Since 21 January 2026, self-employed individuals and personal employees have been able to apply for Enhanced DBS checks, including Enhanced with barred list checks where eligible, for the first time. Before that date a genuinely self-employed person had no route to obtain an Enhanced check on themselves, which left a gap across tutoring, domiciliary care, childminding and personal assistance.
The change matters most to the people who commission that work directly, and to agencies whose supply model puts a self-employed worker into a family home.
Why the Gap Existed
Enhanced DBS checks are countersigned by a registered body, and the framework was built around an employer or organisation asking about somebody they were engaging. A self-employed person had no employer to ask, and an individual cannot countersign their own application.
The practical consequence was awkward and widely felt. A self-employed music tutor working with children could not obtain the level of check the work merited. A parent hiring a personal assistant for a disabled child had no mechanism to verify against the children's barred list. Both parties wanted the check. The route did not exist.
Legislative changes in force from 21 January 2026 opened it.
What the Change Permits
Eligible self-employed workers and personal employees can now apply for Enhanced checks, and for Enhanced with barred list checks where the role qualifies. The DBS published guidance for parents and carers employing self-employed workers or personal employees alongside the change, which indicates the audience it was designed for.
Eligibility is not automatic. The role still has to qualify, assessed on the same basis as any other: who the person works with, where the work takes place, what they do and how often. Self-employment removes a procedural obstacle. It does not create entitlement where the activity would not otherwise attract the check.
What This Means for Recruitment Businesses
Several models are affected, and the effect is not uniform.
Introduction-Only Models
Where you introduce a self-employed carer or tutor to a family and the family engages them directly, there is now a route for the worker to hold an Enhanced check. That is a genuine improvement in the assurance you can offer, and worth building into the introduction process rather than leaving to the family.
Supply Models
Where you supply the worker, your existing obligations under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 continue to apply, including the requirement to obtain the checks the work requires where it involves vulnerable people. This change adds a route in circumstances where one was previously unavailable.
The October 2026 Interaction
From 1 October 2026, section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 brought individual sub-contractors inside the right to work scheme. A self-employed carer engaged directly is now within scope for a right to work check as well. The two obligations are separate and both apply. Identity and immigration status is one question. Suitability to work with children or adults at risk is another.
Do Not Confuse the Two Checks
This confusion is common and costly in domiciliary and personal care recruitment.
- A right to work check establishes whether a person may lawfully do the work. It protects against a civil penalty and is a statutory excuse mechanism.
- A DBS check discloses criminal record information and, at Enhanced with barred list level, whether the person is barred from the activity. It informs a suitability decision.
Neither substitutes for the other. A person can have an unimpeachable DBS certificate and no right to work. A person can have indefinite leave to remain and be barred from working with children.
Practical Points for Whoever Commissions the Work
- Assess the role before choosing a level. Requesting a level the role is not eligible for processes criminal record data without lawful basis.
- Verify the certificate itself. A certificate is issued to the individual. Check it properly rather than accepting a photograph of it, and note that viewing by copy or video link is not sufficient for Update Service verification.
- Treat the date as material. A certificate is a snapshot at issue. Where the person subscribes to the Update Service, a status check confirms currency; the level and workforce must still match your role.
- Do not rely on the certificate alone. References, verified identity, employment history with gaps addressed, and qualifications checked at source all still matter, and for self-employed workers the history is often the least examined.
- Keep a written rationale. Record what you assessed, what you decided and why, for the decision to check and the decision not to.
The Screening Weakness in Self-Employed Supply
Self-employed career histories are structurally harder to sift than employed ones. Work is described by client rather than by employer, engagements overlap, and gaps are ambiguous because a quiet quarter looks identical to an unexplained absence.
The useful discipline is to require the history in a form that can be assessed: engagement dates, the nature of the work, who it was for, and an account of any period with no engagements. A sift that surfaces overlapping and unexplained periods as an explicit output gives the interviewer something to probe. A sift that only assesses capability leaves the safeguarding question undiscovered until somebody thinks to ask.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Any Self-Employed Person Now Get an Enhanced Check?
No. The route is open to eligible self-employed workers and personal employees. The role still has to qualify for the level requested, assessed against current DBS eligibility guidance.
Does This Apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
The DBS covers England and Wales. Disclosure Scotland and AccessNI operate separate regimes with their own rules. Check the position for the jurisdiction the work takes place in.
Who Pays?
Ordinarily the applicant, with volunteer fee exemptions applying only where the DBS definition of a volunteer is met. Genuine self-employment is not volunteering.
Is the Certificate Portable Between Clients?
A certificate belongs to the individual and reflects a point in time, and it is specific to the level and workforce it was issued for. Each organisation should satisfy itself that the certificate matches the role, and verify it properly.
Do We Still Need a Right to Work Check?
Yes, and from 1 October 2026 individual sub-contractors are within the right to work scheme. The two checks answer different questions and both are required where applicable.
The Short Version
A long-standing procedural gap closed on 21 January 2026. Self-employed workers in eligible roles can now hold the Enhanced check the work merits, which is a real improvement in sectors where a worker enters a home unsupervised.
It does not change who is eligible for what, it does not remove the need for a right to work check, and it does not reduce the value of verifying history and references properly. It removes an obstacle, and organisations should update their processes to use the route rather than assume the gap still exists.
This article is general information about disclosure and employment checks, not legal advice. Consult current DBS eligibility guidance and take advice on your own roles.
Sources
Disclosure and Barring Service. Self-Employed Workers and Personal Employees Can Now Apply for Enhanced DBS Checks.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/self-employed-workers-and-personal-employees-can-now-apply-for-enhanced-dbs-checks
Disclosure and Barring Service. DBS Eligibility Guidance.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-eligibility-guidance
Disclosure and Barring Service. DBS Checks: Guidance for Employers, Voluntary Organisations and Third Parties.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/dbs-check-requests-guidance-for-employers
Disclosure and Barring Service. DBS Update Service: Employer Guide.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-update-service-employer-guide/dbs-update-service-employer-guide
The Stationery Office. The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/3319/contents
The Stationery Office. Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, Section 48.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/31/section/48
Home Office. Draft Employer's Guide to Right to Work Checks: 16 July 2026.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide/draft-employers-guide-to-right-to-work-checks-16-july-2026-accessible
Skills for Care. Care Certificate.
https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Developing-your-workforce/Care-Certificate/Care-Certificate.aspx
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