The short answer
- An enhanced check is not something you request aloneIt has to be applied for by an employer, a voluntary organisation or a registered umbrella body, whichever route you take into care work.
- Self-employed carers can now apply through an umbrella bodySince 21 January 2026, gov.uk lets a self-employed carer apply for their own enhanced check via a registered umbrella body, rather than needing an employer to submit it.
- The Update Service keeps one certificate current for £16.00 a yearJoin within 30 days of your certificate's issue date and the same certificate can carry you from one role to the next.
- DBS keeps checking your certificate after you joinConvictions and barred list information are searched every week; everything else is checked every 9 months at a time.
DBS fees and the Update Service figures on this page are checked against gov.uk, 6 September 2026.
What it shows
What an enhanced DBS check shows that a basic one does not
A carer usually works alone in somebody's home, often with a person who could not easily raise the alarm if something were wrong. That is the reason care work is checked at the fullest level available rather than the cheapest one, and it helps to see all four levels side by side before working out which applies to you.
- 1
Basic
£21.50Shows: Unspent convictions and conditional cautions only.
Who can apply: Anyone can apply for their own basic check online. It is the one level a self-employed carer can arrange alone, with nobody else involved.
- 2
Standard
£21.50Shows: Spent and unspent convictions and cautions held on the Police National Computer, with old and minor offences left off under the DBS filtering rules.
Who can apply: Only an employer, a voluntary organisation or a registered umbrella body can apply for a standard check. A self-employed carer cannot submit one alone.
- 3
Enhanced
£49.50What a carer needsShows: Everything on a standard check, plus information a local police force holds and considers relevant to the role.
Who can apply: Since 21 January 2026, a self-employed carer can apply for their own enhanced check through a registered DBS umbrella body, rather than needing an employer to apply on their behalf.
- 4
Enhanced with barred list checks
£49.50Shows: Everything on an enhanced check, plus whether the applicant is on the DBS children's barred list, adults' barred list, or both.
Who can apply: For roles counted as regulated activity, which most one-to-one personal care for an adult is. Applied for the same way as an enhanced check, through a registered umbrella body.
Not everything on your record stays on the certificate forever. Under the DBS filtering rules, most old and minor cautions and convictions are left off after a set number of years, six years for an adult caution and eleven for a low-level conviction. Anything that resulted in a custodial sentence, or sits on the list of offences that must always be disclosed, such as those of a serious violent or sexual nature, never filters out however long ago it happened. Filtering happens automatically when your certificate is produced; there is nothing to apply for separately.
Families weighing up a private carer see the same checks from the other side of the introduction, and do private carers need a DBS? sets out what they are shown once you are matched with them.
Getting one
Why you cannot apply for one alone, and what changed in January 2026
Nobody has ever been able to request a standard or enhanced check purely for themselves online, and that part has not changed. What changed is who is allowed to submit one on a self-employed carer's behalf.
Since 21 January 2026
- A self-employed carer can apply for their own enhanced check, including the barred list checks, through a registered DBS umbrella body.
- The application still has to go through an umbrella body rather than straight to DBS, but the carer is the one applying, not an employer applying on their behalf.
- The role still has to qualify as eligible for an enhanced check under the existing DBS rules; being self-employed does not change what the role itself needs.
Before that date
- A self-employed carer working entirely alone, with no employer and no umbrella body, was limited to a basic check by default.
- Getting an enhanced check meant finding an employer, an agency or a voluntary organisation willing to apply for you.
- A carer registering directly with families, rather than through an organisation, often had no practical route to an enhanced check at all.
An umbrella body is an organisation registered with the Disclosure and Barring Service to process applications on behalf of people who are not themselves registered bodies. Registering as a private carer through a platform such as PrimeCarers, or with an agency or care home that employs carers directly, gives you that route in without having to find and pay an umbrella body yourself. I want to be a carer, but how? sets out the three main routes into paid care work and what each one arranges for you.
The Update Service
What the Update Service does, and what it costs
Getting a fresh enhanced check every time you take on a new client would be slow and repetitive. The Update Service is what lets one certificate follow you instead, as long as you keep the subscription running.
