association in Lancashire told us recently of his situation: he had applied for his DBS in ample time but it hadn’t come back, however his licensing department allowed him to carry on working on the strength of his previous DBS and their knowledge of his back- ground. His son, however, who is licensed in a neighbouring authority, was put out of work for three weeks as his DBS hadn’t come back.


We’ve written to the Home Office as well, advising them exactly how the livelihoods of hundreds of licensed drivers are being affected by this fettering of discretion on the part of licensing authorities in this matter. After two and a half months we got a response back from them: a sort of “pat on the head… there, there now… that is the way of things and the Government is all about public safety, as are local author- ities.”


TRACK IT DOWN


OK – so what can be done if the days/weeks are marching on and your DBS is not back yet? The first thing is to try to find out where it is, really; that is relatively straightforward.


We’re sure that most PHTM readers will know that you can use the DBS tracking service to check the progress of your DBS certificate; you will need your application reference number and date of birth to track the application. You do not need to pay or register to carry out a status check. You can see the results from the check online straight away.


Invariably when you do this you’ll find that the delay is not the responsibility of the DBS itself in Liverpool; it is at Stage Four, the local police check on any background information held about the applicant locally.


OCTOBER 2019


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