Amongst new plans to reduce re-offending, the Government is reducing the amount of time after which a conviction is deemed to be spent.
Certain jobs require disclosure of criminal records in order to determine the suitability of a candidate to the nature of the role. All convictions carry a rehabilitation period and after this period, subject to certain exclusions, a candidate is considered rehabilitated and is not required to disclose the ‘spent’ conviction to the prospective employer.
Parts of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 are expected to come into force in April 2013 which will change the periods after which a conviction is deemed ‘spent’, and is therefore undisclosable, are shown in the tables below. Please note that rehabilitation periods are different when the offender is under 18 (a youth offender) at the date of conviction, therefore a separate table sets out the relevant rehabilitation periods below:
|
Sentence |
Current adult rehabilitation period |
New adult rehabilitation period |
|
Absolute discharge |
6 months |
None |
|
Fine |
5 years |
1 year from conviction |
|
Community order |
5 years |
1 year |
|
0 - 6 months |
7 years |
2 years |
|
6 - 30 months |
10 years |
4 years |
|
30 months - 4 years |
Never spent |
7 years |
|
Over 4 years |
Never spent |
Never spent |
|
Sentence |
Current youth rehabilitation period |
New youth rehabilitation period |
|
Absolute discharge |
6 months |
None |
|
Fine |
2.5 years |
6 months from conviction |
|
Community order |
2.5 years |
6 months |
|
0 - 6 months |
3.5 years |
18 months |
|
6 - 30 months |
5 years |
2 years |
|
30 months - 4 years |
Never spent |
3.5 years |
|
Over 4 years |
Never spent |
Never spent |
For any further clarification, please call our 24 Hour Advice Service on 0844 892 2772 .
