Children in employment and entertainment

All licensed children must be supervised by a registered chaperone or their own parent.

To get a licence, you must:

• live in Buckinghamshire
• have an enhanced children's Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check

Children who need a performance licence must have a chaperone. The chaperone can be:

• the child’s parent,
• a legal guardian, or
• an approved (licensed) adult chaperone.

Relatives such as:

• grandparents
• siblings
• aunts
• uncles, or
• a nanny/childminder

cannot chaperone a child unless they hold a chaperone licence obtained from the local authority where they live.

We can only consider an approval to be a chaperone if:

• you live within Buckinghamshire Council's local authority. You can check if your home address falls within our area on the GOV UK website
• you are 18 years or over

There are two types of licenses:

• professional (if you are paid to chaperone). Enhanced DBS £62 and training £35
• volunteer (if you are not paid to chaperone). Enhanced DBS £18 and training £15

• Application form
• Pay for your Enhanced DBS and your Training

1. Complete the application form and state whether you are either applying to be a professional or a volunteer chaperone.
2. Pay for your Enhanced DBS and your training if you are registered with the updating service, do not complete a DBS. Please put your DBS certificate number on your application.
3. Password - when we receive your application and confirmation of payments we will email you a username, password and other details for completing your DBS form online.
4. DBS check - once you have completed the above, call or email to arrange an appointment for your DBS ID document check. Checks will take place via an MS Teams video call, so you will need access to a computer/device with a camera. If you do not have access to a suitable device, call to arrange an alternative option. ID checks must take place within 4 weeks of completing your DBS form and can take up to 60 days to come back with clearance.
5. Training dates - Call or email to discuss booking a place for the next available session. We hold sessions once a month during the working day.
6. Attend training - The course is 2 hours and includes safeguarding and performance legislation relevant to chaperoning, and is currently run online via MS Teams. We do issue information packs by email. Payment for the training is through our website using an original Buckinghamshire Council reference number. Contact us if you have any issues.
7. Chaperone licence ID cards - ID cards are issued when all the above has taken place electronically. They are valid for 3 years from the date of issue and should be carried at all times. Hard copies will be sent at a later date.

For an annual subscription of £13 (free for Volunteers), applicants can have their DBS certificate kept up to date.

If you want to use this service once you receive your DBS certificate, register on the GOV UK website with your certificate number. You must do this within 28 days (14 days) of the receipt of your certificate.