CHANGES TO DBS ELIGIBILITY 1st SEPT 2026
From 1 September 2026, the law about regulated activity with children is changing. The current rule about the supervision of paid staff and volunteers carrying out specific activities with children will be removed from the legal definition.
This means some people will be in regulated activity with children from 1 September 2026 when they were not before, because they were sufficiently supervised by someone else. This will apply if they do the work often enough, or overnight.
Regulated activity is work that a barred person must not do. It is against the law for:
- a barred person to engage in regulated activity;
- someone to allow a barred person to do regulated activity
This change only impacts regulated activity with children. No change is being made to the definition of regulated activity with adults.
What is changing?
Before 1 September 2026, people who teach, train, instruct, care for or supervise children often enough are not in regulated activity with children if someone else who is in regulated activity supervises them sufficiently. This means an organisation can ask for an Enhanced DBS check in the child workforce, but there is no access to a Children’s Barred List check for that supervised role.
From 1 September 2026, this supervision rule will no longer apply. If a person teaches, trains, instructs, cares for or supervises children often enough, or overnight, they will be in regulated activity with children even if someone else supervises them. This means an organisation will be able to ask for an Enhanced DBS check in the child workforce with a Children’s Barred List check.
The work is done often enough, or overnight, if it occurs:
- on more than 3 days in any 30-day period
- once overnight, between 2am and 6am
For more information please click here .
If any staff member or volunteer age 16+ is carrying out any of the functions such as TRAINING, TEACHING, SUPERVISING, CARING FOR & INSTRUCTING, even with the parent present, e.g Mums and Toddlers group, then an enhanced DBS with the barred list is needed if the activity is more than 3 days in a month.
Previously a volunteer could work ‘under the supervision” of a DBS’d person without a DBS check, this no longer applies.
