Do Employees Have to Declare Spent Convictions?

It’s understandable that employers will want to establish whether a prospective employee is trustworthy and of good character before taking them on. Even where criminal record checks are not a mandatory job role requirement, employers may still want to make any offer of employment conditional upon an assessment of a candidates’ criminal history. They may also want to be told of any convictions that arise after someone is hired, making disclosure of convictions a condition of employment, so as to avoid bringing their business into disrepute and mitigate recruitment discrimination risks.

Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, individuals with spent convictions are generally not required to disclose them to employers. A conviction becomes spent after a specific rehabilitation period, provided there are no further offences. The purpose of the legislation is to help people move forward without the stigma of past mistakes affecting their employment prospects.

For most roles, employers cannot ask about spent convictions or discriminate based on them. However, exceptions exist for positions involving a high level of trust or responsibility, such as roles in healthcare, education, or security, where a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check may be required. Employers must ensure that any questions about convictions are lawful and necessary for the role.

Employers should ensure their recruitment policies comply with the law and provide clear guidance to candidates about what they need to disclose.

The following guide looks at what the law says when it comes to employees declaring criminal convictions to employers, and what action can be taken against an individual for any failure to disclose a criminal conviction, either during pre-employment checks or post-recruitment.

 

The law on declaring criminal convictions

 

Section 193 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 came into force on 28 October 2023, introducing significant amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA).

The amendments reduce the periods of time after which certain offences become ‘spent’ and no longer need to be disclosed by an individual to an employer.

The rehabilitation periods that now apply are as follows:

 

Effectively, sentences under four years now disappear from disclosure requirements. This applies to both custodial and community sentences.

Certain custodial sentences exceeding four years, previously disclosed forever, can now become spent after a set period, depending on the severity of the offence.

The rules around exceptions where convictions must still be disclosed have also been tightened, focusing on serious and relevant offences.

Not all convictions are covered, and certain professions still require disclosure or formal DBS checks.

These changes directly impact recruitment, as most employers are not allowed to ask about spent convictions. Seeking legal advice remains crucial for employers to ensure compliance with the new requirements.

 

Do employees or job applicants have to declare spent convictions when applying for a job?

 

In the UK, the requirement for employees or job applicants to declare spent convictions depends on the nature of the role and whether it is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The Act allows certain convictions to become spent after a rehabilitation period, during which the individual has not committed further offences. Once a conviction is spent, it generally does not need to be disclosed, and employers are not permitted to ask about it or use it as a basis for discrimination.

However, there are exceptions for roles that involve a higher degree of trust and responsibility, such as those in healthcare, education, law enforcement, and security. For these positions, employers may require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which can reveal spent convictions if the role is eligible for an enhanced or standard check. Employers must ensure they have a lawful basis for requesting such checks and that their recruitment practices comply with the law.

For most jobs, applicants are entitled to withhold information about spent convictions without fear of prejudice. Employers are encouraged to include clear guidance in their application processes, specifying whether disclosures are required and ensuring any information provided is handled sensitively and confidentially. Failure to comply with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act can result in legal consequences and reputational harm.

It is vital for employers to understand their legal obligations and for job applicants to know their rights. This balance fosters fairness and supports rehabilitation by allowing individuals to move forward without the stigma of past mistakes affecting their opportunities.

 

Are you allowed to ask job applicants about criminal records?

 

Employers are entitled to ask applicants to disclose details of any unspent convictions as part of their recruitment process.

Asking about someone’s criminal history could form part of the written application process or be verbally explored at interview.

In practice, the employer would typically ask the candidate to complete a criminal record declaration form, which should only seek to capture information appropriate to the type of role being recruited for, or request a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

The type of DBS check that an employer can request will depend on the level of disclosure required for the position applied for. However, all employers can ask for a basic check of a candidates’ criminal record. This will show any unspent convictions and conditional cautions.

Only successful candidates should be asked about their criminal record, so that data isn’t being unnecessarily obtained on all applicants.

 

Do employees have to declare criminal convictions?

 

Applicants do not have to voluntarily disclose any criminal convictions. This means that if an employer wants to know about any criminal history, they need to ask.

Further, if a conviction is spent, an applicant usually has a legal right not to disclose that conviction, even if expressly asked by an employer to declare any criminal past.

If asked by a prospective employer about unspent convictions, individuals are required by law to disclose these during the rehabilitation period. The change in law in 2023 has reduced the amount of time that certain offences are considered unspent. Once this period has come to an end and the conviction has therefore become spent, the individual will no longer be required to disclose the conviction.

