Recommendation 11

Each DV clearance is normally reviewed after seven years to ensure that individuals’ circumstances have not materially changed and that the initial clearance remains valid. In 2018 the Cabinet Office Government Security Board first took the decision to implement a 12-month extension to some renewals to help UKSV recover performance at that time. It repeated the decision in 2019, and then again in April 2020 to help cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on operations. In 2021–22, however, all DV renewals that had previously been extended came back up for renewal and were not extended again, meaning that a backlog of cases needed processing.26 In April 2022, the Government Security Steering Group directed UKSV to extend renewals again to focus on reducing the backlog of new DV clearances that had developed. The NAO reported that both UKSV and its customers acknowledge that another extension of renewals carries security risks that are uncomfortable.27