A user checks if someone is on the children’s barred list by entering their last name and date of birth.
The service compares this to a version of the children’s barred list held by the DfE. The data in the list is provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
The user is then taken to a results page.
If there is no record on the children’s barred list which has the details entered by the user, then we can say so.
However, if there is a record on the list with those details then we cannot be sure that it’s the person who the user was searching for. This is because:
- the record on the barred list may for be someone else who has the same last name and date of birth
- the person the user searched for may have been on the barred list and then removed from it - the DBS does not give the DfE an update when people are removed from the list
We therefore tell users that they need to contact the DBS if there’s a matching record. The DBS can check whether the person the user searched for is the person on the list.
It’s important that users contact the DBS if there’s a matching record in the barred list. Otherwise, they might:
- employ someone who is not allowed to work with children
- refuse to employ someone who is not on the list
Why we made changes
When we carried out user research, the heading on the results page said either:
- “no record found on the children’s barred list”
- “record found on the children’s barred list”
We chose this wording to be as factual as possible. However we found that some users were not confident that they understood what we meant by a ‘record’.
What we changed
The results page includes:
- a heading which gives the result of the search
- a summary list with the name and date of birth which the user entered
- content suggesting further action – this is a link to do a further search if there was no match, or contact details for the DBS if there was a match
We changed the wording of the heading and the content after the summary list.
The heading says either:
- “No match with the children’s barred list”
- “Possible match with the children’s barred list”
We think that this makes it clearer that we’re comparing the data which the user entered to the data in the list.
The content under the summary list says either:
“There is no record on the children’s barred list with this last name and date of birth.” “There’s a record on the children’s barred list with this last name and date of birth. Email the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at dbscost@dbs.gov.uk to check if the person you searched for is allowed to work with children.”
This is to explain what we mean by “no match” and tell the user if they need to contact the DBS.
The content is also intended to make it clear that the search relies on the information which the user entered. We show the name and date of birth on the page, allowing the user to check that they did not make a mistake.
Further considerations
We want to work with the DBS to improve the way we receive and use children’s barred list data. This may help us continue to make the search results clearer.
Screenshots
Results page showing no match with the children’s barred list
Results page showing a possible match with the children’s barred list
