The consultation covers robbery, supplying drugs to a child, violent disorder, affray and actual bodily harm. Disclosure would still last a lifetime for people given longer custodial sentences.
The UK government is consulting on plans to end automatic lifelong disclosure of some convictions received under 18 in England and Wales. The proposed limits would apply to standard and enhanced DBS checks used for jobs including teaching, early-years work, social work, healthcare and transport, including taxi driving.
Current guidance says convictions for specified offences and all convictions resulting in custody, including suspended sentences, are always disclosed on those checks. The specified list generally covers serious violent or sexual offences or offences relevant to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
Justice minister Jake Richards told The Guardian that the government wants people to have a second chance to work and turn away from crime where it is safe. Ministers say the proposals would boost youth employment.
Under the proposals, the disclosure period for the five named offences would depend on the sentence:
| Sentence | Disclosure period |
|---|---|
| No custodial sentence | 5.5 years |
| Custody of two years or less | 11 years |
| Longer custodial sentence | Lifetime |
The consultation also proposes ending disclosure for convictions resulting in a fine, which currently have a six-month disclosure period. Other proposals would end automatic disclosure of out-of-court resolutions and remove a rule that extends the time before a conviction becomes spent if another conviction occurs during the rehabilitation period.
The former presidential contender faces charges over an alleged scheme involving a Romanian businessman. His wife denies the charges and says they are politically motivated.
The process of deciding which records appear automatically on a standard or enhanced certificate is called filtering. For jobs covered by filtering, protected convictions and cautions need not be disclosed to employers, and employers cannot take them into account.
Under current guidance, non-specified convictions that did not result in custody are assessed against a filtering period of five and a half years for those sentenced under 18 and 11 years for adults. Unspent convictions remain disclosable. These existing rules are distinct from the proposal covering the five named offences.
A conviction becoming spent does not necessarily mean it is filtered: standard and enhanced checks include unspent convictions and conditional cautions, as well as spent records that meet the disclosure rules. Police can also include information about a filtered offence on an enhanced certificate if they consider it relevant to the position and appropriate to disclose.
The proposals would need to become law before they change applicants’ disclosure obligations.
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