DBS checks for taxi and private hire drivers: what you need and why

The Department for Transport's statutory standards say councils can ask every driver applicant and licence holder for an enhanced DBS certificate with barred list checks. They recommend this for everyone applying for or renewing a taxi or private hire driver licence. The check should cover both the children's and the adults' barred lists.

The same guidance records that, in the Department's 2019 survey, every licensing authority in England and Wales required an enhanced DBS check at first application or renewal. Sefton, for example, lists an enhanced DBS check with barred lists and DBS Update Service registration among its steps for new drivers.

Sources: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 6.1 Criminality checks for drivers)[1]; New Drivers (Taxi Licensing) (opens in a new tab) (Sefton Council, Steps 1 to 5)[2]

According to the statutory standards, an enhanced certificate with barred list checks shows three things. It lists spent and unspent convictions held on the Police National Computer. It can include other information a chief police officer believes is relevant. And it shows whether you are barred from regulated activity with children or adults.

Spent convictions and cautions are disclosed according to rules set out in law. Convictions that led to a custodial sentence, and convictions or cautions for specified serious offences, are always disclosed. The guidance also says councils must not get around the DBS process, for example by making you use your data protection rights to obtain your own records for them.

Source: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 4.1 The Disclosure and Barring Service)[1]

The Update Service keeps a standard or enhanced certificate up to date online and lets organisations you give permission to check whether anything has changed. GOV.UK says it costs £15 per year. If your check is still in progress, you register with your application reference number. If you already have a certificate, you must register within 30 days of it being issued.

A subscription lasts one year. You can choose automatic renewal, or renew up to 30 days before it ends, but not on the last day. If it lapses, you need a new DBS check and must register again. The statutory standards say the DBS searches for new conviction and barring information weekly, and for non-conviction information every nine months.

Sources: DBS Update Service (opens in a new tab) (GOV.UK (Disclosure and Barring Service), Register; Renew your subscription)[3]; Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 4.2 The DBS update service)[1]

The statutory standards say all licensed drivers should be required to show continuous registration with the Update Service, so the council can routinely check for new information every six months. Drivers who do not subscribe should still be checked every six months. Wolverhampton, for example, requires an enhanced certificate with barred list checks that is subscribed to the Update Service. If it is not subscribed, the licence is issued for six months only.

Driving a taxi or private hire vehicle is not in itself a regulated activity, so being on a barred list does not legally stop someone from driving. However, the standards say councils should not, as part of their policies, issue a licence to anyone on either barred list. If a council decides there are exceptional circumstances, it should record its reasons. Drivers working under an arrangement to transport children may be in regulated activity.

Sources: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 6.1 Criminality checks for drivers)[1]; Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy (12.06.2026), including licence conditions, Guidelines on Fitness and Propriety, fees and Taxi CCTV Policy (opens in a new tab) (City of Wolverhampton Council, Licensing Policy, 4. DBS Certification (page 3))[4]

A DBS check cannot see criminal records held overseas. If you have spent three or more continuous months outside the UK, the statutory standards say councils should ask you for overseas criminal records information. This can be a certificate of good character from the country concerned, where one is available. Time spent abroad before the age of 18 may be less relevant. Wolverhampton asks for a certificate of good character or good conduct if you have been outside the UK for three or more continuous months since the age of 18.

Sources: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (opens in a new tab) (Department for Transport, 4.10 Overseas convictions)[1]; Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy (12.06.2026), including licence conditions, Guidelines on Fitness and Propriety, fees and Taxi CCTV Policy (opens in a new tab) (City of Wolverhampton Council, Licensing Policy, 5. Certificates of Good Character/Conduct (page 3))[4]