How long does a DBS take?

A DBS can take as long as 3 months to complete. Once you have submitted an application and your documents have been verified and a payment has been made. The DBS will go through these stages:

1. Stage 1 Application Form received and validated):
2. Stage 2 (Police National Computer searched):
3. Stage 3 (DBS Children, DBS Adults and List 99 searched, where applicable):
4. Stage 4 Records held by the Police search): This stage can take up 60 day to complete.
5. Stage 5 Certificate issued.

A DBS is only cleared through the FA when the details are shown on an applicant’s FAN i.e. ‘accepted’ and new ‘date of issue’. A DBS is NOT cleared when, at Stage 5 on the Online System, the status box changes to green. The latter only means the Certificate has been issued.