DBS and other required checks for governors and trustees
Find out what checks are required for governors, members and trustees, so you can make sure your school is compliant with the latest statutory safeguarding guidance.
Viewing article for:
Contents
Get a summary of the requirements
Download our summary of the requirements for pre-employment checks for academy members and trustees, chairs of trustees, and members of local governing boards.
KeyDoc: summary of checks for governors - academies
Get more detail on the required checks for different types of governors and trustees below.
Who's responsible for the checks?
The trust and the chair. However, in practice it's usually a trust or school administrator that applies for the checks, depending on your board's structure.
For local governing boards, the actual process of applying for checks is usually done by the school.
Academy members, trustees and local governors
The requirements below are outlined in paragraphs 318 to 325 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2022.
What checks are required?
An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check To include a barred list check if the
- Childcare disqualification requirements
- QuickRead: Childcare disqualification requirements
- DBS checks: contractors
- DBS checks: renewals
- DBS checks: summary of requirements
- DBS checks: volunteers
- DBS checks: work experience providers
- DBS checks: work experience students
- Regulated activity in schools
- Section 128 checks
- Self-declaration form: template and guidance
- Single central record: monitoring
- Single central record: requirements and template
More from The Key

Bitesize training with a big impact
Our on-demand training has your whole board covered and lets them learn at a time and pace that suits them.
Help your new governors hit the ground running with our expertly-designed induction training, and our role-specific courses support your link governors develop key skills and confidence in their role.
Get safeguarding peace of mind this summer term
Walk into the summer term with everything you need to maintain safeguarding vigilance in your school.
Download our summer term briefing pack, available for free to DSLs for a limited time only.
- Need-to-know: Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) updated for 2022 20 May 2022 14:02
- Need-to-know: DfE launches consultation on changes to behaviour and exclusion guidance 4 Feb 2022 09:29
- Need-to-know: DfE publishes new statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform 19 Nov 2021 08:51
- Need-to-know: STPCD 2021 published 4 Oct 2021 10:30
- In the news: Your weekly round-up for 20 to 27 August 2021 27 Aug 2021 08:00
The Key has taken great care in publishing this article. However, some of the article's content and information may come from or link to third party sources whose quality, relevance, accuracy, completeness, currency and reliability we do not guarantee. Accordingly, we will not be held liable for any use of or reliance placed on this article's content or the links or downloads it provides. This article may contain information sourced from public sector bodies and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.