What is a barred list?

You’re hiring a one-to-one music tutor for a group of school children at your primary school. A lovely candidate applies for the role, with glowing references. Before you shake hands and offer them an interview, you need a simple answer to the following question: are they legally allowed to do this work? That’s exactly what the barred lists help you to determine.

The short definition

In England and Wales, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) keeps two statutory lists: one for work with children, one for adults at risk. If a person appears on the relevant list, they must not do what the law calls regulated activity with that group - and employers must not knowingly place them in that kind of employment.

Why two lists?

In short, because the risks look different within the two groups.

• The Children’s Barred List covers roles where unsupervised contact can quickly turn into responsibility - teaching, training, coaching, certain forms of care or supervision. Frequency and setting matter here.
  
  
• The Adults’ Barred List is about the type of help you provide, not the job title: personal care, health care, assistance with finances or daily living. If the activity creates a particular vulnerability, it’s more likely to be in scope of the list. 

Working out which, if any, of these lists need to be checked is an important first step, and could mean that you need to consult a specialist service provider such as Personnel Checks.

“Regulated activity”, in plain English

This phrase might sound like a boring technicality, but it’s the hinge of the whole system. For children, this means unsupervised work done often enough to meet statutory frequency tests (or specified roles). 

For adults, it covers intimate or dependency-creating tasks - help with washing and dressing, administering medication, managing money, or hands-on support that people cannot safely refuse without fear of repercussions. As you can see, it’s highly context-dependent.

How someone ends up barred

The DBS makes evidence-based decisions about who to put on these lists. Influential factors can include criminal convictions, relevant police information, regulator findings, and referrals from employers or professional bodies. 

Some very serious offences lead to automatic barring; others go through a process where the person can send representations before a decision is made. If you remove (or would have removed) someone from regulated activity for harm or risk of harm, you may have a legal duty to refer this decision to the relevant body, even if they have already left the role.

How do you check the lists?

There isn’t a public search box. Access comes only through an Enhanced DBS check with the relevant barred list(s), and only when the role is legally eligible. 

If the job doesn’t meet those thresholds, you can’t request a barred-list check. (You might use Standard or Basic instead though.) It’s good practice to write a short eligibility note for each role, so anyone can follow those instructions more easily later on.

A barred list is a critical legal and practical safeguard. Map the duties of the role in question, confirm eligibility, run the right level of check, and record what actions you took and why. Used properly - alongside supervision, training, and  reporting routes - it keeps the workplace as safe as reasonably possible.