Government Set To Change The DBS Filtering Rules

The Government has recently published two draft orders which will alter the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) 'filtering rules'.

The DBS filtering rules were introduced in May 2013. Their purpose was to exclude from DBS certificates certain information relating to minor criminal offences that met particular criteria. The information that is excluded is known as a 'protected caution' or a 'protected conviction'. The filtering rules currently state that a caution or conviction cannot be protected where an individual has committed more than one offence (the 'multiple conviction rule'). This is regardless of the age of those offences or whether they are relevant to the work for which the disclosure is being requested.