WIREDGOV

Changes to criminal records checks will continue to protect the public while ensuring that employers no longer have access to certain old or minor cautions and convictions.

Legislation has been laid by the government which will filter certain old or minor offences from checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Criminal records checks

This means old and minor cautions and convictions will no longer appear on checks which employers request for positions where the applicant will be working unsupervised with children and vulnerable adults.

Serious violent and sexual offences, offences with a custodial sentence and multiple offences regardless of their nature will not be subject to change and will remain on checks.

The changes will affect thousands of volunteers and workers who apply for jobs that require a DBS check each year including teachers, doctors, nurses and care home workers.

Adult cautions will be filtered from records after a period of six years. Cautions and equivalents administered to a young offender will be filtered after two years. However, a caution would only be filtered if it was not one of the offences specified as never being eligible for filtering. This list includes serious violent and sexual offences. 

Convictions

A conviction received as a young offender resulting in a non-custodial sentence will be filtered from criminal records checks after five and a half years. An adult conviction resulting in a non-custodial sentence will be filtered after a period of 11 years.

A conviction will only be filtered if there is no other offence on the individual's record. As with cautions, a conviction would only be filtered if it was not one of the offences specified as never being eligible for filtering.

The new checking system is due to be implemented within one week following Parliamentary scrutiny.

Criminal records checks are one tool employers use to make informed recruitment decisions. They have a professional duty to ensure staff are properly managed and supervised and that, if they have concerns, information is referred to both the police and the DBS.

In 2011/12, more than four million people applied for a criminal records check.