The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which processes criminal records checks, paid out £169,000 in compensation last year, compared to just £80,000 in the previous 12 months.

Payments can be made to people if the delay in issuing their certificate is too long and interferes with them starting a new job, or if something incorrect is disclosed on their record.

The vast majority or payments are made for delays with the biggest payouts in the last two years being £17,715 for a 12-week hold-up and £14,720 for a delay of four months.

A spokesperson for DBS said: “DBS checks are an important part of the overall safeguarding process. The average turn around time for disclosure applications is 15.3 days and 94.3% of applications are issued within 8 weeks, as of December 2015.

“We process over 4 million applications a year and on rare occasions some of our customers may not receive the level of service they should expect. DBS offer redress payments in such instances, where appropriate, each claim is considered on a case by case basis.

“We aim to deliver the highest levels of accuracy in all our work to protect vulnerable children and adults, however we also recognise the potential impact to individual customers should we not deliver the service they expect.”

Source: The Mirror

DBS and Police Caution Appeals

If you have been issued with a police caution then we are able to help. You may be finding that a caution is having a more serious impact on your life than you were led to believe it would have.

You may have only admitted an offence to avoid going to Court or you were told it was just a slap on the wrists. If you have received a police caution and would like to discuss getting it removed (expunged) from the police national computer (PNC) then please get in touch.

We can also assist if you are on the barred list or need to appeal a DBS certificate.

The government of Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory, will issue new guidance on the use of police cautions as an alternative to prosecution for minor criminal allegations.

Police Caution have been in use in England and Wales for decades and are used as an out of court disposal option designed to provide quick and expedient justice and diverts minor offenders from Court and thereby saves governments funds.

The changes will permit the Director of Public Prosecutions to provide guidance to any officer ranked as inspector or higher with regards to the issuing of formal police cautions as an alternative to a formal prosecution. The Bermudan Office of the DPP believes that cautions are appropriate for first-time and low-level offenders who admit guilt when talking to police.

Michael Dunkley, the Premier of Bermuda, has said he hoped to see a reduction in “unnecessary criminalisation” as a result of an amendment to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

Mr Dunlley said “Cautions have a number of intersecting goals, which make them a win-win all around.

“They allow the police to give an offender a ‘second chance’, so to speak, where circumstances warrant it.

“By avoiding going to the courts, we hope to reduce unnecessary criminalisation. No conviction will also mean no criminal record for first-time offenders. This has the added benefit of saving time and resources when it comes to dealing with offenders; police officers, prosecutors and magistrates won’t have to waste valuable time on cases which really are not appropriate for a full-scale prosecution.”

Source: The Royal Gazette, Bermuda

DBS Appeals and Police Records Expungement

We are expert DBS appeals and criminal records expungement solicitors.

If you have been issued with a police caution then we are able to help. You may be finding that the caution is having a more serious impact on your life than you were led to believe it would have.

You may have only admitted the offence to avoid going to Court or that you were told it was just a slap on the wrists. If you have received a police caution and would like to discuss getting it removed then please get in touch.

We can also assist if you are on the barred list or need to appeal a DBS certificate.

Dozens of Doncaster taxi drivers have been prevented from working due to delays in the council’s licensing checks.

Taxi drivers are calling on the council to take urgent action to deal with the backlog in the licensing process.

A children’s charity has expressed concern that police are issuing too many cautions for possession of indecent images of children instead of prosecuting. Northumbria police revealed it issued cautions in respect of 94 offenders.

The figures were obtained by BBC Newcastle, who found police have issued more than 160 cautions to people for possession of indecent images of children over the past five years.

They asked five forces in the North East, Cumbria and North Yorkshire how many cautions they had given out since 2011.

In comparison to Northumbria’s 94 cautions, Durham Police issued 40 cautions, North Yorkshire 13, Cleveland 11 and Cumbria 10.

But a charity which supports victims of abuse said the “high usage” of cautions was “concerning”.

Gabrielle Shaw from the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) which helps people recovering from childhood abuse, said: “Behind every indecent image of a child is a picture of a crime scene.

“The high usage of cautions shown by these figures is concerning.

“Generally a caution for downloading indecent images of children isn’t enough, particularly if you look at the public interest element.

Donald Findlater from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which works with people worried about their sexual interest in children, however said there were situations in which a caution would be “the right response”.

He said: “For example, if the person that’s accessed sexual images of anyone perhaps 14 or 15 years of age is themselves 16, 17, 18, the police might decide a caution is an adequate response.

“It doesn’t happen that often though; the number of people given cautions for this type of behaviour is small compared to those who are charged for this kind of behaviour.”

Source: Sunderland Echo

Police Caution Removal Solicitors

If you have been issued with a police caution then we are able to help. You may be finding that the caution is having a more serious impact on your life then you were led to believe at the police station.

You may have only admitted the offence to avoid going to Court or that you were told it was just a slap on the wrists.

If you have received a police caution and would like to discuss getting it removed then please get in touch.

We can also assist if you are on the barred list or need to appeal a DBS certificate.

Significant delays in Scotland Yard’s backlog in criminal record checks leaves many people unable to work, it was claimed today.

The force today admitted it was increasing staff to tackle the “high number” of outstanding cases.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), formerly the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), today said the force’s handling of checks was of “great concern” and hitting workers and employers across London.

People who have been offered jobs in sensitive roles, such as working with children or vulnerable people, are unable to start work until enhanced DBS checks are completed. The Met average waiting time for an enhanced DBS certificate has increased to 77 days, from 75.

Enhanced checks are passed by the DBS, part of the Home Office, to the relevant police force on employers’ behalf. The DBS said: “The delay in processing DBS checks by the Met is of great concern to us and our customers. The Met has informed us their recovery plan includes recruiting, training and transferring additional staff. We are told turn-around times will reduce as a result and are monitoring this situation closely.”

Scotland Yard said: “DBS checks are not simple administrative work … These decisions directly impact children and vulnerable adults and those who seek to work with them. For this reason, staff require significant specialist training and supervision.

“Existing staff are working incredibly hard and have implemented an additional evening shift. We have recruited both police staff and agency staff to the DBS team and now have a total of 145 production staff against a target of 121. We have plans to place 56 non-frontline police officers within the DBS team on a short-term basis until May 2016.”

Source: London Evening Standard

Police Caution Removal Solicitors

If you have been issued with a police caution then we are able to help. You may be finding that the caution is having a more serious impact on your life than you were led to believe it would have.

You may have only admitted the offence to avoid going to Court or that you were told it was just a slap on the wrists.

If you have received a police caution and would like to discuss getting it removed then please get in touch.

We can also assist if you are on the barred list or need to appeal a DBS certificate.