The law seeks to balance the right of offenders to rehabilitate and move on with their life, as against the rights of employers who may be justified in finding out about a person’s criminal history so as to protect their business and employer-brand.Whether an applicant is obliged to disclose a criminal record will therefore depend on:

 

• if a conviction is unspent: for every conviction there are prescribed rehabilitation periods, depending on the age of the offender, and the length and type of sentence imposed. During this period, the conviction will be classed as “unspent”.
• if a conviction is spent: for a person who has been convicted of a criminal offence but doesn’t re-offend within the prescribed rehabilitation period, their conviction becomes “spent”. The offender will then be treated as rehabilitated, as if they had never committed the offence in the first place. In most circumstances, an applicant is not legally obliged to reveal or admit the existence of a spent conviction to an employer, effectively wiping the slate clean.

 

This means that any applicant with an unspent conviction must disclose this fact to a prospective employer if asked about their criminal history, regardless of the role applied for. For those with spent convictions, at least for most positions, the applicant can withhold that information from an employer, treating themselves as having no criminal record.

 

Spent convictions and employment

 

Spent convictions or cautions do not have to be disclosed when applying for most jobs, and will not show up on basic DBS checks – only standard or enhanced DBS checks which are required in certain regulated industries and roles.

Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, certain roles and occupations, typically those involving positions of trust or sensitive areas of work, are exempt from the statutory protection afforded to applicants not to disclose spent convictions. This includes work with children or in health and social care, work in law enforcement and the legal system, or in high-level financial positions. This is in recognition that fuller disclosure of an applicant’s criminal history is relevant for these types of employment activities.

If an employer is recruiting for a post or position ‘exempt’ from the ROA, they are entitled to ask an applicant to disclose any spent convictions, although minor historic convictions may be protected. Employers are also entitled, as a minimum, to request a standard DBS check. A standard check, such as for applicants in the legal or financial sector, will show any spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the police national database. An enhanced check, for those working with children or vulnerable adults, will reveal the same details as a standard check, together with any relevant information held by local police forces.

In the context of excepted roles, employers will then need to determine whether any spent or unspent criminal convictions are relevant to the role to be undertaken, taking into account any sector-specific guidance. Each employer will be best placed to consider whether a person’s convictions make them unsuitable for a particular job, although the DBS Code of Practice requires registered employers to have a fair and clear policy towards employing ex-offenders, and not to discriminate automatically on the basis of an unprotected conviction.

In the context of non-excepted posts or positions — where the applicant is legally entitled to withhold the fact or existence of any spent conviction — an employer cannot refuse to employ that person where information about their past criminal history comes to light. This is because it’s unlawful for an employer to subject an employee to any prejudice because of a spent conviction. In practice, this will rarely arise, as employer’s shouldn’t ask about spent convictions, nor can they undertake anything other than a basic DBS check, for non-excepted roles. However, where an applicant admits to having a criminal record or the employer has found about this from a third party, this information should be disregarded.

 

Can you withdraw a job offer for failure to disclose a criminal conviction?

 

Even though applicants must disclose any unspent convictions when asked to do so, having a criminal record is not necessarily a bar to employment. This is simply the information that an employer is entitled to take into account when deciding on the applicant’s suitability for a role.

In many cases, employers will choose not to adopt a blanket refusal policy for anyone with a criminal record, but rather will consider potential candidates on a case-by-case basis. Where offences are not relevant to the role to be undertaken by the individual, employers can choose to overlook any unspent convictions. Other factors that employers may consider include:

 

• the seriousness of any offence disclosed
• the individual’s age when the offence was committed
• the length of time since any offence took place
• whether there’s a pattern of offending behaviour
• the circumstances surrounding the offence and any mitigating factors
• whether the individual’s circumstances have changed since the offending behaviour.

 

However, it’s open to an employer to recruit whom they want, provided they don’t take into account spent convictions where not legally entitled to do so, and provided they don’t discriminate on grounds of a protected characteristic, such as age, sex, disability or race. There is no legal concept of discrimination on the basis of having an unspent criminal record, where it’s a matter for the employer to exercise their discretion when making hiring decisions.

In the context of excepted roles, an employer may withdraw a job offer for any failure to disclose a criminal conviction, spent or unspent. This is because full disclosure involving positions of trust or sensitive areas of work is a strict requirement for safeguarding reasons. The only exception to this is where a spent conviction is protected.

Equally, an employer would be justified in withdrawing a job offer where a candidate fails to disclose any unspent convictions for a non-excepted role, provided the individual has been asked to make a criminal record declaration, either verbally or otherwise, during the recruitment process. This is because any failure to disclose unspent convictions goes to the issue of honesty, even where the conviction is irrelevant to the role to be undertaken, or so minor that it would have been unlikely to undermine an applicant’s suitability for a role.

