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.
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Download a summary of the requirements
Download our summary of the requirements for pre-employment checks for school governors.
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Your governing board is responsible for applying for these checks, but in practice, your school admin staff will probably do it on their behalf.
Get more detail on the required checks for different types of governors and trustees below.
School governors
What checks are required? Governors must have an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. If they already have a DBS certificate, it's up to your employer (get information on this here) to decide whether to accept it or ask for a new one. An individual is disqualified from holding office as a governor if they refuse a request for a DBS check. This may include a barred list check if the governor is involved in regulated
- 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
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