Welcome back to another monthly roundup of the DBS processing times!
Following the release of the Police Performance Information report for April 2026, we now have the DBS turnaround times for March.
As usual, we’ve also pulled our own times to show you how long wait times are for each type of DBS check, and what could be affecting them.
We’re still whittling down our Standard DBS checking times, so thank you for your patience. But elsewhere, we’ve had some very impressive results for our Enhanced DBS checks – so stay tuned for more!
March 2026 overview of DBS check processing times for Police
- Basic: 0.7 days
- Standard: 1.2 days
- Enhanced: 11.7 days
- Aged cases (cases taking longer than expected to complete) decreased from 44,005 to 17,839
- 9 forces were experiencing delays
Police performance
The DBS commissions 52 police forces and enforcement agencies, which process over three million checks a year. However, several of these forces frequently experience challenges and delays, which leads to a backlog in cases.
Key police stats for February
- Average turnaround time: 22 days
- Aged cases: Decreased from 44,005 to 17,839
- 41/52 Police Disclosure Units have less than 100 Aged Cases – 23 of these have less than ten
- Forecast vs reality: In March, the overall volume sent to forces was 6.5k (2.5%) above forecast. This means that the DBS was 79k over forecast for the 2025/26 financial year.
Updates on the 9 key forces
- Avon & Somerset: Delays from high volume of checks (11% over forecast) and vacancies (3 FTE).
- Cambridgeshire: Delays from staff sickness and training new starters (3.25 FTE vacancies).
- Durham: Delays from vacancies (3.41 FTE), IT issues, and higher DBS forecast (5.4% above).
- Dyfed Powys: Issues due to recruitment – struggling to fill vacancies (3.15 FTE)
- Hampshire & Isle of Wight: Delays from vacancies (0.95 FTE) and trainees (4.41 FTE), but staff have been working overtime to recover.
- Hertfordshire: Delays from training new starters and 5 FTE vacancies.
- North Yorkshire: Delays from candidates awaiting vetting (3.5 FTE) and new staff still in training.
- Sussex: 5 FTE in training, causing delays – staff working overtime.
- Thames Valley: Delays due to vacancies (1.90 FTE).
Common issues
Staff vacancies decreased from 96 to 106, with 112 staff in training. However, this onboarding and training process can easily take anywhere from six to nine months due to careful interviewing, vetting, and onboarding, meaning positive effects of new staff aren’t felt for a while.
The most significant issues are still IT disruptions, mainly coming from Hampshire, Cumbria, and Durham.
How does uCheck compare?
In February, we received 82,031 DBS checks, the vast majority of which were Enhanced DBS checks. Here’s how we compare:
- Basic DBS checks: 0.5 days
- Standard DBS checks: 3.8 days
- Enhanced DBS checks: 6.8 days
Our total average turnaround time across all DBS checks was just five and a half days – a huge improvement on the Police average of 22 days.
Half of all our checks were completed in:
- Basic DBS checks: 6.5 minutes
- Standard DBS checks: 0.8 days
- Enhanced DBS checks: 1.4 days
Looking for support? uCheck is here to help
At uCheck, we aim to get your checks returned as quickly as possible. You can always keep an eye on how your checks are progressing with the uCheck portal, and we’re here to help answer any questions when you need us!
