On the 10th March 2014 the Government introduced changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment Act 2012. These changes have altered the amount of time that convictions take to become classed as ‘spent’ meaning the subject does not need to reveal them to an interested party requesting such information (for example and employer). The general purpose of the Act is to reduce the amount of time it takes for an individual to be classed as rehabilitated.
For those employers who request a Basic Level Disclosure on their staff to confirm unspent conviction this will reduce the amount of time that information will be shown on a Basic Disclosure Certificate.
It is still the case that any employer requesting a Standard or Enhanced level Check as per the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions) Order 1975 can ask for spent and unspent conviction information (subject to the Filtering Rules).
Please see the Government Website for more information on the exact time periods involved.
