Would Jobcentre pay for my DBS check?

BlackMonk

Dear All

I am an unemployed teacher who is not eligible for Jobseekers allowance. I have registered with several agencies but many of them want me to apply for a new Disqualification and Barring Service (DBS) check - the new name for the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check that anybody working with young children and vulnerable adults has to have. I cannot apply for this myself, it has to be done by your employer or an agency. It costs £44 and the agencies add on an £11 processing fee. I appreciate the importance of protecting young people but I already have a valid enhanced CRB check (they are valid for five years) and as I have no income the £55 charge is difficult for me to pay. As I need a DBS check to find work do you think the Jobcentre would reimburse me if I asked an agency to obtain it for me?

Kind regards

tomtontom

They may, if there was a guaranteed job at the end of it. I doubt they would just so you could register. No harm in asking though.

Sorry, I didn't notice you are not eligible for JSA. That implies you have income or capital from elsewhere?

Voyager2002

Not if you are not claiming.

I suggest that you sign on, so that you can receive NI credits. That is a nuisance, but helps to build up your entitlement to a state pension. Once you are signing on, you then have access to the budget that they hold. The manager could then consider requests for help with the cost of a DBS check; travel to interview; work clothes and so forth, although the funds are very limited and all payments are made at the manager's discretion.

BlackMonk

Dear Tomtontom and Voyager2002

Thank you for your replies. I am registered at my local Jobcentre and they are very helpful, I have managed to claim back the cost of traveling to an interview. I cannot claim Jobseekers allowance because in one of my qualifying contribution years I was working part-time and did not pay enough national insurance contributions.

Regards

whitewing

If you were doing voluntary child-related work that required DBS then no one would pay as volunteers get it done free. (Through an agency may still incur a processing cost).

pebbles88

So are you receiving credits only then (ni credits) - ( which if you have claimed interview costs sounds as though you are) .

have you looked at applying for income based jsa rather than conts based?

Job centres can't pay for DBS checks normally, there is a small chance they can in certain criteria (but extremely strict) there may be other agencies that can poss pay- we have one locally that can cover DBS checks if there's a definite job offer as they know we can't. Ask the jcp- they may have their contact details

DomRavioli

Hi OP,

CRB checks don't last a specific amount of time, as they are only relevant on the date they are done - they also aren't portable on the whole (just FYI).

Try a voluntary agency, or do some voluntary work with a school - they usually will send off for a DBS check for you.

busy_mom_2

JCP cannot pay for DBS checks unless extreem circumstatnces regardless of benefit.

BlackMonk

Dear All

Many thanks for your replies. I did once volunteer as a Science and Engineering Ambassador and I had my CRB paid for me, but my first agency would not accept it (something to do with the lack of portability of CRB checks) so I had to pay for another one.

I suppose I will just have to find the money to pay for it. I regard it as a tax on teachers.

Regards

DomRavioli

BlackMonk wrote: »

Dear All

Many thanks for your replies. I did once volunteer as a Science and Engineering Ambassador and I had my CRB paid for me, but my first agency would not accept it (something to do with the lack of portability of CRB checks) so I had to pay for another one.

I suppose I will just have to find the money to pay for it. I regard it as a tax on teachers.

Regards

Oh dear - teachers are a tiny proportion of staff who have a DBS check. Anyone who works with vulnerable adults, children, at risk groups. I have 6 CRBs currently through both work and volunteering.

With your attitude "a tax on teachers" - I wouldn't employ you; you seem like the world owes you a favour. Check the attitude next time.

ohreally

BlackMonk wrote: »

I regard it as a tax on teachers.

Its the same imposition on any individual working with vulnerable people not just teachers.