Information for applicants with criminal records

All applicants are asked to declare any ‘unfiltered’ criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands or warmings with us when they apply.

This information will only be considered once we have assessed your academic suitability for your course and have determined that we can make you an offer in principle.

We encourage you to share this information with us as soon as possible to avoid delays to your offer or enrolment.

You are required to disclose any ‘unfiltered’ criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings. This means:

• All unspent convictions (recent or active offenses).
• Certain spent convictions which remain permanently on your record due to their serious nature.

Further guidance on what you need to disclose can be found on the GOV.UK website:   Guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975 – GOV.UK

Your information will be stored securely and will only be considered if we are able to make you an offer in principle based on your application and/or interview.

At this stage we will contact you to ask you to provide more information about the offence(s) and may ask you to complete an early Enhanced DBS Check so that we can conduct a risk assessment. This risk assessment will consider whether the criminal conviction is likely to prevent you from participating in your course – specifically placements – or is incompatible with professional standards and regulatory requirements associated with your chosen pathway. It will also assess any potential risk to the wider HSU community and consider additional conditions or support that can be put in place to mitigate these risks.

Any information you provide for the purposes of the risk assessment will be stored securely and limited on a need-to-know basis to key staff responsible for the risk assessment.

Following the risk assessment you will be notified of the outcome and if we are able to make you an offer of a place your offer letter will be issued.

More information can be found in our Admissions Procedure for Applicants with Criminal Convictions.

Some of our courses rely on you to self-declare any unfiltered convictions to us. For these courses you will only be required to complete a DBS check if a risk assessment is required.

However, several of our courses include ‘regulated activity’, such as clinical placements involving children or vulnerable adults, and will lead to professions or occupations exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. If you are applying for a course that includes regulated activity you will be required to complete a satisfactory Enhanced DBS Check and/or police check prior to enrolling for the course. You must also sign up to the DBS Update Service for the duration of your course.

If you are required to complete an Enhanced DBS Check as a course condition this will be made clear to you in your offer letter.

If you believe you already have a valid certificate covering both Adult and Children’s Barred lists please email a copy to admissions@hsu.ac.uk so that we can confirm whether we can accept it.

Please note that you will still be required to sign up to the DBS Update Service if you haven’t done so already. If your existing Enhanced DBS check was performed more than 30 days ago you will need to repeat a new Enhanced DBS check before you can sign up for the Update Service.

If your course requires an Enhanced DBS Check we will contact you to begin this process within the three months prior to the start of the course. You will need to provide copies of three forms of ID and these must be officially verified by us or a Post Office. You will also need to make payment for the cost of your Enhanced DBS. Detailed instructions will be emailed to you.

Once we have received your documentation and payment we will pass your details on to Civil & Corporate who undertake the Enhanced DBS check with you on our behalf. They will contact you to request some information, which we will verify against the information you have already supplied to us. Civil & Corporate will then run the check. Once complete you will receive your Enhanced DBS certificate and the University will receive a notification of the result.

If the Enhanced DBS identifies an unfiltered criminal conviction which has not already been risk assessed by the university we will contact you to request more information for the purposes of a risk assessment.

Yes, if your course requires an Enhanced DBS Check then you must also sign up for the DBS Update Service for the duration of your course. This ensures your DBS status is kept up-to-date and can be checked as required for the purposes of placements. There is an annual fee for the Update Service which is payable by you.

You must sign up to the Update Service within 30 days of your initial Enhanced DBS Check. Failure to do so means that if subsequent checks are required you will need to repeat the full Enhanced DBS process and pay the cost of this. You will also risk potential delays to your placements.

Currently an Enhanced DBS Check costs £58, but this is likely to be subject to a small increase for 2027/28.

The DBS update service currently costs £16 per year plus a £5 admin fee.

You are responsible for covering these costs.

If you have lived outside of the UK for a period of 6 months or more in the past 5 years you are also required to provide a Police Check from the country you are/were living in.

You are responsible for organising this check and covering the cost of this.