How startups can integrate a DBS checks process for new hires

February 07, 2026

In the fast-paced culture common in most startups, it’s often the case that things like background checks take a back seat. You’ll be so busy trying to deal with seemingly hundreds of concurrent challenges, that these bureaucratic ‘formalities’ are often pushed to the side. 

Here, we provide a quick overview as to why this can be a dangerous approach to take. After outlining why DBS checks can be important for startups, we briefly show how they can be integrated into your hiring process, to keep your business safe as it starts to grow.

Why they’re necessary
There are a few reasons why you may find DBS checks necessary for your organisation.

Regulatory compliance
In regulated industries, including healthcare, financial services and education, you’ll find that a Standard or Enhanced DBS check is often a statutory requirement for many of your employees. Failure to vet your new hires using these checks can result in serious fines, and potentially even a revocation of key licenses.

Increasing trust
Using DBS checks can also be a good way to increase trust in your organisation, both internally and externally. It’s a good way to show both candidates and potential investors that you take safety and security seriously, and that you’re actively building a professional culture based around risk mitigation.

Building a solid foundation
Using background checks can be an effective way of building a more solid professional foundation in your startup. You decrease the probability that you inadvertently hire anyone who will pose a threat to your business, either by lying about their professional experience or by failing to disclose something even more serious. 

During those early years, you’ll already be facing enough operational challenges to keep your hands full. You’ll do well to avoid any other, unnecessary fiascos if at all possible.

How can they be integrated?
Once you have identified why your startup needs to use DBS checks, and you know which level of check you need to use, you can decide how you will integrate your checks. 

In most cases, you’ll want to use a registered umbrella body like Personnel Checks to submit the application for you. With Standard and Enhanced checks, this is often the only way to do things, as you can’t submit just one or two checks to the DBS yourself. 

You will need to make sure that you are using the appropriate check for each specific role, and that you use any update services if necessary. As the scope of roles in your organisation shrinks and grows, which is to be expected in startups, you will need to reassess whether roles that previously didn’t require a DBS check may now need one. 

Figuring out whether your startup needs to use DBS checks or not is an important task you’ll need to take care of early on. It’s easy to throw yourself into growing your organisation and ignore this side of things, but it can expose you to a wide range of unnecessary risks, and could seriously jeopardise the future of your business.