[2025] UKUT 040 (AAC)

In our view, and in light of our conclusion that DBS made no mistake in the findings of fact on which its decision was based, it cannot be said that DBS’s decision to include KH in the adults’ barred list was wrong in law by being irrational, perverse, or a decision no reasonable barring body could have made on the evidence before it. As to whether DBS’s decision was disproportionate (and so mistaken in law), proportionality is at heart a balancing exercise, with, on the one side, the risk KH posed to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults, and, on the other side, the detriment to KH of her being barred (being that he would be unable to work with vulnerable adults). It is well established that in striking this balance, appropriate weight must be given to DBS’s views on safeguarding risk, as this is its specialist field; as well as to public confidence in the safeguarding of vulnerable persons. In our view, and given that DBS’s decision was a rational one, the balance is struck in favour of avoiding the safeguarding risk posed by KH. DBS’s decision was not, therefore, mistaken in law by reason of being disproportionate.