My application seems to be delayed, what can I do?

Many applications may take 6-8 weeks to be completed. There is a 60 day service level agreement on applications starting from the point they reach stage 4, LPF (Local Police checks) – only at this point can the application be chased up by Atlantic Data.

It is not necessarily an indication that anything is wrong if a result does take this long to come back, it is dependent on the workload of various police branches and organisations involved in performing the checks. This may also be dependent on what type of, or how much information is revealed on the applicant’s certificate, if any. The fact that an application is taking longer does not necessarily mean there will be information revealed on the certificate.

In rare instances the DBS may have contacted the applicant to request some more information for the purposes of identity confirmation, so for this reason it is always worth checking to see whether anything has been received regarding the application as until this is resolved the process will not be completed.

See the article on tracking your DBS application, which you can do once it has been submitted and dispatched to DBS.