DBS Check Statistics for the UK

All figures on this page come directly from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Publication Scheme quarterly datasets. We update this page each time the DBS publishes new data. The most recent data is shown first.

Current data covers: April 2024 to December 2025.

2025-26 (April 2025 – December 2025)

Source: DBS Publication Scheme Dataset 1, Q1, Q2 and Q3 2025-26. Published by the Disclosure and Barring Service. Last updated: April 2026.

Total Checks Processed

Check Type Apr–Dec 2025 Total Monthly Average
Enhanced DBS 3,080,037 342,226
Standard DBS 656,641 72,960

Standard DBS check volumes grew 19.8% year-on-year over the same nine-month period in 2024.

Enhanced DBS Check Performance

The DBS target is 80% of Enhanced checks completed within 14 days. It has missed this target every month since at least April 2024.

Month % Within 14 Days Target Gap
Dec 202572.3%80%-7.7pp
Nov 202572.7%80%-7.3pp
Oct 202574.0%80%-6.0pp
Sep 202576.2%80%-3.8pp
Aug 202573.8%80%-6.2pp
Jul 202575.7%80%-4.3pp
Jun 202577.3%80%-2.7pp
May 202578.2%80%-1.8pp
Apr 202575.3%80%-4.7pp

Apr–Dec 2025 average: 75.1%. Performance has not improved. The target has not been hit in any of the 21 months covered by this dataset.

Standard and Basic DBS Check Performance

Check Type Target Timeframe Apr–Dec 2025 Average
Standard 85% Within 5 days 90.4% — above target
Basic 85% Within 2 days 86.9% — above target

Basic check performance dipped to 80.3% in November 2025 — the lowest in the dataset and 4.7 percentage points below target. It recovered to 87.8% in December 2025.

Update Service — Employer Checks

Employers use the Update Service to re-check workers without requiring a new DBS application.

Month Employer Checks
Dec 20253,638,955
Nov 20253,482,997
Oct 20253,814,864 (peak)
Sep 20253,551,504
Aug 20253,435,675
Jul 20253,576,280
Jun 20253,313,221
May 20253,727,131
Apr 20253,634,167

Apr–Dec 2025 total: 32,174,794 employer re-checks in nine months.

Update Service — Active Subscribers and Renewals

Month New Subscriptions Active Subscribers Renewal Rate Expired or Cancelled
Dec 202558,6762,837,06567.6%62,633
Nov 202568,2362,835,10865.7%93,156
Oct 202577,3732,853,90865.8%105,493
Sep 202572,5922,868,60568.3%87,000
Aug 202561,6162,860,84868.4%78,482
Jul 202572,0462,866,15166.8%92,898
Jun 202567,4732,873,13965.8%91,527
May 202565,1032,878,90664.9%95,804
Apr 202564,2612,896,28564.1%86,616

The renewal rate has plateaued at 64–68% throughout 2025-26. In April 2024 it was 86.2%. More than a third of subscribers are now choosing not to renew.

Update Service — Status Changes

A status change occurs when new information is added to a subscriber's record after they joined the Update Service. Any employer actively monitoring that worker is notified.

Month Status Changes
Dec 2025429
Nov 2025578
Oct 2025580
Sep 2025649
Aug 2025622
Jul 2025595
Jun 2025590
May 2025659
Apr 2025559

Apr–Dec 2025 total: 5,261 status changes. Monthly average: 585.

Disputes

Disclosed Information Disputes

A disclosed information dispute is raised when someone challenges what appears on their Enhanced DBS certificate. The DBS target is 98% of these resolved within 10 working days. That target has not been met in a single month across this entire dataset.

Month Received Upheld Not Upheld % Within 10 Days
Dec 20251981016580.5%
Nov 20252231487892.7%
Oct 20252551249291.0%
Sep 202524817311366.3%
Aug 2025183993260.9%
Jul 20252301658458.8%
Jun 2025197654960.9%
May 2025167716089.8%
Apr 20251531328063.5%

Application Details Disputes

These cover challenges to personal details on the application rather than disclosed information. Higher volume, lower upheld rate.

Month Received Upheld
Dec 202546759
Nov 202559857
Oct 202561858
Sep 202557276
Aug 202553472
Jul 202562364
Jun 202548268
May 202548556
Apr 202549054

Apr–Dec 2025 total received: 4,869.

Adult First Checks

An Adult First check lets an employer place someone in an adult care role while their full Enhanced DBS certificate is processed.

Month 2025-26 2024-25 (same month) Change
December7,1087,152-1%
November8,0199,880-19%
October10,50112,054-13%
September9,15410,286-11%
August7,9139,687-18%
July9,61911,408-16%
June8,56710,900-21%
May8,14513,141-38%
April8,47113,973-39%
9-month total77,49798,481-21.3%

Deregistered Registered Bodies

Quarter Deregistered
Q3 2025-26 (Oct–Dec 2025)47
Q2 2025-26 (Jul–Sep 2025)10
Q1 2025-26 (Apr–Jun 2025)12

47 registered bodies were deregistered in Q3 2025-26. That is nearly five times the Q2 total. The DBS publication data does not give reasons for individual deregistrations.

2024-25 (April 2024 – March 2025)

Source: DBS Publication Scheme Dataset 1, Final 2024-25. Published by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Total Checks Processed

Check Type Annual Total Monthly Average Peak Month
Enhanced DBS 4,172,891 347,741 July 2024 — 404,334
Standard DBS 761,430 63,453 March 2025 — 73,064
Basic DBS ~2,675,224 ~222,935 —
Total ~7,609,545 ~634,129 —

Over 7.6 million criminal record checks processed in a single year. Roughly one check every four seconds.

