How Care of Addresses Work for a DBS Check

A **care of (c/o) address** is an address a candidate uses for correspondence that isn't their own residential address — for example, your organisation's office or campus address. A care of (c/o) address should be treated as an **exception**, not a routine option. It's intended for the specific case of a candidate who is actively relocating to the UK from overseas and has no personal UK address yet, but still needs to start a DBS check. **Using one moves the candidate off Zinc's standard digital check and onto a manual process, so it should only be used where there's genuinely no other option**. ## How It Works A DBS check always needs two things from the candidate when it comes to the address portion: a genuine 5-year address history, and proof of address that confirms their identity at their real, current address. A care of address can stand in as a correspondence address, but it can't replace that proof — so using one requires a manual process rather than Zinc's normal digital flow. Here's what happens: 1. The candidate submits their address history as normal, entering the care of address as their current address (with a "moved in" date of the current month), and the rest of their 5-year history filled in accurately. 2. Because the candidate has no personal proof of address for a care of address, the automated online address check usually can't be cleared. It will typically stay stuck in a pending re-submission state — it can't be completed digitally in this scenario. 3. You (the recruiter) need to add a comment on the candidate's report confirming you're happy for them to use your organisation's address as their care of address. 4. You'll also need to carry out your own manual address check for the candidate's real address — often their previous or international address — and get proof of address for it directly from the candidate. 5. Once you have that document, raise a request with our Support Team. We'll check it meets the requirements, then submit the DBS check manually on your candidate's behalf. **Exception:** if the candidate does have an acceptable proof of address document that already shows the care of address (uncommon, but it happens), the check can go through Zinc's normal digital process — no manual involvement needed from either side. ## Why It Matters Proof of address always needs to be for the candidate's real address, because that's what confirms their identity — not the address they'd like their certificate sent to. This is why Zinc can't waive or shortcut the requirement even when a care of address is agreed: the address check still needs genuine verification behind it somewhere, just not through the care of address itself. ## What You Need to Do This route is entirely manual on our side, so it's worth setting expectations with your candidate upfront that it will take longer than a standard digital check. It also can't be actioned proactively by Zinc — we rely on you to flag it and provide the documents, so the sooner you raise it, the sooner we can move. In short: - Confirm on the candidate's report that you're happy for them to use your organisation's address as a care of address. - Run your own manual address check on the candidate's real address, and collect proof of address for it. - Raise a request with our Support Team along with that proof of address document so we can process the DBS submission manually. This process works well for occasional cases, but isn't a sustainable route for a large batch of candidates all using care of addresses — if you have several candidates in this situation, talk to your Zinc Account Manager or accountmanagement@zincwork.com about the best way to manage the volume.