Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are very much in the news at present as the ramifications of the Jimmy Savile affair are considered.
Some employers might be tempted to require job applicants or existing employees to obtain a copy of their DBS record (a subject access request) and supply this to the employer. Until now, this has been legal although it has been discouraged. The Information Commissioner’s Employment Practices Code advises against it as does the DBS.
However, from 10 March 2015 it will be a criminal offence for an employer to require a job applicant or employee in connection with their recruitment or continued employment to make a subject access request and supply this to the employer. The offence carries an unlimited fine. This is not a brand new piece of legislation. It is the long awaited implementation of a section of the Data Protection Act 1998.
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