Latest news with #DisclosureandBarringService
Metro
3 days ago
- Business
- Metro
Meet the business behind the recent Kent 'thought crime' case
You don't need to be locked away to have your future be limited. An act as simple as entering a name into a police database can serve the same purpose. In the United Kingdom, a caution or arrest, without trial, without charge, will remain on the Police National Computer for 100 years. That record becomes a dark cloud that can hover over professionals long after the moment has passed. It may appear in hiring checks, immigration screening, licensing decisions and security clearances. It follows silently but speaks loudly. Legisia, a legal practice founded by solicitor Matt Elkins, challenges this quiet punishment. The company focuses on removing unwanted data and appealing Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) decisions. This work, grounded in law and driven by human consequences, offers not just technical relief but a path to reclaiming dignity. These records extend consequences far beyond the initial incident. Doctors, lawyers, finance workers and healthcare professionals find that a police caution, often misrepresented as merely a 'slap on the wrist', creates a criminal record appearing on background checks, preventing them from obtaining visas or work permits for countries with strict entry requirements. 'If a professional gets a record like this, it can completely ruin a valuable and hard-fought career,' Elkins notes. 'They cannot work overseas. Often clients want to move to the US, so with a caution for, say, possession of cocaine, they are never going to be able to get green cards.' According to Elkins, Legisia's police data removal services directly address these barriers. Professionals seeking international roles often face barriers due to police records, especially in countries like the United States, China and several Middle Eastern nations. Even low-level cautions or simple arrests — regardless of conviction — can trigger visa denials. Though policies vary, these records can quietly block global mobility and career progression. For those in regulated fields such as healthcare, education or law, such disclosures can lead to referrals to professional regulators. Even without proof of wrongdoing, careers can be suspended or permanently halted based on records that remain undisputed. Cautions were once informal warnings. Today, they are formal legal outcomes, digitised and retained on the Police National Computer. Unless successfully deleted or filtered under narrow disclosure rules, they remain disclosable. Police often describe cautions as minor, but their real-world impact is profound. According to Elkins, clients routinely accept cautions without realising they are permanent admissions of guilt. This disconnect between perception and consequence leaves professionals with records they never intended to carry. Legisia's expertise in police data removal becomes crucial in these cases. They help clients understand the full implications of their records and challenge them based on procedural flaws, disproportionality, misinformed consent, and under data protection laws. Most troubling are the circumstances under which some of these records are created. Elkins notes that some clients may have been pressured into accepting cautions without understanding the consequences, or where they were actually victims themselves. 'They might actually be the victim of assault. They might be the victim of a coercive relationship, having been bullied for years,' Elkins says. 'And then they find themselves getting arrested, and they often fold when they are in front of the police and end up accepting a caution.' Legisia's police data removal process involves gathering evidence to demonstrate innocence or procedural impropriety, which can reveal that clients were pressured or misinformed during the cautioning process. In a case that recently received national attention, Elkins represented retired special constable Julian Foulkes, whose caution sparked national outrage. Foulkes, from Gillingham, was detained at his home by six police officers — from the same force he had worked for as a special constable for ten years — after a comment labelled a 'thought crime' was posted on social media. After Legisia's intervention, the record was successfully deleted. The case was viewed by some as a crackdown on free speech, which has fuelled a debate on police powers. Since Legisia's successful application, Chief Constable Tim Smith rang Foulkes to apologise on behalf of Kent Police, and a full review of the case has been commenced. Elkins' focus on police data and DBS cases sets Legisia apart. While other firms offer this as one service among many, Elkins has concentrated on this area for over a decade, with 20 years of experience as a defence lawyer. This specialisation has given him insight into the varying approaches of different police forces. 'Each police force is different; they have a kind of different mentality. They do not all act the same,' Elkins explains. His expertise extends to understanding the nuances of how records are created and maintained. This depth of knowledge allows Legisia to navigate the complexities of police data management with a precision that generalist firms cannot match. The firm's police data removal success stems from this specialised knowledge. Elkins' work goes beyond statutory remedies. Many clients contact Legisia after years of living with the psychological burden of a police record. Some report shame, isolation, or missed opportunities. Others had given up on international roles, teaching careers, or security-vetted positions. Legisia's work offers not only legal redress but personal relief. Clients frequently describe the outcome as life-changing. Deletion restores reputations and opens paths once thought permanently blocked. Awareness of the consequences of police data retention is increasing. Elkins has observed rising demand for police data removal services, especially as individuals learn that records they assumed were closed remain active and disclosable. He also points to the controversy around non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) — cases where police document behaviour perceived to be hateful but not unlawful, and the rising use of facial recognition technology. This expansion of data collection has created a wider environment in which reputational risk is greater, and police record scrutiny is more essential. In a society where data is increasingly permanent and accessible, people must be able to challenge outdated or unfair records. Legisia offers a mechanism to do so, backed by legal precision and human understanding. Elkins and his team continue to help hundreds reclaim control over their professional identities. Each deletion is not just the removal of a data entry — it is the restoration of potential, confidence, and a future. DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee of your police record being cleared. Legisia Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office: Registration Reference ZA338412. Legisia Legal Services is not a solicitors firm but is an unregulated legal practice conducting non-reserved legal services. All cases conducted by Legisia Legal Services are led by qualified and regulated solicitors. All solicitors that are employed by, or are owners of, or are consultants to Legisia Legal Services are regulated by the SRA in their individual capacity.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Council missing data on criminal record checks
