The application is sent to the Police National Computer. This is a computer system used by law enforcement organisations all over the UK and consists of several databases available 24 hours a day which gives access to information of national and local significance.

If an applicant is being checked for working with vulnerable groups in regulated activity, stage 3 will be implemented. Examples of workforce include care assistants, nurses and teachers to name a few. It will check against the Adults’ barred list, the Children’s barred list or both. If an individual is checked against the children’s barred lists, then there will be a search to see if there is a match on the List 99 register. The list 99 register is a list of men and women who are barred from working by the Department of Education and Skills (DfES).

The application is in process with the police. Exact timescales cannot be given due to every application being dissimilar. However, there are several reasons why an application could potentially be delayed. Typically, if an individual has not disclosed a past conviction, the application could take longer as the police will have further enquiries on the application and will be unable to proceed until they have full information. Similarly, if an applicant has made an error with an incorrect address or name, the police would have additional queries and this would delay an application from completing

The certificate is in the final stage of printing and will be routinely distributed to applicants the following day. Please note, a certificate can take up to 14 days to reach an applicant address. Similarly, if an applicant has made an error with an incorrect address or name, the police would have additional queries and this would delay an application from completing.