DBS - OA football

[Gabriel]

I turn 16 between this season and next season, and as such I have to start thinking about getting my DBS sorted so that I can continue refereeing. I know my RDO is probably the best point of contact for this, but how far in advance should I start the process of getting one?

 

[JamesL]

I turn 16 between this season and next season, and as such I have to start thinking about getting my DBS sorted so that I can continue refereeing. I know my RDO is probably the best point of contact for this, but how far in advance should I start the process of getting one?

I don't think you can start it until you are 16, and, as I understand it there is a period where you are 16 and won't have one and therefore can't referee any games.

 

[Gabriel]

Thanks. I should be able to obtain one before the season starts anyway as mid-July to late August should be enough time for it to get sorted.

 

[Josh the referee]

I don't think you can start it until you are 16, and, as I understand it there is a period where you are 16 and won't have one and therefore can't referee any games.

The advice the county gave me (rightly or wrongly) was that as long as I had submitted the application, I was still eligible to referee games

 

[Gabriel]

The advice the county gave me (rightly or wrongly) was that as long as I had submitted the application, I was still eligible to referee games

That would make more sense. I would think it is probably approached differently when involving adults, as there is potentially a higher level of safeguarding required.

 

[Ref_Dad]

My son (who referees in England [youth / mini football rather than open age]) was in this position in November 2022, and at that time I posted for advice on refchat and contacted his RDO.

Initially we were told by the RDO that he'd just have to have a gap in refereeing from the date of his 16th birthday until his DBS came through:

Thanks all for the replies.

For completeness, and in case it helps anyone else in future, here is the [anonymised] reply from my son's RDO received today:

"With regards the DBS it cannot be applied for until [your son] has turned 16 of which he cannot referee youth football until the DBS is complete, the completion of the DBS can take 24 hours or even over 6 weeks by the company. Appreciate this is frustrating for a short period of time however there is no youth football around Christmas so there won’t be too much an impact upon [your son]’s ability to referee."

So it seems that (at least in our county) every U16 referee must by definition have a break in their refereeing from the date of their 16th birthday (when they can first make a DBS application) until the date when their DBS is in place. I guess it would also make sense for anyone in this situation to close all dates on any leagues with whom they are registered from the date of their 16th birthday until a couple of months after that date, in order to ensure that they aren't appointed to a fixture that they cannot fulfil.

However, a couple of days later this advice was changed (see below):

An update to the update!
I received a follow-up email yesterday from my son's RDO. He had obviously taken the query elsewhere after his initial reply to me, and came back with the following good news, with the reply including a direct quote from the RDO's safeguarding lead [see below] (it looks like it is applied at a national level, and seems to be a sensible approach that would fit with Viridis1886's son's recent experience):

"National FA have confirmed that referees must have a DBS in place, not in progress, to be compliant. The exception to this is referees who have reached the age of 16. The Disclosure and Barring Service will not process any applications for individuals under the age of 16. This leaves these young referees in a position where they will become non-compliant overnight, without means to prevent this. National FA have therefore confirmed they will be granted a grace period of 21 days, to enable a DBS application to be added to Online Disclosures and verified."

In terms of how far in advance to arrange things, my understanding is that you can't actually apply for a DBS until you are 16, but I guess you can at least ensure that you have the relevant documents available in advance so that you can apply as soon as you turn 16.

The club my son plays for & helps out at (with refereeing as needed, and assisting with coaching younger children, etc.) arranged the DBS for him as a volunteer at the club, and it was very straightforward. He simply sent his documents to the appropriate club contact on or just after his 16th birthday & his DBS was confirmed within a couple of weeks, so he didn't miss any refereeing.

If you are applying through the refereeing contact at the CFA or via another route it might be a significantly different process (I don't know, having never done it that way).

I guess the OP's RDO would hopefully be able to confirm the current rules & process in their location.

 

[Gamespoiler]

I would suggest doing it via your RDO rather than a club. Your DBS needs to be enhanced and for child workforce. If you do this through a club where you are not a coach, you are not undertaking regulated activity with that club so the can’t (shouldn’t) apply for an enhanced DBS. I would strongly suggest that once your DBS is done, you immediately subscribe to the DBS update service to avoid you having to have a new DBS every three years. It also means if you go to do any other work with children, you also won’t need a new DBS. I regularly complete DBS applications as part of my job and at the moment, once all the application and ID stuff has been submitted, the turnaround is around 5 days so you may get it all sorted in a week

 

[Brian Hamilton]

I would suggest doing it via your RDO rather than a club. Your DBS needs to be enhanced and for child workforce. If you do this through a club where you are not a coach, you are not undertaking regulated activity with that club so the can’t (shouldn’t) apply for an enhanced DBS. I would strongly suggest that once your DBS is done, you immediately subscribe to the DBS update service to avoid you having to have a new DBS every three years. It also means if you go to do any other work with children, you also won’t need a new DBS. I regularly complete DBS applications as part of my job and at the moment, once all the application and ID stuff has been submitted, the turnaround is around 5 days so you may get it all sorted in a week

More importantly the enhanced DBS is role specific. For example I needed a separate DBS for refereeing from the one needed for teaching. This can be avoided by enrolling for the auto renewal scheme.