Criminal convictions 





The way the law treats criminal convictions when applying for a job is complicated, so it is sensible to look for some specialist support. Here are two organisations specialising in helping ex-offenders to get back to work. Both provide clear, up-to-date guidance for people with convictions:


• Unlock (www.unlock.org.uk), an independent charity for people with convictions. Its services include web-based materials and a helpline providing confidential peer advice and support; and




• NACRO (www.nacro.org.uk), a social justice charity that aims to help vulnerable people to change their lives.




What follows is a summary of the current position. 



The rules distinguish between convictions that become “spent” after a fixed number of years, depending on the offence, and convictions that, because of their seriousness, never become spent. The statutory regime setting out these rules is found in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA 74).




Individuals whose convictions are “spent” need not declare them when applying for a job even if asked about them, except in certain specified areas of work. These areas of work are listed in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and include nursing, teaching and working with young, old and vulnerable people. Charity Unlock has produced a table listing the main criminal records checks and the types of job for which spent convictions must be disclosed.




It is automatically unfair to dismiss someone because of a spent conviction or for failing to disclose that conviction where the role is covered by the ROA 74 (that is, any non-exempted role). Two years’ service is needed (see Chapter 10). If the system is working as it should, this kind of claim should be unusual, as an employer should not find out about a spent conviction if the job does not require a standard or enhanced criminal records check (see below), unless the applicant (or someone else) reveals it. 





Rehabilitation periods for community orders and custodial sentences are made up of the sentence plus an extra specified period, called a “buffer period”. In most cases, buffer periods are halved for someone who was under 18 when convicted. For example, a 12-month prison sentence is “spent” four years after the end of the sentence. Unlock has information to help people work out rehabilitation periods for different categories of offence. A custodial sentence of over four years is never spent. 





If a conviction is not spent but an employer has not asked for details of convictions, there is no legal duty to volunteer information about it when applying for a job. In practice, many employers routinely ask for confirmation that a candidate has no unspent convictions as part of the application process and some employers ask job applicants to request a “basic check” (which will disclose their unspent convictions) for many kind of roles (see page 70). 



If an employer asks about unspent convictions, they must be disclosed. A person can be dismissed fairly for lying about their unspent convictions.