Enhanced DBS Check Performance

Target: 80% completed within 14 days. Missed every month.

Month % Within 14 Days Gap vs Target
Mar 202576.8%-3.2pp
Feb 202578.9%-1.1pp (best)
Jan 202573.7%-6.3pp
Dec 202471.2%-8.8pp (worst)
Nov 202474.7%-5.3pp
Oct 202476.7%-3.3pp
Sep 202477.6%-2.4pp
Aug 202473.9%-6.1pp
Jul 202476.6%-3.4pp
Jun 202475.4%-4.6pp
May 202476.6%-3.4pp
Apr 202473.3%-6.7pp

Full year average: 75.6%. Based on published volumes and performance figures, approximately one million Enhanced DBS checks took longer than 14 days to complete in 2024-25.

Standard and Basic DBS Check Performance

Check Type Target Timeframe 2024-25 Annual Average
Standard 85% Within 5 days 90.6% — above target all 12 months
Basic 85% Within 2 days 88.1% — above target

Update Service — Employer Checks

Month Employer Checks
Mar 20253,516,576
Feb 20253,216,490
Jan 20253,740,324
Dec 20243,585,776
Nov 20243,298,522
Oct 20243,759,167
Sep 20243,566,191
Aug 20242,636,160
Jul 20241,804,983
Jun 20241,900,217
May 20241,480,980
Apr 20241,496,254

Full year total: 34,001,640 employer re-checks. Growth of 143% from April 2024 to April 2025.

Update Service — Active Subscribers and Renewals

Month New Subscriptions Active Subscribers Renewal Rate Expired or Cancelled
Mar 202572,5612,901,07563.9%106,266
Feb 202566,1552,910,63963.7%93,637
Jan 202562,2092,917,96664.7%86,100
Dec 202453,8312,928,45177.4%41,149
Nov 202467,3982,941,55080.4%49,468
Oct 202477,3542,986,25584.2%42,830
Sep 202468,5353,023,85584.2%38,391
Aug 202462,3972,993,72585.2%32,002
Jul 202471,6652,963,64386.5%32,638
Jun 202466,8552,930,25386.5%31,453
May 202470,8942,894,57986.2%31,520
Apr 202466,5352,854,24686.2%28,200

Active subscribers peaked at 3,023,855 in September 2024. The renewal rate collapsed from 86.2% in April 2024 to 64.7% in January 2025 — a 21.5 percentage point drop in nine months. The number of lapsed subscriptions doubled overnight between December 2024 and January 2025.

Update Service — Status Changes

Month Status Changes
Mar 2025608
Feb 2025542
Jan 2025566
Dec 2024488
Nov 2024546
Oct 2024606
Sep 2024558
Aug 2024462
Jul 2024536
Jun 2024517
May 2024596
Apr 2024452

Full year total: 6,477. Monthly average: 540.

Disputes

Disclosed Information Disputes

Month Received Upheld Not Upheld % Within 10 Days
Mar 2025189807053.5%
Feb 2025169715554.3%
Jan 20252001358877.2%
Dec 20241991038082.6%
Nov 20242291377973.1%
Oct 20242381206382.9%
Sep 20242151236769.5%
Aug 20241881155889.2%
Jul 20242191228971.9%
Jun 20241691137875.9%
May 20242291067470.1%
Apr 2024179976562.7%

Full year total received: 2,423. Of 2,301 completed: 1,322 upheld, 866 not upheld. Upheld rate: 57.5%. The 98% resolution target was not met in any month. Best performance: August 2024 at 89.2%.

Application Details Disputes

Month Received Upheld
Mar 202554275
Feb 202547349
Jan 202549545
Dec 202437644
Nov 202448059
Oct 202458466
Sep 202450444
Aug 202447658
Jul 202450262
Jun 202441137
May 202443335
Apr 202435654

Full year total received: 5,632. Upheld rate: approximately 11.3%.

Adult First Checks

Month Checks
Mar 20259,667
Feb 20259,628
Jan 202510,201
Dec 20247,152
Nov 20249,880
Oct 202412,054
Sep 202410,286
Aug 20249,687
Jul 202411,408
Jun 202410,900
May 202413,141
Apr 202413,973

Full year total: 127,977. Monthly average: 10,665.

Deregistered Registered Bodies

Full year 2024-25 total: 80 registered bodies deregistered.

Data Source and Methodology

All statistics on this page come from the DBS Publication Scheme quarterly datasets, published by the Disclosure and Barring Service under its publication scheme obligations. The datasets used are:

  • Publication Scheme Dataset 1: April 2024 to March 2025 (final)
  • Publication Scheme Dataset 1: April to June 2025
  • Publication Scheme Dataset 1: July to September 2025
  • Publication Scheme Dataset 1: Q3 2025-26 (October to December 2025)

Where figures are marked (~), they are drawn from aggregate sheet totals rather than month-by-month breakdowns. Upheld rates for disputes are calculated from completed disputes only and exclude disputes received but not resolved within the same period. The DBS Update Service employer check total for 2024-25 is calculated by summing monthly figures from the published dataset.

This page is maintained by self-employed-dbs.co.uk. If you need a DBS check as a self-employed worker, you can start your application here.

Need to ask a question before registering…?

If you are already a customer, please login and use the regular support channels on the platform

Need to ask a question before registering…?

If you are already a customer, please login and use the regular support channels on the platform