Customers contacting the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) between 5 to 10 September 2022 by telephone, email, or webchat may face some disruption and delays. This is due to industrial action by staff working for one of our contractors, Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS). HGS is contracted to provide DBS customer contact centre services, as well as a number of other administrative functions.
During the industrial action, HGS is putting additional resources in place to try and minimise the inconvenience to customers as much as possible.
The industrial action is not expected to have any significant impact on turnaround times for DBS checks or barring decisions. Our core services will not be affected, and employers and customers should continue to access these as normal.
Service operating hours between 5 to 10 September 2022
During the industrial action, the times of the customer contact centre will be reduced to:
- Monday 5 September to Friday 9 September: 9am to 5pm
- Saturday 10 September: Closed
Webchat services will still be available to customers in normal operating hours (Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm). Webchat becomes available to customers when they access online services such as applying for a DBS check, making a barring referral, or logging onto the Update Service.