Safer recruitment
Detailed Guidance on Safer Recruitment can be found in the Church of England’s Safer Recruitment & People Management Code of Practice.
To register a change of Parish Safeguarding Officer, you must fill in a form. This can be found in Appendix 4 of A Safe Church.
The DBS process
In August 2025, the DBS provider used by the diocese for parish officer DBS checks was involved in a data breach. You can read more about this here.
We have since moved to a new provider thirtyone:eight – a not for profit organisation, which has a long history of working with dioceses and other faith-based organisations as an umbrella body for the processing of DBS checks, as well as the provision of other safeguarding services.
Read more information about thirtyone:eight here.
How to register with thirtyone:eight
You can register by completing this registration form.
The details of the people who carry out DBS checks for your church/parish, will then need to be completed on the form, the ‘Lead Recruiter’ being the main person who carries out the DBS application process, and the ‘Additional Recruiters’ being those who also support this process, either initiating the DBS checks and / or carrying ID checks.
There is no difference in the functions that these two roles carry out, but the Lead Recruiter will receive notification emails from thirty-one eight when different stages of the process have been completed.
In many cases the Parish Safeguarding Officer is also the person responsible for carrying out the DBS processes, but not in all cases. It is still important that you let the Diocese know who is the designated Parish Safeguarding Officer, through this form.
Once your parish/church and your ‘Recruiters’ have been registered with Thirtyone:eight, you will receive further information about the process and how to go about initiating DBS checks. There will be details of the process and the support that is available from Thirtyone:eight, through their website, guidance notes and support centre.
The DBS Update Service
The DBS Update Service keeps your DBS certificate up to date, allowing you to reuse it when moving between roles. This can remove the need for a new DBS check, provided your existing certificate is for the same workforce and level required for the new role. The Update Service is only available for Standard and Enhanced DBS certificates.
You must register for the Update Service within 30 days of your DBS certificate being issued and renew your subscription annually. The subscription is free for volunteers.
Individuals are responsible for registering with the DBS Update Service themselves; parishes cannot register on their behalf.
The Diocese carries out DBS Update Service status checks on behalf of parishes. To enable the Diocese to do this, the responsible person within the parish (either the DBS Recruiter or the Parish Safeguarding Officer) must complete the following form:
DBS Update Service Consent and Verification Form
This form enables the Diocese to record the necessary confirmations relating to consent, identity, certificate verification, and eligibility, in line with DBS guidance and compliance requirements.
After completion, the form should be sent to the Safeguarding Administrator at [email protected].
Once the status check has been completed and the result verified by the Safeguarding Administrator, confirmation will be sent to the parish by email.
To find out more about the DBS Update Service, visit the Government website.
To contact us, email: [email protected]
