A DBS check for tradespeople is a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. For most trades that means a basic DBS check. It shows unspent convictions and cautions, costs £20 direct from GOV.UK, and you can apply for it yourself. Here's the straight answer on housing work. No law makes a general plumber, painter or carpenter hold one. But a lot of the people handing out social housing repairs, voids and occupied-home work will ask for it before you start.
That's most of it. The rest of this post covers when it comes up, what it costs and how to sort it this week if you haven't got one.
What a DBS check actually shows
There are four levels: basic, standard, enhanced, and enhanced with barred lists. As a tradesperson, the basic one is the only one you can get for yourself.
A basic check shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions. Anyone aged 16 or over can request one, for any job. Standard and enhanced checks go further, and the law only allows them for eligible roles, the sort of thing GOV.UK describes as healthcare or childcare work. You can't apply for those yourself. A general trade doesn't become eligible just because a client would feel better about it.
So when a contractor or housing client says "send over your DBS", they almost always mean basic. If someone tells you your bathroom fitters need an enhanced check, ask which eligible role it's for. If the answer is a school or a care setting, the check runs through their safeguarding process, not yours.
How often housing and repairs work asks for one
We track the onboarding requirements of UK work sources: housing associations, councils, repairs contractors, marketplaces, frameworks and trade schemes. At least 12 of the 557 UK work sources we tracked as of October 2026 ask for a DBS or criminal record check outright. Around 6 more point to it for site work without saying so on the page, mostly NHS estates and schools frameworks.
Here's where those requests sit:
- Social housing repairs, voids and retrofit contractors, plus the marketplaces that feed housing association work. This is the biggest group, and it often says "every operative" or "all staff and subcontractors".
- Home emergency and install networks that send engineers into private homes.
- Trade schemes and consumer badges, where the check sits next to ID and insurance. Some only ask if you regularly work with vulnerable people.
- Schools and NHS frameworks, where the check is usually higher level and handled through the client's own process.
Twelve out of 557 isn't much. That's the point. DBS isn't a gate across the whole market the way insurance is. It's a gate on specific doors: the tenant's flat, the void a family moves into next week, the building full of kids or patients.
Why do void contractors ask when the property is empty? Because the same contractor usually runs voids and occupied repairs under one onboarding. They check everyone once, so they can put anyone on either.
Do you need one? Match yourself to the table
| Who you are | What you're doing | DBS check? |
|---|---|---|
| Sole trader | Private domestic jobs you win yourself | Not required by law. Worth having for when someone asks. |
| Sole trader or small firm | Subbing to a housing repairs or voids contractor | Expect a basic check, for you and anyone you send. |
| Firm with operatives | Joining a housing marketplace or home emergency network | Expect basic checks for staff, and often for your subbies. |
| Any trade | Work in schools or clinical areas | Often a higher level check, arranged through the client. You can't get it yourself. |
| Any trade | Commercial fit-out or a new build site with no residents | Rarely asked. CSCS cards and insurance matter more. |
| Operator or main contractor | Sending subbies into occupied homes | Your client holds you to it, so you hold your subbies to it. |
When you don't need one: private jobs where nobody asked, empty commercial sites and new build. Don't pay for paperwork nobody wants. But if you're chasing housing work at all, get it now. It's £20 and a few days. Being the one who can't start on Monday because your certificate is still in the post is a bad look.
How a self-employed tradesperson gets a basic DBS check
If you're self-employed you don't need an employer to apply for you. You do it yourself.
- Go to the official request a basic DBS check page on GOV.UK. It covers people working in England and Wales.
- Prove who you are with GOV.UK One Login. Have your addresses for the last 5 years, with dates, plus your passport, driving licence or National Insurance number if you have them.
- Pay the fee. It was £20 direct from GOV.UK when we checked in October 2026.
- Wait. GOV.UK says applications usually take up to 3 days to process, then a paper certificate is posted to you.
- Scan it the day it lands. Keep it with your insurance certificates and trade cards so you can send the lot in one go.
Working in Scotland or Northern Ireland? You go through Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI instead. Check their own pages for the current process and fee.
What it costs
Direct from GOV.UK it's £20 (checked October 2026). If you go through a third-party provider or umbrella body it costs more, because they add their own admin fee on top. So budget from £20 upwards. Unless a client insists on a particular provider, go direct. You'd be paying someone else to fill in the same form you can do on your phone.
How old can the certificate be?
A basic certificate is a snapshot of the day it was issued. There's no national renewal rule. The client decides how old is too old. In our data, one install network wants a basic check issued within the last 2 years, and one trade body re-checks members every 2 years. Assume roughly 2 years unless someone tells you otherwise.
The part that needs your decision as the operator
If you run the business side (the Operator, in Plan@Job terms: the contractor business managing clients, delivery, subbies and your own operatives), DBS isn't a form. It's a judgement call about who goes through someone's front door.
I ran a London maintenance company working for housing associations and letting agents, all through subbies. When you work like that, the tenant doesn't know the subbie's name. They know yours. If something goes wrong in that flat, it's your contract and your client relationship on the line.
So here's how I'd run it:
- Ask for the certificate when you onboard a subbie, not on the doorstep.
- Decide your own rule for certificate age and stick to it.
- Remember it's a basic check. It tells you about unspent convictions. It doesn't tell you whether someone turns up on time or leaves the place tidy.
- If something comes back on a certificate, make a fair decision based on the work. Don't make an automatic one.
In some workflows a subbie can price a job before they're fully vetted. That's fine. Pricing isn't access. Do your checks before you award the job and hand over keys.
Where Plan@Job fits
Plan@Job is AI-powered project and operations management for construction and property businesses. You run clients, jobs, subbies and in-house operatives in one place. With project plans you split a job into internal stages, some done by your own team and some subcontracted. The client sees the agreed scope, price and shared evidence. Your subcontractor's identity and your internal stage costs stay internal.
The AI staff take some of the admin. Sophie Bennett checks incoming job briefs for missing information and asks the client for it. That could be whether a property is occupied or how access works. Daniel Reed follows up quotes and proposed dates and sends you a morning brief.
None of them decides who goes into the property. That's you. And it should be.
Where I'd start
If you only do private work and nobody's asked, you don't need one. If you want housing association, voids or home emergency work, get your basic DBS check this week and make it part of how you onboard every subbie. And if you're already sending subbies into occupied homes and running it all off WhatsApp, set up your operator account on Plan@Job and put the jobs, the people and the decisions in one place.
FAQ
Can I get a DBS check as a sole trader?
Yes. A basic DBS check is one you apply for yourself on GOV.UK, so you don't need an employer. You'll need GOV.UK One Login, your last 5 years of addresses and the £20 fee (as of October 2026). Standard and enhanced checks are different: you can't apply for those yourself.
Does a basic DBS certificate expire?
It has no official expiry date. It shows your record on the day it was issued. Clients and schemes set their own limits, and 2 years is a common one in the requirements we track. Check with whoever is onboarding you.
My client wants an enhanced DBS for a repairs job. Can I get one?
Not on your own. Enhanced checks are only for roles the law makes eligible, like work with children or in healthcare, and they go through the organisation that needs them. Ask the client which eligible role it's for and whether they're arranging it. If it's a general repair in a tenant's home, a basic check is what you can provide.