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What to do if your candidate doesn't know their address history for a UK Criminal Record Check.

The DBS service requires that the candidate provide their full address history for the last 5 years, in order to cross reference this information to police records. Should the candidate be unsure of their address history (for example, if they cannot remember all the addresses), we recommend the candidate check any tenancy agreements or similar documents they may hold in order to provide the most accurate information to their recollection. 

Please note, the candidate can still add hotel addresses if they have lived in one for an extended period. 

Without this information, the DBS cannot carry out a UK Criminal record check. 

There are some candidates who may not be able to provide this full 5 year address history for several different reasons. A few of the main reasons include periods of homelessness, foster care, or constantly being on the move for personal reasons. 

If your candidate did not stay in one fixed address for a period within the last 5 years - such as for one of the above reasons - this will need to be registered as a period of "No Fixed Abode". 

They will simply need to state "No Fixed Abode" in the House or Flat name of the address section. Along with this, they will need to ensure the town is set as the area in which they stayed, e.g. "London", and provide a postcode of a random property in the area.

Should the candidate be unable to add this information themselves (such as if there is no 'Edit Address' option available), then our dedicated support team will be happy to add this information to their form.  

There may be many other reasons why they do not have a fixed address, from travelling to living on a boat. See below for UK Government guidelines regarding what to do: 

DBS unusual addresses guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

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