Disclosure & Barring Service Clearance
The MB ChB Programme requires you to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (and/or police check equivalent, for those who have been residing overseas) on entry to the Programme, and reserves the right to request subsequent checks.
You will be contacted before you join the Programme at either Foundation Year, Year 1, Year 3 as a Direct Entry student, or Year 1 of the GEM Pathway, with information on what you need to provide. It is important that you act on any requests as soon as possible and follow the instructions carefully. Not doing so will impact on your ability to participate in the Programme and you may be excluded.
If a positive disclosure is made, the School would need to investigate whether the disclosure affects your suitability to commence the Programme (see the University’s guidance for applicants with a criminal conviction) and you would be invited for an initial meeting to discuss this.
Students are not permitted to enter into a clinical environment until the full DBS check (or equivalent) clearance process is complete, i.e. Year 2/GEM pathway students may not attend GP or Hospital Visits as part of Early Clinical Experience and direct entry students entering Year 3 may not begin any clinical studies. This could affect your progression on the Programme. Students who are joining directly into Year 3, and who have not yet received their disclosure certificate, will be asked to sign a declaration to confirm that they understand they are commencing their studies subject to satisfactory DBS clearance. They will be able to attend non-clinical activities (e.g. induction week) only but will not be able to start any placement activity.
Please note that it is your responsibility to keep a copy of your disclosure certificate for your own records when it is received from the DBS. The University does not receive a copy of the certificate and will therefore not be able to provide you with a copy. If you do not receive your certificate for any reason you will need to contact the Disclosure and Barring Service directly and can only request a reprint within 3 months of the result. If you wish to sign up for the DBS Update Service, you must register to sign up to this within 30 days of your DBS certificate being issued and will be required to pay an annual subscription fee
Once you have commenced the MBChB Programme (including during any interruption or intercalated degree), you are responsible for informing the Programme immediately if you are being investigated in relation to any crime or if you receive any charges, convictions, cautions, warnings or reprimands – or other criminal penalty.
Please refer to the GMC guidance, Achieving Good Medical Practice section Cooperating with legal and regulatory requirements for further information.
At the start of each year of the Programme you must complete an internal Criminal Record Self Declaration Form (CRD). You will be provided with the CRD online form by the Programme and instructed to complete this at the appropriate time.
You must disclose, on the CRD form, all information relating to any charges, convictions, cautions, warnings or reprimands (including: any criminal offence, police caution, penalty notice for disorder, community resolution order or fixed penalty notice*), which you may have received either in this country or in other countries since last signing the CRD form or completing a DBS check, and also disclose any information relating to criminal proceedings against you that might be in progress at the time of signing the CRD form.
* Please note that you do not need to tell the Programme about payment of a fixed penalty notice for road traffic offences, in line with GMC guidance.
Your annual CRD submission data will be retained however this would not be sufficient proof to inform a third party who may have requested you undergo a DBS check.
Any information you provide is treated in accordance with the data protection act and may not necessarily lead to a reconsideration of your position on the programme.
However, failure to disclose, at the time or on the CRD form, any information which may be provided to us at a later date, for example by the DBS or the Police, through the enhanced disclosure or the Common Law Police Disclosure, or by any other means, will be viewed most seriously and will result in a referral to the Concern Review Panel for consideration under the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Fitness to practise.
If you are in any doubt, or need to inform the Programme of a criminal matter, please contact the Fitness to Practise Team for guidance via med.ftp@manchester.ac.uk.
Please be aware that graduates must undergo an enhanced DBS disclosure prior to starting work as a foundation doctor. Contrary to any advice you may receive, cautions and convictions do not become ‘spent’ or ‘void’ in the normal manner. Therefore we strongly recommend that you seek independent legal advice, separate to that provided by the duty solicitor, if you are offered a caution to resolve an issue.
You will be required to disclose if you have a conviction or caution to the GMC, as part of the process of applying for provisional registration, and should do so as soon as the application process opens in your final year of study.
The Programme will not pay for subsequent checks for placements with third parties. If a third party requests a current DBS enhanced check for an activity relating to for instance, an elective placement (undertaken as part of the Programme only), the School will facilitate and process the application, but you must cover the cost.
As of July 2025 the costs of a DBS Check facilitated by the University via the online Atlantic Data service (including admin fee) are as follows
All in One face-to-face ID Check Route £56.94
Post Office ID Check Route £56.94 plus £14.36 paid to Post Office for ID check
If the check undertaken for the purpose of an elective came back with a positive disclosure, this would be dealt with by the Programme in the same way as described above.
Occasionally a particular placement location may require an additional enhanced DBS check to be carried out, for example, if the placement is not on an NHS Trust site. Students affected will be informed early in the academic year, once their placement is confirmed, and given full instructions on how to complete the check. In these circumstances, the Programme would pay the cost.