A council does not know how many of its staff who require criminal record checks have had one completed, it has emerged. Norwich City Council has been told to urgently find out who has undergone the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) process and who needs one. There was missing data for 41 out of 54 members of staff whose job required an enhanced DBS check. The local authority said: "There are no examples of the council putting anyone at risk because of a lack of DBS checks when they have been needed." Council bosses faced pointed questions at a meeting of its audit committee on Tuesday night. A report presented to the committee said the council was "not able to identify whether all staff in posts requiring a DBS check have had one". It described a process in which the data was manually compiled on to a spreadsheet but was incomplete. A private company has been brought in to complete the process. The problem was identified in July 2023 following an audit into the council's safeguarding arrangement, councillors were told. But the audit report said since then, there had been no progress reports and the issues had not been escalated. Alex Catt, the Green group leader, described the situation as "shocking". "It has been known to the council for at least two years with seemingly nothing done about it," he told the BBC. "The council works with lots of vulnerable people and we need to know the background of the people working with them." When asked how long this situation had been going on for at the meeting, executive director of human resources Dawn Bradshaw replied: "I don't have the answer to that." Emily Yule, the council's executive director of resources, said: "This is the first DBS audit we've had in the 20 years I have been here." The checks are undertaken by the DBS agency, previously known as the Criminal Records Bureau. According to the Home Office, employers can request one in order "to make safer recruitment decisions" particularly when employing people working with children and vulnerable adults. Basic DBS checks reveal spent and unspent convictions, cautions and reprimands held on the Police National Computer. Enhanced checks include "additional information held by local police that is considered relevant to a specific role". A spokesperson for Norwich City Council said DBS checks were a "serious matter to get right" and claimed that "all of our people who needed a DBS check, have had one". "There are no examples of the council putting anyone at risk because of a lack of DBS checks when they have been needed," the statement continued. "We fully accept we were slow in providing information to audit colleagues about DBS checks and that our record keeping needed to be improved. "Both of these matters have been picked up and are successfully being addressed." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Norwich City Council Disclosure and Barring service
BBC News
17-04-2025
- BBC News
Shropshire woman abused by father pushes for DBS check reform
A woman from Telford whose father raped her when she was a child is calling for a reform of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) system, after her father transitioned while in Galvin's father, who was then known as Clive Bundy, was given a 15-year extended sentence with 10 years and six months in prison for abusing Ms father came out while in prison as a trans woman, under the new name of Claire Fox, and was released from prison in there is no suggestion that Fox has applied for a DBS check since release, Ms Galvin is concerned that the process may not flag the crimes previously committed by her father. Ms Galvin believes the current DBS system is not robust enough to protect people from dangerous criminals like her father, who have a new identity, and that the threat of a further conviction for failing to disclose previous names would not deter criminals from doing so. Ms Galvin has waived her anonymity as a victim of sexual abuse because of these fears, as well as wanting to be a positive example to other survivors of told the BBC: "It might be a criminal offence to not disclose the fact that you've changed your name and you've got a new birth certificate because you've changed your gender under the [Gender Recognition Certificate]."However, this is a convicted criminal who has for very many years broken a law that he did not have any regard or care about."If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC's Action Line. DBS checks are a record of an individual's criminal convictions and are used by employers and organisations to assess a person's suitability for a particular job or position. They are a requirement in many roles, particularly for people in contact with children or vulnerable are legally required to disclose any previous names they have lived under, but failure to do so could result in the offences linked to a previous identity not appearing during a check. Ms Galvin has faced accusations of transphobia online - something she rejected. She said she wanted to help the trans community too."This man beat my little brother black and blue. He neglected us as children, he was a violent man without the sexual abuse," she told the added that there were so many ways in which someone like her father "could take hold of a very vulnerable group in society and abuse it and use it for his own gain, which is what he did to me as a child.""I'm just trying to protect people because I was never protected," she added. Ms Galvin had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father for as long as she could remember."He groomed me," she said. "It was the whole kind of textbook 'I love you, nobody else does, we'll run away together, we'll be happy'. As a child you're fed these things from day one."As she grew older, he threatened to turn the abuse on her younger sister if she did not police uncovered what was happening when they found images of Ms Galvin that her father had been sharing with other paedophiles online. Her father was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a child family member, three counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two counts of distributing indecent images of a child. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the risk of offenders changing their identities was mitigated by court orders, intelligence sharing between organisations such as the police and other government agencies, and that data was checked both manually and through the use of algorithms during the application Labour MP for Telford Shaun Davies, believes the system needs to become more robust and said the government would take action."The whole DBS system needs to be reviewed and that is what the government is committed to doing to ensure that the system is fit for purpose," he said."I've also been pushing for tougher legislation around when an offender needs to update their records and I'm glad that the new policing bill that's going through Parliament will put a legal duty on offenders having to update their names to both the police and the probation service. "Not to change their name and then tell the authorities, they'll have to do it in advance."The MoJ added that the Criminal Justice Bill would allow the police to restrict a sex offenders' ability to make changes to their name on identity documents. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MP in criminal background check change call
An MP has called for an overhaul of the criminal background check system after it was revealed a murderer spent two years working with children. Rashid Zaman, 44, worked for a charity visiting schools and children's homes after he was released from prison for killing a man in Halifax in 2001. A BBC investigation found a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate issued in 2021 did not stop Zaman, from Bradford, from working with children, but a second one issued in 2023 did. Robbie Moore, Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, said the government needed to "urgently look at strengthening both sentencing policies and safeguarding laws". The DBS did not tell the BBC why he was allowed to work with children in 2021 and then barred in 2023, as it does not comment on individual cases. It said serious offences committed after 2006 may lead to someone being automatically barred from working with children, but that offences committed before that time would lead to a discretionary barring investigation. Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Moore said that for pre-2006 offences to not automatically ban convicts from working with children was "clearly wrong". Branding the situation a "major safeguarding failure" he said: "I suspect this case in Bradford is not a lone one." Zaman spent 15 years in jail for killing Kevin Jackson, who was trying to stop Zaman and two others from stealing his father-in-law's car. Following his release he began volunteering with the St Giles' Trust, which works with ex-offenders. After becoming a paid employee in 2021, Zaman began visiting children's homes and schools. This continued after 2023, when a second DBS certificate barring him from working with children was issued. St Giles' told the BBC its senior management was not aware of the outcome of the most recent DBS check until December 2024, after which they said he was dismissed. In a statement issued by Moore after he spoke in Parliament, the MP said: "A justice system that allows this to happen is failing in its most fundamental duty. "It is entirely unacceptable that the charity failed to act on this information until December 2024 and parents have every right to be outraged. "This is a catastrophic safeguarding failure that raises very serious questions about the wider system of DBS checks and the responsibilities of charities that work with vulnerable young people." Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell said it was a "shocking" case and thanked Moore for raising it in Parliament. She said the government would soon outline what steps it is "taking to ensure this never happens again". Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
MP Robbie Moore calls for DBS change after killer works in school
An MP has called for an overhaul of the criminal background check system after it was revealed a murderer spent two years working with Zaman, 44, worked for a charity visiting schools and children's homes after he was released from prison for killing a man in Halifax in 2001. A BBC investigation found a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate issued in 2021 did not stop Zaman, from Bradford, from working with children, but a second one issued in 2023 Moore, Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, said the government needed to "urgently look at strengthening both sentencing policies and safeguarding laws". The DBS did not tell the BBC why he was allowed to work with children in 2021 and then barred in 2023, as it does not comment on individual said serious offences committed after 2006 may lead to someone being automatically barred from working with children, but that offences committed before that time would lead to a discretionary barring investigation. Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Moore said that for pre-2006 offences to not automatically ban convicts from working with children was "clearly wrong". Branding the situation a "major safeguarding failure" he said: "I suspect this case in Bradford is not a lone one."Zaman spent 15 years in jail for killing Kevin Jackson, who was trying to stop Zaman and two others from stealing his father-in-law's his release he began volunteering with the St Giles' Trust, which works with ex-offenders. After becoming a paid employee in 2021, Zaman began visiting children's homes and schools. 'Shocking' This continued after 2023, when a second DBS certificate barring him from working with children was Giles' told the BBC its senior management was not aware of the outcome of the most recent DBS check until December 2024, after which they said he was a statement issued by Moore after he spoke in Parliament, the MP said: "A justice system that allows this to happen is failing in its most fundamental duty."It is entirely unacceptable that the charity failed to act on this information until December 2024 and parents have every right to be outraged. "This is a catastrophic safeguarding failure that raises very serious questions about the wider system of DBS checks and the responsibilities of charities that work with vulnerable young people."Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell said it was a "shocking" case and thanked Moore for raising it in Parliament. She said the government would soon outline what steps it is "taking to ensure this never happens again". Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
