{"id":13118,"date":"2023-07-08T12:28:43","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T12:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/?page_id=13118"},"modified":"2023-09-20T06:56:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T06:56:49","slug":"ex-offenders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex Offenders and Employment UK | Spent Conviction Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>SPENT CONVICTIONS<\/strong>: Employers must follow all <a href=\"\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/\">recruitment rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That means they need a valid reason to turn someone down for a job.<\/p>\n<p>Being convicted of an offence is not a valid reason by itself &#8211; providing it is a &#8216;<strong>spent conviction<\/strong>&#8216;.<\/p>\n<p>As a rule, there is no legal requirement for job applicants to inform their potential employers about any spent convictions or cautions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: Some exceptions apply to ex-offender employment rights (see below).<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>What is a Spent Conviction?<\/h2>\n<p>There are several different <a href=\"\/rules\/legal\/prisons\/different-types-of-prison-sentences\/\">types of prison sentences<\/a> in the United Kingdom. Having a conviction with a 4 year sentence (or less) will &#8216;<strong>eventually<\/strong>&#8216; become spent at some point.<\/p>\n<p>The time that a conviction takes to become spent is also known as the &#8216;<strong>rehabilitation period<\/strong>&#8216;. The length of this period gets determined by the severity of the penalty.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Rehabilitation Periods: England and Wales<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Custodial Sentence 0-6 Months: 2 year rehabilitation period (from the end of the sentence).<\/li>\n<li>Custodial Sentence 6-30 Months: 4 year rehabilitation period (from the end of the sentence).<\/li>\n<li>Custodial Sentence 30 Months to 4 Years: 7 year rehabilitation period (from the end of the sentence).<\/li>\n<li>Custodial Sentence Over 4 Years: Never.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This list shows non-custodial sentences and the rehabilitation period from end of each different type of sentence.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Community Order: 1 year.<\/li>\n<li>Fine: 1 year (from the date of the conviction).<\/li>\n<li>Absolute Discharge: none.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Being convicted and under 18 when it happened means the rehabilitation period gets halved. There is an exception for sentences up to 6 months. In this case, it would be the sentence period plus an extra 18 months.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: Different rehabilitation periods apply in Scotland and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk\/content\/rehabilitation-periods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in Northern Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Criminal Record Check Exceptions<\/h2>\n<p>In some cases, the job position may require a <a href=\"\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/criminal-record-check\/\">criminal record check<\/a> (DBS). The check may show that the applicant is not suitable for the job due to a spent conviction or caution.<\/p>\n<p>In cases such as these, the employer may withdraw the job offer and not breach any <a href=\"\/rules\/legal\/community\/discrimination-rights\/\">discrimination rights<\/a>. The employer should then inform the applicant that an exception applies.<\/p>\n<p>The Disclosure and Barring Service carry out these types of criminal record checks. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). Thus, CRB checks are now called <a href=\"\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/dbs-update-service\/\">Disclosure and Barring Service<\/a> (DBS) checks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: Refusing to give someone a job because they have a spent conviction or caution is against the law. An exception would apply if the <a href=\"\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/basic-dbs-check\/\">basic DBS check<\/a> shows the person is unsuitable for the job.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Simple Cautions and Conditional Cautions<\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Simple Cautions: Become spent immediately.<\/li>\n<li>Conditional Cautions: Become spent after 3 months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Employing Ex-offenders<\/h2>\n<p>As an employer, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartsurvey.co.uk\/s\/TEAEB\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">register with the Ministry of Justice<\/a> to get further information about offering training and employment to ex-offenders.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"updated-data\">\n  <strong>Ex Offenders and Employment in the United Kingdom<\/strong><br \/>\n  <time datetime=\"2022-01-01\">Last Updated 2022<\/time>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SPENT CONVICTIONS: Employers must follow all recruitment rules. That means they need a valid reason to turn someone down for a job. Being convicted of an offence is not a valid reason by itself &#8211; providing it is a &#8216;spent conviction&#8216;. As a rule, there is no legal requirement for job applicants to inform their&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ex Offenders and Employment UK | Spent Conviction Rules<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3014,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ex Offenders and Employment UK | Spent Conviction Rules - UK Rules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex Offenders and Employment UK | Spent Conviction Rules - UK Rules\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SPENT CONVICTIONS: Employers must follow all recruitment rules. That means they need a valid reason to turn someone down for a job. Being convicted of an offence is not a valid reason by itself &#8211; providing it is a &#8216;spent conviction&#8216;. 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That means they need a valid reason to turn someone down for a job. Being convicted of an offence is not a valid reason by itself &#8211; providing it is a &#8216;spent conviction&#8216;. As a rule, there is no legal requirement for job applicants to inform their&hellip; Continue reading Ex Offenders and Employment UK | Spent Conviction Rules","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/","og_site_name":"UK Rules","article_modified_time":"2023-09-20T06:56:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/","name":"Ex Offenders and Employment UK | Spent Conviction Rules - UK Rules","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-07-08T12:28:43+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-20T06:56:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/ex-offenders\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alphabetical List of United Kingdom Rules and Regulations","item":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Employment Rules and Regulations UK","item":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Employing People | Employer Guide to Hiring or Firing Staff","item":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Recruitment Rules for Sourcing People into Employment","item":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/rules\/employment\/employing\/recruiting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"Ex Offenders and Employment UK | Spent Conviction Rules"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/","name":"UK Rules","description":"The UK Rules","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/#organization","name":"UK Rules","url":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo-white.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo-white.svg","width":191,"height":23,"caption":"UK Rules"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13118"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25615,"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13118\/revisions\/25615"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theukrules.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}