Still, it’s important to remember that prospective employees are not legally required to disclose any spent convictions for a non-excepted job role, such that they cannot be said to be dishonest in failing to do so. The employer is not entitled to ask about spent convictions, and if a spent conviction comes to light, this must not be taken into account in any hiring decision.

 

Can you dismiss someone for failure to disclose a criminal conviction?

 

In the same way that any failure to disclose a spent criminal conviction would not generally provide fair grounds for excluding someone from employment, it cannot usually be used as a fair basis for bringing employment to an end. However, in the context of any failure to disclose an unspent conviction, whether or not an employer can justify dismissal will depend on all the facts.

If there’s been a deliberate attempt to conceal an unspent criminal conviction, for example, where an employee has been asked to disclose any unspent convictions during the recruitment process, or disclosure of a subsequent conviction is a condition of employment, this could be treated as a serious misconduct matter for which dismissal may be justified. Conduct is one of the potentially fair reasons for dismissal as set out under the Employment Rights Act (ERA) 1996. The position is therefore relatively straightforward here, provided the employer follows a fair disciplinary procedure to avoid any allegations of unfair dismissal.

In contrast, any failure to disclose an unspent conviction where not asked or required to do so, such that no issue of dishonesty or concealment arises, the position becomes more complex. Under the ERA, the employer could still have a potentially fair basis for dismissal, based on “some other substantial reason”, especially if the criminality is relevant to the employee’s role or carries a significant reputational risk for the employer’s business. However, the employer must be able to show that the employee’s actions were serious enough to justify dismissal.

Where the employee has not yet accrued 2 years’ continuous service, they will not be eligible to claim unfair dismissal. In cases, however, where the qualifying service requirement is met, the employer must ensure that they conduct a full and fair investigation, and act reasonably in all the circumstances, having regard to the nature of the conviction and any mitigating factors.

 

Need assistance?

 

Our HR specialists and employment lawyers can help with all aspects of workforce management, including pre-employment checks and vetting procedures and advice on your options if an employee is convicted of a crime while employed by your organisation. For specialist guidance, speak to our experts.

 

FAQs

 

What is a spent conviction?

A spent conviction is one that no longer needs to be disclosed after completing a rehabilitation period under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

 

Do employees need to disclose spent convictions?

For most roles, employees and job applicants are not required to disclose spent convictions. Employers are prohibited from asking about them unless the role is exempt under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

 

What roles require disclosure of spent convictions?

Roles in sensitive areas, such as healthcare, education, and law enforcement, may require disclosure of spent convictions. These positions often involve a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

 

Can an employer ask about spent convictions for all roles?

No, employers cannot ask about spent convictions unless the role is covered by the Exceptions Order to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

 

What happens if an employee does not disclose a spent conviction?

Employees are not required to disclose spent convictions for roles not covered by the Exceptions Order. Failing to disclose such convictions cannot be used against them.

 

What are the penalties for employers who ask about spent convictions unlawfully?

Employers who ask about or act upon spent convictions inappropriately risk legal action, such as discrimination claims, and could face reputational damage.

 

What should employers include in job applications regarding convictions?

Job applications should clarify whether applicants are required to disclose unspent convictions and specify if the role requires a DBS check or falls under the Exceptions Order.

 

How can employers ensure compliance with the law?

Employers should review recruitment policies, provide training for hiring managers, and seek legal advice if unsure about their obligations under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

 

Glossary

 

 

Term	Definition
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974	UK legislation that allows certain convictions to become spent after a specified period, meaning they no longer need to be disclosed in most situations.
Spent Conviction	A conviction that is considered “spent” under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, meaning it does not need to be disclosed to employers for most roles.
Unspent Conviction	A conviction that has not yet reached the end of its rehabilitation period and must be disclosed when requested by employers.
Rehabilitation Period	The time period during which an offence must be disclosed, after which it becomes spent and does not need to be disclosed (except for exempt roles).
DBS Check	A Disclosure and Barring Service check, which provides details of an individual’s criminal record and may include spent convictions for certain roles.
Exceptions Order	A provision under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act that allows certain roles (e.g., in healthcare or education) to require disclosure of spent convictions.
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022	Legislation that amended the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 to reduce rehabilitation periods for certain convictions.
Community Order	A non-custodial sentence requiring an offender to perform certain activities or comply with restrictions, with the rehabilitation period ending when the order is completed.
Disclosure Period	The time during which an individual must disclose their criminal record, aligning with the rehabilitation period for their offence.
Serious Offences	Crimes such as violent, sexual, or terrorist offences, which are exempt from being spent and must always be disclosed.
Employer Liability	The legal responsibility of employers to ensure compliance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act when requesting or handling information about convictions.
Fair Recruitment	Practices that ensure employers focus on relevant, unspent convictions and do not unlawfully discriminate based on spent convictions.