Pressure for change



Campaigners believe that changes to the law still do not go far enough, because old convictions gained as children or young teenagers often act as an extra life-long “sentence”, especially for those who want to work with children or vulnerable adults. They hope that the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Re P (see above) will act as a catalyst for wider reform. 


A 2016 review of the Youth Justice System in England and Wales by Chair of the Youth Justice Board Charlie Taylor recommended that rehabilitation periods for childhood offending should be much shorter than for adults, and that once spent, childhood cautions and convictions should very quickly become non-disclosable on standard and enhanced DBS checks except for the most serious offences.



In 2017, an inquiry by the House of Commons Justice Committee produced compelling evidence of the adverse effect of the current disclosure system on young peoples’ life and employment chances, discriminating in particular, against black and minority ethnic people, and those in the care system. 



According to figures produced in November 2017, following a Freedom of Information request by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (published in the Guardian newspaper), nearly three quarters of a million convictions revealed to employers each year in DBS checks are more than 10 years old. Only around 5,000 (that is, one in 197) are considered relevant to a person’s job application.


As Law at Work goes to press, the government has agreed to consult on changing the law in line with the Supreme Court ruling.