Declaration of convictions’ time reduced

Ministers have reduced the amount of time that individuals are legally required to declare convictions to their employers.

From 28 October 2023, the rules surrounding the amount of time that individuals, over the age of 18, have to declare their convictions to their employer changed.

Declaring unspent convictions has been described as a “huge barrier” to individuals who have received a custodial sentence, particularly when trying to find employment.

Ministers have, therefore, reduced the amount of time that offenders have to declare their criminal conviction(s).

Harriet Gardner, Solicitor  in the Employment Law and HR Services team at Wake Smith Solicitors looks at the changes.

The following changes have been made in the new rules: 

Type of conviction	Previouslength of time required to disclose	Newlength of time required to disclose
Custodial sentence of over 4 years	Never spent	7 years (although, certain offences are exempt and never spent. This includes offences classified as ‘serious violent, sexual and terrorism offences’ in the Sentencing Code)
Custodial sentence of 2 ½ years - 4 years	7 years	4 years
Custodial sentence of 1 - 2 ½ years	4 years	4 years
Custodial sentence of 6 months - 1 year	4 years	1 year
Custodial sentence of up to six months	2 years	1 year

Harriet added: “This means that, for example, adults who are given a custodial sentence of a year will have to declare the sentence for one year, rather than four years.

“If the individual re-offends during the declaration period, the time limit would be extended. Any new conviction attracts its own disclosure period, and both the previous conviction and new conviction would need to be declared until the end of the original conviction’s active period or, if later, the end of the new disclosure period applied to the more recent conviction.

“The new rules don’t change the requirement to disclose convictions through the standard and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.”

Employers

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Posted 14/11/23