£16.00
A year to subscribe
Paid by debit or credit card once you have joined.
30
Days to join from your certificate
Counted from the certificate's date of issue.
28
Days to join from your application
If you join while the check is still being processed.
3
Workforces a certificate is tied to
Child, adult or other. A certificate only carries over within the same one.
gov.uk, 6 September 2026.
Once you have joined, subscribing lets you reuse the same certificate for a new role within the same workforce and at the same level of check, rather than starting again from an application form. It also lets an organisation such as a new agency or platform run an instant online status check on your certificate, with your permission, instead of waiting weeks for a fresh one to be processed. You stay in control throughout: the Update Service shows you which organisations have checked your status, and you can see and manage that from your own account.
How to join
The two ways to join the Update Service
You can only join the Update Service if you have applied for a standard or enhanced DBS check. There are two windows to do it in, and missing both means waiting for your next check before you can join at all.
- 1
Find your reference number
While applyingUse the application form reference number, found in the top right corner of the form, or your certificate number once it has been issued. Whoever submits your application, an umbrella body or your platform, can give you this if you do not have it to hand. - 2
Join within 28 days of applying
Fastest routeJoin using your application reference number, but you must do this within 28 days of applying. Once your certificate is issued, it is added to your account automatically and the subscription goes live. - 3
Or join within 30 days of your certificate
If you missed the first windowOnce your certificate arrives, you can still join using the certificate number, but only within 30 calendar days of the date of issue printed on it. After that window closes, joining is not possible until your next check. - 4
Keep the subscription running
Every yearThe subscription renews yearly at £16.00. Let it lapse and the certificate stops updating, so a new check is the only way back on.
Staying current
How often DBS checks your record once you have joined
Joining is not a one-off check followed by silence. DBS keeps searching for anything new against your name on two different schedules, depending on what kind of information it is.
- Weekly
Convictions and barred list information
Anything that could change quickly, a new conviction, caution or a barred list entry, is searched for every week your subscription is active.
- Every 9 months
Local police information
Non-conviction information held locally by police, the kind that appears on fewer certificates and changes far less often, is searched for on this slower cycle.
- On request
Status checks by an organisation
Whenever a new agency, platform or client asks to check your status with your permission, they see the result of the most recent search, not a fresh one run on demand.
Questions
Questions carers ask about DBS checks and the Update Service
The fullest level of criminal record check available in England and Wales. It shows the same spent and unspent convictions and cautions as a standard check, plus information a local police force holds and considers relevant to the role, and, where the role counts as regulated activity, whether the applicant is on a DBS barred list. An enhanced check costs £49.50. DBS check types and costs, on gov.uk.
Yes, since 21 January 2026. Before that date a self-employed carer working alone could only get a basic check, because an enhanced application had to be submitted by an employer. Now you can apply through a registered DBS umbrella body instead, or register with a platform or agency that arranges it for you as part of joining. DBS checks for self-employed people, on gov.uk.
An enhanced check costs £49.50, and the Update Service afterwards is £16 a year. Who pays depends on your route in: an umbrella body, an agency or a platform may charge this on to you, cover it as part of registering, or split it, so it is worth asking before you apply. On PrimeCarers, the enhanced check and the Update Service are arranged as part of registering.
Not by law. Some organisations require it because it lets them check your certificate is still current without waiting for a new one, and PrimeCarers is one of them: an enhanced check kept current on the Update Service is part of what every carer on the platform has before they appear to families.
30 calendar days from the date of issue printed on your certificate, or 28 days from your application reference number if you join while the check is still being processed. Miss both windows and you cannot join until your next DBS check. The DBS Update Service, on gov.uk.
Convictions and barred list information are searched every week. Non-conviction information held locally by police is searched every 9 months, because it appears on far fewer certificates and changes much less often. Either search can update your certificate's status without you having to apply again.
No. Under the DBS filtering rules, most old and minor cautions and convictions are left off a standard or enhanced certificate after a set number of years, and this happens automatically. Anything resulting in a custodial sentence, or on the list of offences that must always be disclosed, never filters out regardless of how long ago it happened. The DBS filtering guide, on gov.uk.