Enhanced DBS or Ukrainian police certificate for care jobs in the UK? FAQ

Which check do UK care employers actually want: an enhanced DBS or a Ukrainian police certificate? How apostilles, translations and FCDO rules fit in, step by step.

Apostilla UK is a private company providing documentation support. We do not issue certificates, DBS checks or apostilles on behalf of any state, and we do not replace the official application process.

What this page does is explain, in plain language, which paper a care employer actually asks for and in which order to get it. For the full chain around the Ukrainian document, the Ukrainian police certificate hub on this site covers issuing, translation and legalisation in one place.

The short answer to the question in the title: for most care jobs in the UK, the employer wants a DBS check, not a foreign police certificate. A Ukrainian certificate comes into play when you have lived outside the UK recently and the employer, following Home Office guidance on overseas applicants, asks for criminality information from your previous country.

Enhanced DBS or Ukrainian police certificate: which one for a care job?

Start from what the employer names in the offer. An individual cannot apply for a standard or enhanced DBS check directly: only umbrella bodies and registered bodies can submit these, and in practice that is your employer or the care agency. So if the role involves regulated activity with children or vulnerable adults, the DBS route is not something you arrange alone.

A Ukrainian police certificate answers a different question. It covers the period you lived in Ukraine, which a DBS check by definition cannot. Employers who follow Home Office guidance on criminal records checks for overseas applicants use it to see your history before you arrived, and many care providers ask for both when a candidate moved to the UK recently.

One more distinction saves people a lot of confusion: an ACRO Police Certificate is yet another document, issued by ACRO for visa and immigration purposes. It is not a DBS certificate and not a Ukrainian certificate. Before ordering anything, ask which of the three the employer means.

How it works?

The DBS side is straightforward once the employer is involved: they submit the application through their registered body, DBS processes it and the certificate goes to you. Your part is providing accurate personal details and every address you have lived at.

The Ukrainian side runs through the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, which issues certificates of absence (or presence) of a criminal record. The request is submitted in electronic form through the ministry’s electronic service, and service centres of the ministry do not issue paper certificates. If you are applying from outside Ukraine, the application goes to the country of origin or to the relevant embassy in the UK, as set out in Home Office guidance.

For a UK employer to actually read the Ukrainian document, plan a certified translation by a recognised translator. And if anyone asks for an apostille on it, remember the rule that trips people up: documents issued outside the UK cannot be legalised by the UK service. A Ukrainian document gets its apostille in Ukraine.

Which countries accept an apostilled document?

An apostille works between countries that joined the Hague Apostille Convention: the receiving country accepts the apostille stamp instead of any further legalisation. For countries outside the convention, the route is embassy attestation, where the embassy of the destination country legalises the document after the home authority.

In the UK, only the FCDO can issue apostilles on official documents, and the work is done by the Legalisation Office, which sits inside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It checks the signature, stamp or seal and attaches the apostille. If you want to double-check a UK apostille later, paper or electronic, you can verify it online using the issue date and the apostille number.

What happens if my document is rejected by the FCDO?

In most cases, rejection comes down to eligibility, not bad luck. The Legalisation Office accepts documents from UK courts with a wet seal, from public registries such as UK birth certificate, UK marriage certificate and UK death certificate records or Companies House certificates, and from government departments with an official signature. Other paperwork, like a power of attorney or a copy of a passport, needs to be certified by a UK public official, meaning a notary or a solicitor.

Two categories are worth memorising. Documents issued outside the UK are refused, because they get legalised in the country that issued them. And the e-Apostille route is not available for civil status certificates, ACRO police certificates or DBS certificates in England and Wales, as the FCDO sets out in its legalisation guidance on gov.uk. If your document falls into one of these groups, resubmitting will not change the outcome; you need a different document instead.

If a rejection leaves you stuck, the Legalisation Office can be contacted directly: phone +44 20 4623 3100, fax +44 1908 716 911 (contact details published via the Hague Conference on Private International Law). Before you call, have the document and the rejection reason in front of you; it makes the conversation twice as useful.

A typical scenario: two checks, one start date

Situation: a candidate is offered a care assistant role and has lived in the UK for under a year. The offer letter asks for an enhanced DBS check and a police certificate from the previous country of residence.

Steps: the employer submits the DBS application through its registered body. The candidate orders the Ukrainian extract through the electronic service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, using the embassy route from the UK, and books a certified translator in advance. When the certificate arrives, the translation is done, and the pack goes to HR.

