Checks required for all governors
Enhanced DBS check
If you're a governor in a maintained school, the school governance regulations require you to have an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. This requirement is set out in paragraph 319 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2024.
An enhanced DBS check will:
- Look for spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings
- Ask local police for any additional information that is reasonably considered relevant to the role
You're disqualified from holding office as a governor if you refuse a request for a DBS check (schedule 4 of the school governance regulations).
Section 128 check
You should also have a section 128 check. If someone has a section 128 direction issued against them, then they're banned from being involved in the management and governance of schools, and can't be a governor.