Rehabilitation of Offenders

The Government has amended the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 so that criminal convictions become spent after a shorter time, reducing the period that individuals are legally required to declare them to their employer.

The changes came into effect on 28 October 2023 and mean that:

Type of conviction	Previous length of time required to disclose	New length of time required to disclose
Custodial sentence of over 4 years	Never spent	7 years (although certain offences are exempt and never spent including ‘serious violent, sexual and terrorism offences’
Custodial sentence of 2 ½ to 4 years	7 years	4 years
Custodial sentence of 1 – 2 ½ years	4 years	4 years
Custodial sentence of 6 months – 1 year	4 years	1 year
Custodial sentence of up to six months	2 years	1 year

If the individual was under the age of 18 at the time of the conviction, these rehabilitation periods are reduced. If the individual re-offends within the rehabilitation period, these rehabilitation periods will be extended.

The reforms do not apply to roles where DBS checks are required.

Rehabilitation of Offenders

The Government has amended the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 so that criminal convictions become spent after a shorter time, reducing the period that individuals are legally required to declare them to their employer.

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