Ban on using subject access requests to disclose convictions
[ch 3: page 63]Some employers have been trying to avoid the restrictions in the disclosure and barring regime to find out about job applicants’ spent convictions by insisting that applicants make a Data Protection Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998, requesting a copy of their own full criminal record (including spent convictions).
A new section 56 to the Data Protection Act has now made this practice unlawful. From 10 March 2015, it is a criminal offence to require any job applicant (or existing worker) to produce a copy of their criminal record using a data subject access request.