What it costs
What an enhanced DBS check costs now
The enhanced fee, the admin fee of the umbrella body and VAT, added up.
What the check costs you, admin fee and VAT included
Total for a enhanced dbs check
£41
| Official fee (Disclosure and Barring Service) | £41 |
| Admin fee | £0 |
| VAT on the admin fee | £0 |
DBS fee in force since 5 October 2026. The admin fee is set by the intermediary, not by DBS.
An enhanced DBS check costs £41 for applications received by DBS from 5 October 2026, whether or not it includes a search of the children's barred list, the adults' barred list or both. Until 4 October 2026 the fee was £49.50: the cut of £8.50 is the largest of the October 2026 change, since DBS sets each fee at the cost of delivering it. The check is free for a volunteer who is not paid, not on a placement or course leading to a job and not a paid foster carer. Two additions are common. An umbrella body or other registered body may charge an administration fee for checking your identity and sending the form, with VAT on that fee if it is VAT registered. A care provider may add the Adult First service for £6, which can clear a worker to start under supervision. The calculator above sets the enhanced check with barred list by default: change the level or add the fee you were quoted.
Fees and rules checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the figures are built
Enhanced check totals for common quotes
| Admin fee quoted | VAT on it | Total, paid role | Total, volunteer |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | £0 | £41 | £0 |
| £5 before VAT | £1 | £47 | £6 |
| £10 before VAT | £2 | £53 | £12 |
| £15 before VAT | £3 | £59 | £18 |
| £20 before VAT | £4 | £65 | £24 |
Volunteers pay no DBS fee, but an umbrella body may still charge them its own fee: some waive it for charities, others do not. The volunteer page lists the conditions.
What changed on 5 October 2026
The DBS announcement of 9 September 2026 set out the new fees and the SI 2026/985 made them law. An employer paying for 50 enhanced checks a year saves £425 in DBS fees. The Update Service subscription fell from £16 to £15 a year at the same time.
Paying once with the Update Service
If you join the Update Service within 30 days of the certificate date, each later employer in the same workforce and at the same level can check your certificate online for free. A care worker moving between two agencies in a year therefore pays one £41 check and £15 of subscription, instead of two checks and two admin fees. The Update Service calculator does the sum over several years.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland
The nearest equivalents are a PVG application with Disclosure Scotland at £59 (or £25 for a Level 2 disclosure outside regulated roles), and an AccessNI enhanced check at £32. Both have their own volunteer rules, set out on the PVG page and the AccessNI page.
What the cut saves an employer
| Enhanced checks a year | Before 5 October 2026 | From 5 October 2026 | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £49.50 | £41 | £8.50 |
| 10 | £495 | £410 | £85 |
| 50 | £2,475 | £2,050 | £425 |
| 250 | £12,375 | £10,250 | £2,125 |
An employer paying for its own staff checks saves £8.50 on every paid enhanced application. The admin fee of an umbrella body is not set by the regulations, so whether the full saving reaches the employer or the applicant depends on how that body has updated its prices.
For a care home recruiting 50 staff a year, the DBS part falls from £2,475 to £2,050. The barred list options do not change the fee: an enhanced check with the children's list, the adults' list or both costs the same £41. If a quote you receive after 5 October 2026 still shows £49.50 for the DBS part, ask the intermediary to correct it.