How Long Does a DBS Last? Track Staff DBS, SIA Licence and Right to Work Dates
In short
A DBS check has no official expiry date, so you set your own recheck date. How to track DBS, SIA licence and right to work dates for every member of staff.
- gov.uk says a DBS check has no official expiry date and the employer decides when a new one is needed (checked on 14 October 2026), so write your own recheck date down for each person.
- Three dates matter most in a small UK team: the DBS recheck date you chose, an SIA licence expiry for door or security staff, and the end of a time-limited right to work.
- Give every date two reminders, 30 days and 7 days before, to the member of staff and to the owner.
A DBS check does not last for a fixed time: gov.uk says it has no official expiry date, and that it is up to the employer to decide when a new check is needed. So the real question for an owner is not "when does it expire" but "when did we decide to check again, and who will remember".
That second part is where small UK cleaning companies, cafés, pubs and shops slip. The recheck date, the SIA licence expiry and the date a worker's right to work runs out all sit in different places, and nobody is reminded until a client, an inspector or the worker asks.
How long does a DBS last, and how often should it be renewed?
There is no single number, and that is exactly why it gets forgotten. Here is what gov.uk says, from its page on DBS checks for employers, checked on 14 October 2026:
- No expiry date. gov.uk says a DBS check has no official expiry date.
- The employer decides. gov.uk says it is up to you to decide when a new check is needed.
- The Update Service. gov.uk says that if the applicant has signed up for the DBS Update Service, you can check online whether their certificate is up to date. Its Update Service page says a subscription lasts for one year, so the subscription has a renewal date even though the certificate does not.
In practice the "how often" comes from you or your client. A school or a care client may write a recheck period into the cleaning contract; your own policy may say every three years. Whatever the rule, it only works if each person has a date against their name. A rule of "every three years" with no dates is a rule nobody can follow.
The three staff dates a small UK business forgets
Most owners can name the documents. What they cannot do is say, today, whose date runs out next. These three are the usual culprits:
| Document | What sets the date | The date to write down |
|---|---|---|
| DBS check | Your policy or your client's contract | The recheck date you chose |
| DBS Update Service | The staff member's yearly subscription | The day the subscription year ends |
| SIA licence (door supervisors, security staff) | The licence itself | The expiry date printed on the licence |
| Time-limited right to work | The worker's permission to work | The day that permission ends |
Two of these come straight from gov.uk. On the SIA licence renewal page, checked on 14 October 2026, gov.uk says a licence holder can apply to renew 4 months before the current licence expires, and that any time left on the current licence is added to the new one. So renewing early costs the worker nothing, and a reminder 30 days out is a last call, not an early one.
On right to work, gov.uk's right to work checks page, checked on 14 October 2026, says that if an employee's right to work is time-limited, the documents are checked again when it is due to expire. The same page says to record the date the check was made and keep copies during the person's employment and for 2 years after they stop working for you. The Home Office also published a new employer's guide to right to work checks, dated 1 October 2026, which is worth reading if you have not looked at it this year.
This is general information, not legal advice: check with gov.uk, the DBS, the SIA or an employment lawyer for your case.
Why a spreadsheet of expiry dates does not work
Plenty of owners start with a tab called "DBS and certificates". It fails in the same three ways every time:
- Nobody opens it. A spreadsheet only warns you when you look at it, and the week you need it is the week you are covering shifts yourself.
- The person never hears. Even if you spot the date, the worker still has to be told, chase the renewal and send you the new one.
- The new copy overwrites the old. When the renewed certificate arrives, the old file is deleted or lost, and with it the record of what you checked and when.
What works is the opposite of all three: the date sits next to the document, the reminder goes to both people without anyone opening anything, and the new copy is kept alongside the old.
The 30 and 7 day routine
Give every dated document two reminders. Thirty days before is time enough to book a new DBS check, apply for the SIA renewal or arrange the right to work follow-up check. Seven days before is the warning that it has not happened yet.
- Put a date against every DBS check, Update Service subscription, SIA licence and time-limited right to work, one per person.
- 30 days before: the staff member is reminded, and so are you. They start the renewal; you note it on the rota if they will need time off for it.
- 7 days before: if the new document is not in yet, phone them. Do not wait for the day.
- When the new one arrives, check it, approve it, and keep the old copy with it.
- Once a month, glance at everything marked as expiring, so nothing depends on a reminder alone.
A worked example: a cleaning company in Leeds
Priya runs an office and school cleaning company in Leeds with 14 cleaners. One school client's contract says every cleaner on its site has an enhanced DBS check renewed every three years. Two of her cleaners have permission to work in the UK that ends on a fixed date.
- Daniel's last enhanced DBS check was in December 2023, so Priya's recheck date for him is 3 December 2026. The reminders go on 3 November and 26 November.
- Ana's right to work is time-limited and ends on 15 January 2027. Her reminders go on 16 December and 8 January, both to Ana and to Priya.
On 3 November Daniel gets the reminder on his phone and starts his new DBS application the same week. On 16 December Ana sends Priya her new share code for the follow-up check, and Priya does the check, records the date and keeps the copy. Nothing about either date lives in Priya's head or in a spreadsheet tab.
How Shiftelio tracks DBS, SIA and right to work dates
Shiftelio is a staff rota, clocking in and staff records app for small businesses. Expiry dates live in Staff documents, where you build the checklist of documents you ask staff for.
Open Staff documents, then Checklists, and open your checklist or tap New checklist. Tap Add document, give it a name such as DBS recheck due or Right to work valid until, and under How will they send it? choose Date. Add a Photo document beside it for the certificate itself.
Under the Date document, the switch Expiry date - remind 30 and 7 days before decides whether the date gets reminders. If the name already says "expiry", "valid until" or "renew", it is on by itself. Tap Save changes.
Tap Ask staff. Each person fills in their date and sends the photo from their own phone, and you approve it in People.
From 30 days before the date, the document shows Expiring soon, and after the date it shows Expired. 30 days and 7 days before, the staff member gets a phone notification asking them to send the renewed one, and every owner gets one naming the person and the document. Tap Renew to ask for that one document again: they get a notice, and the old file stays saved.
The bit people notice is the last one. When Daniel sends his new DBS certificate, the one from 2023 is still there under his name, so you can show a client what you checked and when.
Which app reminds staff before a DBS, SIA licence or right to work date runs out?
Questions owners ask
How long does a DBS check last?
It has no official expiry date. gov.uk says it is up to the employer to decide when a new check is needed, so set your own recheck date for each person and write it down.
How often should a DBS be renewed?
There is no national rule for every job. Your own policy or your client's contract sets it, often every few years; the Update Service lets you check a subscribed certificate online in between.
When can an SIA licence be renewed?
From 4 months before it expires, gov.uk says. Any time left on the current licence is added to the new one, so there is no reason to leave it late.
What happens when a worker's right to work is time-limited?
gov.uk says the documents are checked again when the right to work is due to expire. Put that date against their name with reminders 30 and 7 days before.
Can Shiftelio remind staff before their certificate expires?
Yes. Turn on the expiry switch on a Date document in Staff documents, and the staff member and every owner are reminded 30 and 7 days before the date.