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Unspent Criminal Conviction process

Anna Edwards

Hi

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

Parents
  • 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
Reply
  • 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
Children
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