Enhanced DBS check
An enhanced DBS check is the highest standard level of criminal record check, and for CQC registration it must normally be an enhanced check with the appropriate barred list check, countersigned by CQC where the applicant is not a registered healthcare professional.
Enhanced DBS check in practice
For registration purposes CQC expects the certificate to be recent, normally issued within the last 12 months, and obtained through CQC rather than transferred from an existing employer.
The timing catches people out. Checks can take a long time to come back, and the certificate has to be in place before the application is submitted rather than promised alongside it. Building the wait into the plan is the difference between a smooth application and a rejected one.
A DBS check is a point-in-time snapshot, not a safe recruitment system. CQC expects it to sit alongside references, employment history with gaps explained, and the other checks that make up safer recruitment.
Back to the glossaryRelated definitions
Nominated Individual
A Nominated Individual is the person a CQC-registered organisation names as responsible for supervising how its regulated activities are carried on, and they must be an employed director, manager or company secretary of the provider.
Read definitionRegistered Manager
A Registered Manager is the person registered with CQC to manage a regulated activity at a specific location, and most services cannot legally operate without one in post.
Read definitionFit and Proper Person Test
The fit and proper person requirement obliges providers to satisfy themselves that directors and equivalent senior people are of good character, physically and mentally fit for the role, appropriately qualified and experienced, and have not been responsible for serious misconduct or mismanagement.
Read definitionRegistering with CQC or Ofsted?
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