How much does a DBS check cost for a recruitment agency? The fees from 5 October 2026 and what two umbrella bodies add

From Monday 5 October 2026 an enhanced DBS check costs £41, down from £49.50, and a basic or standard check costs £20, down from £21.50. Those are the fees the Disclosure and Barring Service charges. An agency that runs fewer than 100 checks a year also pays an umbrella body's charge on each one, which was £13.80 or £15.70 at the two we read on 1 October 2026.

This guide covers England and Wales. GOV.UK says Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.

The DBS fees, before and after

DBS announced the cut on 9 September 2026. Its announcement gives one enhanced fee; its employer guidance prices an enhanced check with barred lists the same as an enhanced check, at £49.50 on the day we read it. The announcement does not mention the £6 Adult First check.

What an umbrella body adds

Standard and enhanced applications reach DBS through a registered body. The DBS guidance says an organisation can register if it submits more than 100 applications a year, and that one needing fewer than 100 should use an umbrella body, which is a registered body that submits checks for others. DBS says such bodies may charge an administration fee and that it "is not involved in setting or regulating these charges".

These are the prices two umbrella bodies showed on 1 October 2026, at their lowest volume band, including VAT:

Care Check states its £13.80 administration fee. uCheck's £15.70 is our subtraction: £65.20 less the £49.50 DBS fee, and £37.20 less £21.50 gives the same figure. Both pages still showed the old DBS fees. If each keeps its own charge unchanged, an enhanced check from 5 October would come to £54.80 at Care Check and £56.70 at uCheck. That is our sum; neither had published it.

One year of checks for a care desk

An agency placing care staff runs 40 enhanced checks a year through Care Check.

The saving is £340 a year, which is 40 × £8.50, and all of it comes from the DBS fee. At uCheck the same 40 checks carry 40 × £15.70, which is £628, plus the £58.80 joining fee in the first year: £686.80 against £552.

When registering directly pays

At 120 checks a year the agency is over the threshold. Care Check's band for 101 to 200 checks shows a £9.60 administration fee, so 120 checks carry £1,152 a year in charges. DBS registration costs £300, plus £5 for each countersignatory, so £310 with two.

The fee is not the whole cost. A registered body must be entitled to ask the exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, follow the DBS code of practice, and have its countersignatories verify each applicant's identity and declare that the role is eligible.

The Update Service: £15 a year in place of a new check

A worker with a standard or enhanced certificate can join the Update Service within 30 days of the certificate being issued. From 5 October it costs them £15 a year. GOV.UK says an employer does not pay or register to run a status check, and needs the worker's permission.

You can accept a certificate that was requested for a previous role if you:

1. Check the worker's identity matches the certificate.
2. Check the certificate is the right level and type for the new role.
3. Run the status check to see if anything has changed.

A certificate does not carry across workforces, so an adult workforce certificate will not do for work with children. For a temp who moves between agencies, the subscription replaces a £41 fee and an umbrella charge at each one.

What the rules ask of an agency

A basic check can be used for any position. Standard and enhanced checks are only for roles the legislation lists, and DBS says eligibility follows the duties, whatever the job title says.

Regulation 22 of the Conduct Regulations applies where the position involves working with, caring for or attending a vulnerable person. Before supplying the worker the agency must have:

• copies of any relevant qualifications or authorisations, offered to the hirer
• two references from people who are not relatives, offered to the hirer
• taken all other reasonably practicable steps to confirm the worker is suitable

GOV.UK gives criminal records checks as an example of an authorisation. Three limits matter. A DBS check has no official expiry date, and GOV.UK leaves it to you to decide when a new one is needed. It does not cover time the worker lived outside the UK. And DBS does not check right to work, which the right to work check router covers.

Who pays

If the agency pays, the check is a cost of the placement. On a temp who works 100 hours, £54.80 is 55p an hour, which belongs in the temp margin calculator with the other costs of an hour.

Passing the cost to the worker is harder. GOV.UK says an agency cannot charge a work-seeker for finding work, cannot make any other paid service a condition of finding it, and must follow the National Minimum Wage rules if it takes a fee from wages. The pages we read do not say in terms whether a DBS fee passed to a temp is allowed, so take advice first. Our guide to charging candidates sets out the rule.

This page is general information, not legal advice.