How much do employment background checks cost in the UK?

Official fees for criminal record checks

England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own disclosure body and their own fees. Use the body for the nation where the job is based, and only ask for a level of check the role is eligible for. Our criminal record checks page explains eligibility.

DBS reviews its fees every year and bases each fee on its cost to deliver. The fees below are the ones the official bodies publish today.

When a check is free or the fee is waived

In England and Wales, standard and enhanced DBS checks are free for volunteers, but only for people who meet the DBS definition of a volunteer: someone spending time unpaid, apart from travel and other approved out-of-pocket expenses, doing something which aims to benefit a third party who is not a close relative. People on a work placement, on a course that requires the role or in a trainee position do not qualify. Basic checks are not free for volunteers. DBS may recover the fee if an application is wrongly marked as a volunteer check, and this could lead to the cancellation of the organisation's DBS registration.

In Northern Ireland, AccessNI provides standard and enhanced checks free to volunteers in non-profit organisations. It still charges where the person volunteers directly for a statutory organisation, or where the volunteer's position in a non-profit delivers statutory services under contract or in a specific project and the organisation receives government funding to pay for volunteers' checks.

In Scotland, the Scottish Government pays the PVG fee for eligible social care workers in commissioned services in the private, voluntary and independent sectors, and for some personal assistants, who are taking up a new role, for applications Disclosure Scotland receives between 1 August 2026 and 31 July 2027. Early learning and childcare roles are not covered by this waiver.

The DBS Update Service

From 5 October 2026 a subscription to the DBS Update Service costs £15.00 a year, reduced from £16.00, and there is no charge for volunteers. It covers standard and enhanced DBS certificates (England and Wales) only. The applicant can register while their application is in progress, using the form reference, or within 30 days of the certificate being issued.

For employers the saving comes from status checks. You do not need to pay or register to carry out one, and you see the result straight away. You must be legally entitled to carry out the check and have the worker's permission, and the certificate must be the right level and type for the new role. If it is not, a new check and a new fee are needed.

Right to work checks

You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them. For someone with an eVisa you use the Home Office online right to work checking service, which needs the person's share code and date of birth. British and Irish citizens cannot get a share code, so you check their original documents yourself or use an identity service provider.

Using a digital verification service is not mandatory. If you choose one, it must be registered on the OfDIA register, and you stay responsible for the check being done correctly. The Home Office does not set a fee for these services, and the services each registered provider offers vary, so we do not quote any. The cost of getting this wrong is set by law: you can be fined up to £60,000 for employing illegal workers. Our right to work checks page covers the method.

Company, insolvency and credit information

Companies House makes all the public data it holds on companies available free of charge, including current and resigned officers and insolvency information, and you do not need to register to view it. Paper documents registered before 2003 that need scanning cost £3 each.

GOV.UK also lets you search the Individual Insolvency Register for bankruptcies, debt relief orders and individual voluntary arrangements in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep separate registers. In its draft guidance on pre-employment vetting, the ICO's example is a bankruptcy search on the successful candidate for a director role, with no need to check every candidate.

Candidates can ask any credit reference agency for their statutory credit report and do not need to pay a fee for it. A credit search that an employer commissions is a different product, and our credit checks page covers when one is justified.

Costs beyond the official fee

The official fee is rarely the whole bill. These are the other costs to plan for.

• Administration fees. Registered bodies and responsible organisations may charge an administration fee on top of the DBS fee, and DBS does not set or regulate these charges.
• Registering with DBS yourself. This is only open to organisations that submit more than 100 eligible applications a year, and costs £300 plus £5 for each countersignatory. Organisations with fewer checks should use an umbrella body.
• Staff time. Someone has to assess eligibility, validate identity documents, answer candidate questions, track progress and keep records. Right to work copies must be kept during employment and for 2 years after the person stops working for you.
• Withdrawn applications. A DBS application can be withdrawn before it reaches the printing stage, but the fee is not refunded, and any later check needs a new application and a new fee.
• Overseas checks. DBS checks do not cover time a person lived outside the UK, so you may need to check the rules in the country they lived in. DBS is not involved in applications made to overseas authorities.

Who pays and how to get quotes

AccessNI says the person needing the check usually pays, but some employers pay. For a DBS basic check, an employer can pay later using a payment link, within 10 days, and DBS will not process the application until payment is complete.

We suggest paying for any check you require, so that the cost does not put candidates off, especially in lower-paid roles. When you compare quotes, ask whether the official fee is included, what the administration fee covers, how identity is verified and what a re-check costs.

HRjoy works with screening partners and can introduce you to them if you want quotes for running checks.

Sources

• DBS reduces fees for checks and Update Service from 5 October 2026 · GOV.UK (Disclosure and Barring Service)
• DBS checks guidance for employers, voluntary organisations and third parties · GOV.UK (Disclosure and Barring Service)
• DBS Update Service · GOV.UK
• Check someone's criminal record · GOV.UK
• Apply for a Level 1 disclosure · mygov.scot
• Apply for a Level 2 disclosure · mygov.scot
• Types of PVG application · mygov.scot
• Social care PVG scheme applications: fee waiver · Scottish Government
• Costs and turnaround times · nidirect (AccessNI)
• Check a job applicant's right to work: use their share code · GOV.UK
• Right to work checks: an employer's guide · Home Office
• Use the Employer Checking Service · GOV.UK
• Checking a job applicant's right to work · GOV.UK
• Searching the Companies House register · Companies House
• Search the bankruptcy and insolvency register · GOV.UK
• Pre-employment vetting of candidates · ICO
• Credit · ICO
• Get free PVG disclosure checks for volunteers · mygov.scot

General information for employers in the UK, not legal advice. HRjoy advises on screening policy and fair process. We do not run checks ourselves; where you need checks run, we can introduce you to our screening partners. Check the official sources for your situation.