Does an Informal Kinship Carer Need a DBS Check in England?

If you have taken in a grandchild, niece, or other young relative and someone has mentioned DBS checks, your first thought might be that you need one before you can keep caring for them. That fear is understandable — but the rules are more nuanced than a blanket yes or no.

What a DBS Check Actually Is

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check searches police records and, at enhanced level, barred-list data to assess whether someone poses a risk to children or vulnerable adults. Employers and organisations that place people in "regulated activity" with children must request the appropriate level of check before employment or volunteering begins.

The three levels — basic, standard, and enhanced — each reveal different depths of information. An enhanced check with barred-list access is the highest level and is mandatory for anyone in regulated activity with children, such as foster carers approved by a local authority.

Informal Family Carers Are Not Required to Have a DBS Check

Here is the straightforward position: if you are a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or older sibling caring for a child under an informal private family arrangement — with no involvement from Children's Services or a formal fostering approval process — you are not required to obtain a DBS check.

DBS checks are designed for people entering regulated activity through an organisation. A family member looking after a relative's child in their own home, under an arrangement agreed between family members, falls outside that framework entirely. There is no law in England that requires a relative in an informal kinship care arrangement to submit to a criminal records check.

When a DBS Check Might Be Required

The picture changes if the arrangement becomes formalised. These scenarios can trigger a DBS requirement:

Local authority kinship fostering. If Children's Services become involved and ask you to be assessed as a connected persons foster carer (sometimes called kinship foster care), the assessment includes an enhanced DBS check with barred-list access for every adult in the household. This is identical to the requirement for unrelated foster carers.

Special Guardianship Order application. Courts ordering Cafcass or the local authority to prepare a report under Section 14A of the Children Act 1989 will require enhanced DBS checks as part of the suitability assessment.

School volunteering. If you volunteer regularly at the child's school — helping in classrooms, supervising trips — the school may request an enhanced DBS check through their own safeguarding policy, regardless of your family relationship with the child.

What If Children's Services Ask You to Get One Informally?

Some local authorities encourage (but cannot legally compel) informal kinship carers to undergo a DBS check as part of an early help assessment or when providing financial support. If a social worker suggests it, clarify whether it is a legal requirement or a recommendation. You can ask whether the support being offered is conditional on the check.

Only eligible standard or enhanced volunteer DBS applications are free. DBS defines volunteer activity as unpaid work aimed at benefiting someone other than, or in addition to, a close relative, so caring for a relative does not qualify on its own. A basic DBS check is not free. A check itself does not make you a foster carer or change your legal status — it is simply a safeguarding measure.

The Practical Reality

Most informal kinship carers in England never need a DBS check. Schools and GP practices do not request them when enrolling a child who lives with a relative. The requirement attaches to formal care processes, not to the family relationship itself.

If you are navigating an informal arrangement and want to understand the full picture — parental responsibility, school admissions, GP registration, and when a court order becomes necessary — the complete England kinship consent guide walks through every step.

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