Ordering the work

The Ukrainian police certificate hub explains the issuing chain in detail; this page sticks to the logic of ordering. Confirm in writing which check the employer wants, because that one email decides whether you need one document or three. Then start whichever queue is longest, and let the translation and verification steps follow.

Keep every original in the order it was issued. Employers and agencies sometimes ask for the full chain: the certificate, its translation and proof of legalisation. A folder that already holds all three, in sequence, reads as organised; a folder assembled under pressure reads as a mess.

Typical mistakes and how to avoid them

• Applying for an enhanced DBS yourself. Individuals cannot; only registered and umbrella bodies can. Going through the employer is not a workaround, it is the only route.

• Asking the FCDO to legalise a Ukrainian document. UK legalisation covers UK documents only. The Ukrainian certificate needs its apostille from the Ukrainian authority.

• Expecting an e-Apostille on a DBS or ACRO certificate. These are explicitly outside the electronic route in England and Wales.

• Skipping the certified translation. An untranslated Ukrainian certificate can stall the hiring process at the HR desk.

• Posting documents for return to Ukraine. The FCDO currently states that return of legalised documents to Ukraine is not possible, so plan collection or a UK address instead.

• Ordering an ACRO certificate when the employer meant a DBS check. Three similar-sounding documents, three different issuers, three different purposes.

The safest sequence starts with one clarifying email to the employer naming the exact check. Everything after that, translation, apostille, verification, is paperwork with a known shape, and getting the order right is what turns a stack of documents into a job offer. If the Ukrainian side of the process is your starting point, the Ukrainian police certificate hub is the page to read, and the main page of Apostilla UK gives an overview of how we support document preparation as a private company.

See also

• Partner programme

• ACRO Certificate for a Child Under 18: FAQ

• I Lost My ACRO Certificate: What Now? FAQ

• ACRO Certificate After a Name Change or Marriage: FAQ

• ACRO Certificate Refund Policy: Common Questions

• Why Was My ACRO Certificate Rejected by an Embassy? Reasons and How to Fix It

This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Apostilles for UK public documents are issued exclusively by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Legalisation Office; this site is not affiliated with any government body. Please consult a qualified professional before making decisions.

FAQ

An apostille is a certificate or stamp attached by a designated authority to confirm that a signature, stamp or seal on a public document is genuine. In the UK only the Legalisation Office of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office can issue it.

For UK care jobs the employer starts a DBS check through a registered body. If you also need to prove your record from Ukraine, you order the extract from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, add a certified translation and, where requested, an apostille from the Ukrainian authority.

Countries that joined the Hague Apostille Convention accept an apostille instead of further legalisation. For countries outside the convention, documents go through embassy attestation instead.

The Legalisation Office checks signatures, stamps and seals, and it rejects documents that do not meet the rules, for example documents issued outside the UK. You would then need the correct document from the issuing country or a properly certified copy where that is allowed.

Apostilla UK is a private documentation-support company. We help you prepare and route documents correctly, but we do not issue apostilles or certificates on behalf of any government.

Step by step

• 1. Ask the employer which check they need. Care providers name the exact check in the job offer: a DBS check for UK history, an overseas certificate for time lived abroad, or both.
• 2. DBS application through a registered body. Standard and enhanced DBS checks can only be submitted by an umbrella body or registered body, in practice your employer. Individuals cannot apply for these levels directly.
• 3. Order the Ukrainian certificate. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine issues the extract through its electronic service. Service centres do not issue paper certificates. From the UK, apply through the relevant embassy.
• 4. Certified translation. UK employers and agencies normally want a certified translation of a Ukrainian certificate, done by a recognised translator.
• 5. Apostille where the document was issued. A Ukrainian document is legalised in Ukraine, not by the FCDO. UK-issued documents are legalised by the Legalisation Office of the FCDO.
• 6. Verify the apostille. A UK apostille, paper or electronic, can be checked online using the issue date and the apostille number.

Helpful guides

Which UK documents can be apostilled: certificates, degrees, company and court papers, e-Apostille rules, FCDO rejections and embassy attestation explained.

Which countries accept a UK apostille, which require embassy attestation, and country-by-country guides for UK documents used abroad.

Apostille meaning explained for UK documents: what the FCDO certificate looks like, which documents qualify, e-Apostille and when embassy legalisation.

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