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6 Unspent Criminal Conviction process

4 Oct, 2019 14:43

I'm currently completing a L5 HR Consultant Apprenticeship and am about to embark on a research project for one of my units. My aim is to investigate the current policy and guidelines within my organisation for recruiters making decisions on whether to progress applicants who state they have an unspent criminal conviction.

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 entitles all employers to take into account unspent convictions when determining whether an applicant is suitable for the role applied for, but I was really hoping to hear from other organisations as to the process they take when they are faced with applicants who have unspent convictions. Does your organisation have a policy or framework to follow when making these decisions? What considerations do you make when looking at applicants with unspent convictions? At what point (if any) do you ask candidates to declare they have an unspent conviction? Etc.

Any info I can get from other organisations would be a great addition to my current research.

Many thanks

Anna

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Paul | 0 Posts

6 Oct, 2019 17:13

www.bitc.org.uk/.../whybanthebox
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Keith | 0 Posts

7 Oct, 2019 08:50

We too have recently signed up to Ban the Box and think thats the direction of travel most organisations will be going in. Clearly there will be a small number of exceptions where particular circumstances apply
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Nina Waters | 0 Posts

7 Oct, 2019 13:50

I work in a school so we have a process for dealing with any convictions that are declared on an enhanced DBS certificate or via an overseas check, clearly treating any declared conviction in the strictest confidence. I know that's not quite the question you were asking but it might be useful context.

Our process involves a risk assessment based on a number of factors - including time since conviction, patterns of offence, efforts not to re-offend (eg rehabilitation course), opportunities within the job for re-offending, safeguards that could be put in place to reduce risks, contact with others (including those deemed vulnerable), supervision available etc. The candidate would be interviewed as part of the discussions, and any agreement (or otherwise) to proceed with appointment signed off at the highest level.

For obvious reasons, some offences make it impossible (and illegal) to be employed in a school (healthcare, social care etc), but where it is not so clear cut, the risk assessment approach works well.

Hope that helps.

Nina
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Anna Edwards | 0 Posts

18 Oct, 2019 14:27

Thank you all for your input, really helpful!
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Nick Hayes | 0 Posts

2 Dec, 2019 13:49

I would follow the risk assessment route as outlined by Nina. Its one I have followed previously when being asked by managers in receipt of applications with unspent convictions.
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Fiona | 0 Posts

16 Dec, 2019 13:15

I work in a regulated sector and we have to DBS check everyone - some to Standard and some to Enhanced. Even spent convictions, cautions etc will show up in the results. We expect people to declare in advance and take a dim view of anyone who doesn't. When we get a DBS that isn't 'clear' we interview the candidate about what actually happened (although we have no way of checking this is true or not), and do a risk assessment on an individual basis. This will take into account the type of work they will be doing, the type of offence/caution, timescale (a surprising number of people have some youthful indiscretions) and number of offences, and their explanation.
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