Criminal convictions

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 says individuals whose convictions are regarded as “spent” after a period of rehabilitation do not have to declare those convictions when applying for a job, unless they work in certain specified areas of work such as nursing or teaching. Section 4(3)(b) of the Act also makes it unfair to dismiss someone because of a spent conviction, or to prejudice their employment in any way.

The period of rehabilitation varies according to the sentence and the age when convicted, although sentences of at least 30 months served in a prison, youth custody or a young offenders’ institution are never spent. The different periods of rehabilitation are set out in section 5 of the Act: for example, a conviction of less than six months’ imprisonment would be spent after seven years.

In Wood v Coverage Care [1996] IRLR 264, an employee with past convictions was made redundant. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that her employer was entitled to refuse to consider her for alternative employment in a residential home for the elderly, an area of employment where convictions were never spent. The fact that her duties were only administrative was not relevant.

Although in most cases it is unfair to dismiss someone because of a spent conviction, an employee must still meet the normal qualifying conditions for unfair dismissal, including length of service (see Chapter 10), in order to bring a claim. If a conviction is not spent, but the employer has not asked for details of convictions, there is no obligation on the employee to disclose it.