Ban on using subject access requests to disclose convictions

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.