Recruitment checks: cheat sheet

Here's a quick guide to help you understand how some of the key recruitment checks fit together to provide a holistic view of a candidate. You can also download this information as a printable cheat sheet at the end of this article, in case you want to keep it handy.

In practice, it will probably be your headteacher or HR team that'll take care of recruitment checks for new staff (and most likely your school business manager or HR or admin team if you're appointing a new head). But as your board has overall responsibility for making sure safer recruitment procedures are applied in your school, it's important to be familiar with them.

DBS

An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is a check on someone's criminal record.

It includes:

• Spent and unspent convictions
• Cautions
• Reprimands
• Final warnings

It also includes any other information local police deem relevant to working in a school. 

Enhanced DBS checks don't include a barred list check unless you specify that you need one – see the section below for more on this.

DBS checks help your school:

• Determine whether someone has committed offences that suggest they aren't suitable for a role
• Determine whether someone is allowed to work with children (through the barred list)
• Comply with childcare disqualification requirements (more on this below)

Your school will need to do DBS checks on:

• Staff members employed by the school
• Contractors
• Volunteers (in some circumstances)
• Governors (in maintained schools)
• Members, trustees and local governors (in academies)

Read our articles on DBS checks for school staff, academy trustees, members and local governors and maintained school governors for more on when a DBS check is required.

Barred list

The DBS maintains lists of people who are barred from working with children and vulnerable adults. A barred list check looks at whether someone is included on the barred list relevant to your setting. In most schools, this will be the children's barred list. 

It's an offence to employ someone to carry out regulated activity if they're on the barred list

Barred list checks must be carried out on anyone at your school who:

• Is engaging in regulated activity
• Has worked in a post in a school or college that brought them into regular contact with children or young people which ended 3 months or less before they were appointed 

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025 defines 'regulated activity' on pages 66 to 67. Alternatively, see our articles linked to above for more information on this. 

Because only certain kinds of convictions automatically lead to barring, a serious offence listed on a DBS certificate doesn't necessarily mean that person is barred. Your school needs to conduct both checks on relevant people to make sure it's compliant. 

If a barred candidate applies for a job at your school/trust that's in regulated activity, they have committed a crime and may pose a potential safeguarding risk to children (for example, if they go on to apply for similar jobs elsewhere).

Your school should consider:

• Referring the candidate to the DBS
• Making a safeguarding referral to the police via your local police service or by calling 101

We recommend schools/trusts seek legal advice on what to do, as each individual case will differ. We got this advice from Forbes Solicitors.

Prohibition from teaching 

A prohibition from teaching check shows whether a teacher:

• Is prohibited from teaching (permanently or temporarily)
• Is subject to sanctions or restrictions
• These usually prevent a teacher from working in maintained schools, according to the Teaching Regulation Agency

The Teacher Services tool that enables schools to do this check also shows whether a teacher:

• Has the right qualifications for the role
• Has qualified teacher status (QTS)
• Failed probation or induction
• Was subject to a misconduct investigation that did not result in a prohibition order

Your school is required to conduct prohibition checks on any member of staff appointed to carry out teaching

This is set out in paragraphs 237, 258 and 259 of KCSIE 2025. 

Teachers in maintained schools and non-maintained special schools must have QTS. Checking also makes sure you comply with this requirement.

A key aspect of this check is to do with professional misconduct and suitability, so it helps with making a fully informed decision about whether someone is right for your school.

Childcare disqualification

This check makes sure that people who've committed relevant offences aren't:

• Providing childcare or education to children in the early years (including reception classes), or managing such childcare or education
• Providing before or after-school care to children under the age of 8, or managing such provision

Find more information about childcare disqualification in our other article. 

It's an offence to employ someone in a relevant role if they're disqualified

Childcare disqualification information isn't noted on a DBS certificate in the same way as barring information, and not every offence that leads to childcare disqualification will necessarily lead to barring. So you won't know if someone is disqualified unless your school does a separate check. 

Section 128

A section 128 check identifies people who are subject to a section 128 direction. 

People with a section 128 direction can't:

• Hold a management position in an academy, free school or independent school (as an employee)
• Be an academy or free school trustee or member
• Be a governor on any governing body in an academy, free school or independent school that retains or has been delegated any management responsibilities
• Be a governor or member of the proprietor body of an independent school
• Be a governor of a maintained school

Academy trusts must conduct a section 128 check on:

• Academy staff engaged in management positions
• Academy trust members and trustees
• Individuals who sit on committees or local governing bodies with delegated responsibilities

KCSIE also says maintained schools should carry out these checks on their governors. However, we recommend your school treats this as a 'must', because a section 128 direction prohibits a person from being a governor.

See our article on section 128 checks to find out how these complement DBS checks.

Reference checks for early years (EYFS) settings

The EYFS statutory framework (effective from 1 September 2025) states that references must be obtained for any member of staff (including students and volunteers) before they're recruited. Paragraph 3.20 sets out a number of requirements. Schools should:

• Not accept open references (e.g. those that start with 'to whom it may concern'), or references from a family member
• Not rely on applicants to obtain their own reference
• Make sure references are from the applicant's current employer (or training provider, or education setting) and have been completed by a senior member of staff
• If the applicant isn't currently working with children, the school should secure a reference from the relevant employer from the last time they worked with children and obtain a reference from their current employer (or training provider, or education setting) 
• Establish the reason for the applicant leaving their current or most recent post, and resolve concerns before confirming the appointment 
• Contact referees for clarification if any of the information is vague or insufficient
• Make sure electronic references are legitimate
• Compare the information on the application form with that in the reference, and take up any discrepancies with the applicant

Identity verification checks for Companies House (academies)

From April 2025, Companies House recommends that identity verification checks take place for new and existing:

• Members
• Trustees
• People with significant control

This will become compulsory on 18 November 2025. We'll update this article when this happens – select 'save for later' at the top of the page to be notified when we do. 

Verification can be completed online via the Companies House website, in person at a post office, or via an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). 

Get this information as a download

Here's a printable version of the information above, to keep to hand if you need it: