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The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 protects prospective employees against
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rejection for, or dismissal from, a job based purely on their past misdemeanours. If someone has been convicted of a criminal offence but is not convicted of a further indictable offence during a specified period, the individual normally starts again with a clean sheet.
The length of the rehabilitation period depends upon the sentence imposed; the time starts to run from the date of conviction. Some offences can never be eradicated, including any conviction which results in a prison sentence of more than 30 months.
If you are asked whether you have a criminal record what you have to say in response depends on whether your convictions are spent. The period of time which must elapse before a conviction becomes a spent conviction varies from 3 months to 10 years according to the nature of the offence and the age of the offender When a conviction does become spent an applicant is not required to disclose that it ever happened. Failure to disclose a spent conviction does not amount to proper grounds for dismissal or for exclusion from any job.
However, there are exceptions to this rule where an employer is entitled to use a previous or spent conviction as a basis for refusing employment. Employment law solicitor Jane Byford advises including a clause In any employment contract giving an '`example of gross misconduct which could impinge on the trust between employer and employee".
Useful weiniten, :
Department For Work And Pensions: www.tifwp.gov.uk. Criminal Records Bureau; www.crb.gov.uk. www.martineau-johnson.co.uk. www.compactlaw.co.uk.