However, it is vital to ensure that such sensitive information is only retained and disclosed for as long as is necessary and proportionate.
Spent convictions
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) provides that convictions for a sentence of two and a half years in prison or less (or no imprisonment) become “spent” within a specified period of time (between six months and ten years) for someone who does not reoffend within that time. This means the person will not need to disclose that conviction to anyone once the relevant period has passed.
However, there are a number of exceptions to this rule relating to employment, particularly for jobs working with children or vulnerable people. If a person wants to apply for these types of positions they will be required to reveal all convictions, both spent and unspent, and this can be revealed on a criminal record check. The list of professions that must reveal spent convictions is extremely long and has grown hugely over the past few decades. The list now includes doctor's receptionists, dental nurses, stewards at a football grounds, traffic officers etc.
Liberty believes that the list of exceptions to the “spent” conviction rule needs urgent review.
Criminal Records Checks
If a person is exempt from the protections of the ROA their employer (or potential employer) can check their police records. In England and Wales there are two types of criminal record checks that can be issued by the Criminal Records Bureau:
- Standard Disclosure – this shows all current and spent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National Computer.
- Enhanced Disclosure – this is the highest level of check available and contains the same information as the Standard Disclosure but also includes any information that the police think is relevant and ought to be included. This can include ‘soft’ information, for example allegations made by someone against the person.
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)
The ISA was established to create a new system of vetting of those wishing to work with children and vulnerable adults. The idea behind the ISA was that one body should be responsible for overseeing who should be granted access to sensitive employments.
Another idea behind the ISA was that instead of enhanced disclosure records being sent directly to an employer, a central, independent body could make the decision whether a person should be allowed to work in sensitive positions, and allow people who had allegations made against them the chance to make representations to the ISA. However, the legislation setting up the ISA still allows employers to carry out enhanced criminal record checks on someone even if they have been ISA cleared. This continues to give employers’ direct access to mere allegations, be they malicious or not, and unnecessarily blighting careers.
Police National Computer (PNC)
A record is held on the PNC of anyone who has been arrested, convicted, cautioned, reprimanded or warned in respect of a recordable offence (being all offences punishable by imprisonment at least one year plus a number of other minor offences including begging or drunkenness in a public place). Around 10 million records are held on the PNC. Information about anyone’s convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings on the PNC is stored for 100 years from their date of birth.
Police National Database (PND)
The PND, introduced in 2010, is a nation-wide database that includes all of the information on the PNC plus all of the information held by local police forces. This includes ‘soft’ information such as allegations made against a person that does not result in arrest, and concerns passed on to the police from other bodies (such as schools or social services).