Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) on behalf of members and members of Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) invited quotations for the provision of a hosted electronic solution for the administration of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. GMCA is a partnership between local authorities and other public sector bodies within the Grtr Mcr area. GMCA membership may change over the life of the agreement, and hence either expand or contract the list of contracting bodies eligible to use this agreement, this will also be available for other named organisations outside of Grtr Mcr. Should changes occur,the details of such changes will be made available to interested parties. The following 10 Councils have fully committed to the solution; Blackpool Council, Blackburn and Darwen Council, Bury Council, Bolton Council, OldhamCouncil, Rochdale Council, Salford Council, Tameside Council, Trafford Council, Wigan Council and Manchester Council to on board in 2nd year.

The number of DBS checks per year across the 10 authorities is circa 31 000 does not include Manchester City Council including schools, licensing, volunteers and external clients. The second year may increase to 41 000 circa.

Typical (high-level) DBS processes for organisations within GMCA involve:

— identity verification for new staff (occasionally this will be done by the recruiting manager at interview). For existing staff and umbrella body checks, identity verification is carried out by the service requesting the check,

— route 2 checks, if required, are conducted by external providers,

— resolving errors and/or queries on completed application forms,

— invoicing, receiving and recording payment (for schools and umbrella body service clients). There can be significant time and manual intervention needed to reconcile checks and payments,

— recording full details of each application,

— forwarding applications to the DBS,

— applications for new starters are tracked on the DBS website,

— the applicant takes the disclosure to the recruiting manager,

— manager/HR initiates rechecks,

— full administration of the DBS update service to enable regular checks on existing employees. Times to be agreed with individual organisations,

— requirement for support when re registering with Ministry of Justice as a registered body.