How much does a DBS check cost for a dental practice or clinic in 2026? £49.50 enhanced, £21.50 basic and £16 a year for the Update Service

An enhanced DBS check costs £49.50 in 2026, with or without a check of the barred lists. A basic or standard check costs £21.50, and the Update Service costs the person who holds the certificate £16 a year. Those are the Disclosure and Barring Service's own fees, read on GOV.UK on 1 October 2026. The page's change log dates its last fee update to 2 December 2024.

For a three-surgery practice that takes on two dental nurses and a receptionist in a year, the DBS fees come to £152.50. For staff already in post, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) does not require a routine re-check.

The fees

Standard and enhanced checks for volunteers are free.

Who needs one, according to the CQC

The CQC's dental mythbuster on staff recruitment says: "Guidance states that all clinical staff require a DBS check." It lists dentists, dental hygienists, dental hygiene therapists and dental nurses.

For everyone else it says there is "no general requirement for non-clinical staff to have a DBS check". Its three examples:

• Staff with access to records alone and no contact with patients do not need one.
• Staff who chaperone may need one.
• Staff who supervise a child while the parent is in the chair will need one.

If the practice decides against a check for a non-clinical role, the CQC expects a clear reason and a risk assessment. It does not decide eligibility itself and points practices to the NHS Employers eligibility tool or the DBS. Enhanced costs £49.50 with or without the barred lists, so the sums below hold either way.

A dentist on the NHS Performers List has been checked already, and a practice may rely on that check if it holds assurance from NHS England and a risk assessment. The CQC would "not usually expect to see a member of staff working" while a check is outstanding.

The certificate is one item in the staff file that regulation 19 and Schedule 3 require. The rest of that file is in our CQC inspection evidence guide.

How a small practice applies

Registering with the DBS is for organisations that submit more than 100 applications a year, and costs £300 plus £5 for each countersignatory. The DBS says an organisation that needs fewer than 100 checks a year "should use the services of an umbrella body", and GOV.UK has a finder for them.

The umbrella body adds its own charge. The pages we read give no figure for it, so ask before you sign up.

For a basic check the person applies on GOV.UK, pays £21.50, and processing usually takes up to 3 days.

Renewing: the Update Service or a new check

The DBS says there is "no official expiry date" for a check, and the CQC does not set one: "There's no requirement to repeat checks for staff who remain employed if there's no change in either their place or terms of work." It is "up to the employer to decide whether a new check is required", and the practice should be able to show it has thought about when.

So a three-yearly re-check is a practice policy. It can be priced against the Update Service:

The two cost almost the same, £16.50 against £16 a person a year. With the person's consent, an employer can run a free online status check on a certificate in the Update Service. The DBS sets "no prescribed frequency" and will not tell an employer when a status changes, so the checks have to be in the diary.

Three conditions apply:

1. The person must join the Update Service within 30 days of the certificate being issued. Staff holding older certificates need a new check first.
2. The subscription is the individual's, so agree who pays the £16.
3. If the subscription lapses, the person needs a new check and a new registration.

The registered manager's own check

Anyone applying to the CQC as an individual provider, registered partner or registered manager needs an enhanced check with barred list information that is no more than 12 months old.

A GDC or HCPC registrant sends the original paper certificate. Anyone else needs a check countersigned by the CQC, which says it can take up to 60 working days. An Update Service record is not accepted.

One practice, one year

The example practice has four dentists, two hygienists and five dental nurses, the team in our regulator fees guide. This year it recruits two dental nurses and a receptionist. After a risk assessment it asks the receptionist for a basic check. It pays the Update Service for the new nurses.

The umbrella body's charge comes on top.

Physiotherapy and aesthetics clinics

The DBS fees are the same for every employer. Our physiotherapy fees guide explains why a standalone physiotherapy clinic may sit outside CQC registration. Eligibility for a check still depends on what each person does.

In the practice

Overlyft can set up an AI assistant that keeps the practice's DBS review dates in its compliance calendar and raises each one six weeks ahead. It applies for nothing and decides nothing about eligibility. A GDC-registered professional or the practice manager reviews anything a tool drafts before it is used. This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.