Job Applicants Can No Longer Be Forced To Reveal Spent Convictions

Wake Smith Solicitors 26 March 2015

A new law has been brought in to try and ensure that those who have committed less serious crimes have a better chance of finding a job once they have reformed their lives. It is now a criminal offence for an employer to force a job applicant to reveal their spent convictions. The change is a new provision in the Data Protection Act which came into force on 10 March 2015. It prohibits a person from requiring someone else to produce certain records as a condition of employment or for providing a service except 'where the relevant record is required by law or where it is justified in the public interest.' The change is aimed at protecting the rehabilitation of existing offenders. Under the existing law, those who have been sentenced to periods of four years in prison or under and who do not offend again do not need to disclose their criminal past. There is a precise schedule governing when such offences are deemed to be spent. However, some potential employers have been attempting to get around the safeguards by requiring applicants to make and hand over a personal request under the Data Protection Act. This enables people to obtain personal data held about them by another person or an organisation. This practice has been taking place particularly by those seeking to employ bouncers and door staff in nightclubs. A potential employer who now tries to circumvent the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act by asking an applicant to carry out a data search can now face a fine of up to £5000.00 in the Magistrates Court or an unlimited financial penalty in the Crown Court. Simon Hughes, the Justice Minister, said 'It is vital that people with a conviction should be given every opportunity to reintegrate into society after serving their sentence and putting their offender behaviour behind them. For too long some people who may have had a minor conviction many years before faced an unfair struggle to get a job and rebuild their lives.'  The Ministry of Justice considers that it is in society's interest that ex-offenders be given the chance to reintegrate into their communities and lead law-abiding lives. The change in the law does not affect those convicted of more serious offences and who will still have to declare their previous convictions. Glenn Jaques, Employment Law Partner [email protected]

 

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