South Wales-based Complete Background Screening (CBS) is helping universities across the UK manage high volumes of DBS checks with greater speed and accuracy through its purpose-built platform, UniPro.
The update comes as universities face increasing scrutiny over student placement safeguarding and new DBS ID-checking guidance which came into force this month.
The system has already made a measurable difference at Cambridge’s Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), where it helped the applicant services team cut turnaround times, reduce admin work, and achieve their best-ever clearance rates.
ARU screens between 2,500 to 2,600 students each year, many preparing for placements in regulated sectors such as nursing, education, and social care. Before partnering with CBS, applicants and staff were often left waiting on critical DBS results.
Rachel Bedgood, CEO of CBS, said universities are under real pressure to get DBS checks done quickly and 
correctly. “Placements can’t go ahead without clearance, so any delay can affect students, NHS partners and course schedules. We built UniPro to take that stress away, giving universities confidence that every check is handled correctly and transparently.”
CBS worked closely with ARU during onboarding, providing ready-to-use communication templates and hands-on guidance so the team could adapt the system to their existing process. UniPro now links directly with ARU’s automation bot, known as Angela, feeding results straight into their internal system. It has become one of the university’s smoothest-running digital tools.
Sean Rowlatt, Senior Admissions Manager at ARU, said working with CBS has made a real difference:
“The CBS team handled most of the setup and supported us every step of the way. The process is smoother, faster, and less stressful for everyone involved. Students get cleared faster, and we spend less time chasing forms.”
The results speak for themselves. In ARU’s first full cycle using UniPro, 89% of applicants were cleared. This was a record high. Average turnaround times are now 48 hours, and the team has been able to focus more on student support instead of admin tasks.
Rachel said it’s not just about speeding things up but about building a process that teams can trust. “Our goal is to give universities full visibility of where every check is, without the manual tracking or back-and-forth emails that can cause mistakes.”
UniPro allows universities to manage entire student cohorts in one secure place. It captures ID, right-to-work and consent information, validates international documents, and creates audit-ready reports at the click of a button.
Rachel said CBS works with institutions handling thousands of checks each term, and the same pain points come up again and again. “Spreadsheets, manual tracking, and outdated systems just don’t fit modern needs. UniPro was built to fix that. It’s flexible, transparent, and designed around how universities actually work.”
Rachel added that while technology is vital, the human side matters most. “Our clients know they can pick up the phone and speak to someone who understands their challenges. That’s what keeps the relationship strong.”
Complete Background Screening (CBS) is one of the UK’s most trusted providers of pre-employment and DBS checks for universities and other organisations. Founded in 2005, CBS supports clients across the UK and internationally, including higher education institutions, NHS trusts, local authorities, global brands, charities, G4S and ITV.
The company combines regulatory expertise with a people-first approach, delivering reliable, tech-enabled screening that helps universities and organisations stay compliant, protect students and staff, and build trust. For more information about UniPro or CBS’s work with universities, visit https://cbscreening.co.uk/service/ebulk-uni-pro/