A report considered by Maidstone Borough Council’s Democracy and General Purposes Committee on 26 October 2026 set out two options on whether to introduce Disclosure and Barring Service checks for councillors, noting there is no legal requirement to do so and that a check would not affect a councillor’s right to hold office.
Maidstone Borough Council’s Democracy and General Purposes Committee considered on 26 October 2026 whether to introduce Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for its 49 councillors, following a request from members to examine the idea.
A report prepared by the Principal Democratic Services Officer set out two options: commissioning officers to draft a voluntary protocol on DBS checks for review at a future meeting, or doing nothing and maintaining the current position.
Legal position
The report made clear that there is no legal requirement for councillors to undergo DBS checks. Candidates standing for election are already required to declare they are not disqualified under several pieces of legislation, including the Local Government Act 1972 and the Elections Act 2022, and it is a criminal offence to make a false statement on nomination papers.
In 2024, the then Minister for Local Government encouraged unitary and upper-tier authorities to carry out enhanced DBS checks for councillors being considered for appointment to committees involved in decisions on children’s services or services for vulnerable adults. However, as a district authority, Maidstone Borough Council does not have committees or decision-making positions relating to those services. The report concluded there was therefore no basis for introducing standard, enhanced or enhanced-with-barred-list checks, though basic DBS checks — which show unspent convictions and which any person can apply for — could be introduced voluntarily.
Cost and practicalities
If a voluntary protocol were adopted, the financial cost would be £20 per DBS check. For all 49 councillors, the total cost would be £980, according to the report.
Officers noted that introducing DBS checks is not straightforward because there is no statutory basis for doing so and, crucially, the outcome of a check would not affect a councillor’s legal status as a councillor. Any protocol would need to address what would happen if a check revealed an unspent conviction, and would have to be agreed by Full Council.
Officers stated there was no preferred recommendation from their perspective, but noted that option one would commit officers to producing a protocol where no statutory requirement exists. If the committee chose to proceed, a draft protocol would be brought back for consideration at the committee’s next meeting in February 2027.
Committee’s decision
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.
Sources
- Maidstone Borough Council — Democracy and General Purposes Committee, 26 October 2026 (agenda and papers)
- DBS Checks for Councillors — report to Democracy & General Purposes Committee (Maidstone Borough Council, 26 October 2026)
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