Criminal record checks in England and Wales run through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), and the single most misunderstood fact about them is this: employers don't get to choose the level. The role determines what you're legally allowed to request.
The three levels
Basic DBS check
Shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions only. Any employer can request one for any role, and any individual can request their own. For most commercial roles, this is the ceiling, and it's usually enough.
Standard DBS check
Shows spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings (subject to filtering rules). Only available for roles listed in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order, think solicitors, accountants, FCA-regulated roles, security staff.
Enhanced DBS check
Everything in Standard, plus any information a police force reasonably believes is relevant, and, for eligible roles, a check of the barred lists. Reserved for work with children or vulnerable adults, healthcare, and similar regulated activity.
Requesting a deeper check than the role is eligible for isn't cautious, it's unlawful. Eligibility is the first question, not the last.
Spent vs unspent: the filter that matters
Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, most convictions become "spent" after a rehabilitation period and no longer appear on a Basic check. Filtering rules also remove old, minor spent offences from Standard and Enhanced certificates over time. Practically: a shoplifting caution from someone's teens shouldn't, and mostly won't, follow them into a marketing job at forty.
How long do they take?
Basic checks usually return in a few days. Standard and Enhanced vary more, Enhanced checks route through police forces, and turnaround depends on workload. The honest answer any screening provider should give is a live status, not a promise; that's why HireCheck shows per-check SLA timers rather than a brochure number.
What to do with what you find
A record is information, not a verdict. Good practice, and in many cases legal obligation, is an individualised assessment: is the offence relevant to this role, how long ago, what's the pattern since? HireCheck flags results for adjudication rather than auto-rejecting, so a human makes that call with the evidence in front of them.
Ready to run compliant criminal record checks? See our criminal record check service, or read the full screening checklist.
