AD v Disclosure & Barring Service: [2023] UKUT 280 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Jones on 7 November 2023.
Read the full decision in .
Judicial Summary
The decisions of the Disclosure and Barring Service taken on 20 May 2020 and 12 April 2021 to include and retain the Appellant’s name on the Children’s and Adults’ Barred Lists did not involve any mistake on a point of law nor were they based upon material mistakes in findings of fact. The decisions of the DBS are confirmed.
Nonetheless, the Tribunal draws the DBS’s attention to paragraphs 108-117 of the decision concerning what matters should be considered on any future review as to whether the Appellant should be removed from the lists and the Tribunal’s view as to the outcome of such a review.
The Tribunal considered an expert psychologist report prepared on behalf of the Appellant in late 2020 as to the low risk of harm (by way of unprofessional or inappropriate behaviour) he poses to vulnerable adults or children. The Tribunal analysed the DBS’s reasons for rejecting this report contained within the DBS’s review decision in 2021 as part of the Tribunal’s assessment of the rationality and proportionality of the DBS’s decision not to remove the Appellant from the lists.
The Tribunal further considered the contents of an updated psychologist’s report in 2022 and whether a fresh decision not to remove him from the lists would now be rational or proportionate if taken in any further review under paragraphs 18 or 18A of Schedule 3 to the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, whether conducted before or after the expiry of the minimum barring period in May 2025.