ADI DBS renewal in 2026: the CBS provider switch explained
Your ADI registration lasts 4 years. To renew it you need a new criminal record check, and in early 2026 the company that runs that check changed.
The order matters more than the provider. The check comes first and normally takes around 3 months. The £300 renewal comes last, and you can only do it in the month your registration runs out.
This covers renewals in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a different process.
What changed
On 17 February 2026, gov.uk still sent renewing ADIs to First Advantage's Know Your People site. You used a form there to ask for an activation email, filled in the application online, then took your documents to a Post Office, which charged £8.22.
By 5 March 2026 the page had changed. The check is now run by Complete Background Screening (CBS), and you no longer have to ask for it. DVSA starts it for you.
DVSA's privacy notice confirms it uses CBS "to carry out the enhanced check" for driving instructors. CBS submits your details to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which carries out the check itself.
How renewal works now
- DVSA emails you 6 months before your registration is due to expire. You do not have to do anything at this point.
- CBS then emails you a link to apply online for your criminal record check. If it has not arrived within 2 weeks of the DVSA email, contact CBS.
- Apply and pay £5.40 by debit or credit card. You prove your identity with documents such as your passport, your driving licence, and a utility bill or bank statement less than 3 months old. If you cannot verify your identity online, the service tells you how to do it at a Post Office, which costs £12.
- Your check arrives by post. It normally takes around 3 months to get your criminal record disclosure number, but it can take longer.
- Renew online in the month your registration runs out and pay £300. Gov.uk is blunt about it: you cannot renew earlier. Your disclosure number must be from the last 6 months.
Steps 1 to 4 are on the criminal record check page. Step 5 is the renewal service.
You cannot reuse an older check. Gov.uk says you must get a new one each time.
What you need for the online renewal
From the renewal page:
- your DVSA online user ID and password (the user ID is on DVSA's letters to you and is not your ADI personal reference number)
- your criminal record disclosure number, got within the last 6 months
- your driving licence number, if you are letting DVSA use your photocard photo
- a debit or credit card for the £300
Still on an old paper licence? You also have to print the final screen and send it to DVSA with a passport-sized photo, your ADI personal reference number written on the back.
The service runs from 6am to 11:30pm. If it goes wrong, email DVSA at customerservices@dvsa.gov.uk.
What it costs
| Item | Paid to | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal record check | CBS | £5.40 |
| Post Office identity check (only if you cannot verify online) | Post Office | £12 |
| Registration renewal | DVSA | £300 |
| Total | £305.40, or £317.40 with the Post Office check |
Sources: criminal record check and renewal pages on gov.uk, as of September 2026.
The £300 goes to DVSA through its driving instructor service, not to CBS. Gov.uk's contact link for CBS is on dvsa.cbscreening.co.uk. An email asking you to pay for the check somewhere else is worth checking with CBS before you pay.
The timing trap
DVSA's email arrives 6 months before expiry. A normal check takes around 3 months, so it lands roughly 3 months before your registration runs out, a couple of months ahead of your renewal month. That is your only slack, and gov.uk says the check "can take longer".
Two things eat that slack:
- A CBS link that never shows up. Gov.uk says to contact CBS if it has not arrived within 2 weeks of the DVSA email. When the DVSA email lands, put that date in your diary and chase CBS on it.
- Sitting on the link. Every week you leave it is a week off the margin. Apply the week it arrives.
If your registration does run out, you are off the register. It is illegal to charge for lessons unless you are on it or hold a trainee licence.
You can re-register if your registration ran out in the last 12 months, but you need a new criminal record check first, and that normally takes around 3 months too. After 12 months, you start the qualifying process again.
If your check shows something
Gov.uk says a criminal record "will not necessarily stop you from becoming an ADI", and DVSA uses the same check to decide whether you are "fit and proper" to carry on. If your record contains criminal information, DVSA will contact you, and it can ask you for your certificate.
The ADI Registrar then weighs things like how relevant and serious the offence is, how long ago it happened, whether it is spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and whether there is a pattern. The Registrar will write to you with a chance to explain your circumstances before making a final decision.
Nothing on it should surprise DVSA if you have kept the Registrar informed. You must write to the ADI Registrar within 7 days of any caution or conviction, and that includes penalty points.
If the certificate itself is wrong, raise a dispute with DBS within 3 months of the date on it.
If the Registrar decides to remove you, your name is usually not taken off the register until 28 days after the letter, so you can appeal to the General Regulatory Chamber.
If you upload your ADI badge and DBS certificate to Orbit's compliance page with their expiry dates, it sends a push notification 30, 14 and 7 days before each one runs out. That is far too late to start a criminal record check, so the DVSA email and your own diary are the reminders that matter here. The diary itself is free on Orbit: see how the calendar works.