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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What will be disclosed on the different checks?
• What does 'protected' mean? 
• Do I need to disclose motoring offences when filling in my DBS form?
• I received a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) or a Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND). Will this show up on my DBS check?
• Will details of allegations, arrests, matters that resulted in no further action or not guilty verdicts be disclosed?
• Do I need to disclose cannabis warnings?
• Do I need to disclose a community resolution order?
• I am due to attend court for a pending matter. Will this appear on my criminal record certificate?
• Why are my convictions still showing after many years?
• Filtering
• I am a UK national and I have been convicted of an offence in another country. Will this be disclosed on my criminal record?
• Can I get information removed from my basic DBS?
• Can I get information removed from my standard or enhanced DBS?

This article explains whether candidates with dismissed criminal records can get a job.

An individual’s criminal record is held on a central database called the Police National Computer.

When you apply for jobs, college or university, for insurance or for housing, your employer may ask you to disclose your criminal record and complete a DBS check.

A criminal record does not necessarily mean that you won’t get a job. However, some organisations would need you to undergo a criminal record check in order to confirm whether you’re permitted to work at certain jobs as per the requirements under the law.

As with any checks, it’s the employer’s discretion whether a dismissed criminal record would affect the employability of the candidate.

Verifile only provides background check services to employers and is not involved in the employer’s hiring decision. If you have questions regarding employability, please discuss this directly with your prospective employer.

What will be disclosed on the different checks?

There are four different types of DBS checks – these are basic, standard, enhanced and enhanced + barred.

This includes information about allegations, arrests, matters that resulted in no further action or not guilty verdicts. This information is not automatically included on enhanced DBS certificates.
 

What does 'protected' mean? 

In May 2013, the government introduced a filtering system that allows certain minor cautions and convictions to be removed or filtered from standard and enhanced DBS certificates.

A protected caution or conviction is eligible for filtering and does not need to be disclosed for jobs that are subject to standard or enhanced DBS checks. In 2020, filtering rules were amended which means multiple eligible convictions can now be filtered along with all youth cautions.

If you are unsure if you should declare a conviction or caution, please speak to us or contact the DBS (Data and Barring Service).

Contact - Online DBS Check Application | DBS Check Online
 

Do I need to disclose motoring offences when filling in my DBS form?

If you were convicted of a motoring offence (i.e., admitted guilt or were found guilty in court), this will form part of your criminal record and will show up in a DBS check unless it is subject to filtering (see above).

If you received a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for a minor motoring offence, you are legally required to disclose this, even though this information may not appear on a DBS check. If you opted to attend a driver awareness course in place of accepting an FPN, again, this will not form part of your criminal record and will not need to be disclosed when filling in your DBS form.
 

I received a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) or a Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND). Will this show up on my DBS check?

No. A Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) and a Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) are on-the-spot fines issued by the police for very minor offences. If you pay an FPN or PND within the specified time-limit, all liability for the offence is discharged and the offence does not form part of your criminal record.

Will details of allegations, arrests, matters that resulted in no further action or not guilty verdicts be disclosed?

This sort of information, known as police intelligence or other relevant information, will not appear on a basic or standard DBS certificate. It is not routinely disclosed on an enhanced DBS certificate, but the police have the opportunity to disclose any information that they feel is relevant to the position and, therefore, may be included.

In determining whether to disclose this sort of information, the police must follow a decision-making framework, justifying their reasoning at each stage of the process. This framework is known as the Quality Assurance Framework. Please see the relevant documents below:

1. The Statutory Disclosure Guidance that police must adhere to when deciding whether to disclose information
2. The GD2 Disclosure Text Guidance (p6) which shows the template that police must use when disclosing information

When the police are deciding whether information ought to be included, they must satisfy three tests:

• Relevance – is the information relevant to the position/job being applied for? Under this test, the police will also consider whether the information is sufficiently current, taking into account how long ago the incident occurred, the age of the applicant at the time of the incident and their conduct since.
• Truth – does the information come from a credible source?
• Proportionality – the police must decide whether by not disclosing the information on the certificate, they are placing vulnerable groups at risk of harm or, if by disclosing it, they are breaching the applicant’s human right to a private life.

You cannot find out for certain whether police intelligence will be disclosed on your enhanced DBS certificate. However, because DBS certificates can be issued directly to employers, the police may write to you outlining their intentions to disclose information, you have the opportunity to dispute any information that has been disclosed.

Do I need to disclose cannabis warnings?

If you have been caught with a small amount of cannabis for personal use, you may have been issued a cannabis warning by the police. This differs from accepting a police caution. The police records cannabis warnings but do not form part of your criminal record and do not need to be disclosed when applying for jobs, courses or employment. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act does not cover them and does not have a rehabilitation period.

Do I need to disclose a community resolution order?

A community resolution order is an out of court disposal that the police may issue for a low-level offence including theft (under £100), criminal damage (under £300), public order and minor assault.

The police will record if you have agreed to comply with a community resolution order, but it will not form part of your criminal record. You do not need to declare this when applying for jobs, courses, or employment. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act does not cover community resolution orders and does not have a rehabilitation period. They can be disclosed as police intelligence on enhanced DBS checks, but this is unusual.
 

I am due to attend court for a pending matter. Will this appear on my criminal record certificate?

A pending matter remains an allegation unless, or until, you either admit guilt or are found guilty. Allegations are not disclosed on basic or standard DBS certificates. An allegation or pending matter may be disclosed on an enhanced DBS certificate at the discretion of the police.

If you secure employment before attending court for a pending matter, and you either plead guilty or admit guilt, you will have a conviction which you may need to disclose to your new employer.
 

Why are my convictions still showing after many years?

The police keep details of convictions and cautions on the Police National Computer (PNC) until a person reaches 100 years of age. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), Disclosure Scotland and Access Northern Ireland use the PNC as their primary source of information when processing standard or enhanced disclosure certificates.

Standard or enhanced certificates are only eligible for roles that are not covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. This means the employer may consider all cautions and convictions you have received that are not protected (i.e. eligible to be filtered from your DBS certificate).

Filtering legislation was introduced in England and Wales in 2013, in Northern Ireland in April 2014, and in Scotland in September 2015. The filtering rules are different in each jurisdiction. If your adult caution or conviction is not eligible to be filtered, it will always be disclosed on your standard or enhanced certificate even if it doesn’t seem relevant to the role you are applying for.
 

Filtering

In 2013, the Government made changes to allow certain minor offences to be removed or ‘filtered’ from standard or enhanced DBS checks. The filtering rules changed again on 28 November 2020.

An adult conviction will be removed from a DBS check only if:

1. 11 years have elapsed since the date of conviction
2. The conviction did not result in a custodial or suspended sentence
 3. The conviction does not appear on the list of specified offences

An adult caution will be removed after six years have elapsed since the date of the caution and if it does not appear on the list of specified offences.
 

I am a UK national and I have been convicted of an offence in another country. Will this be disclosed on my criminal record?

Possibly. If you were convicted in an EU country, the conviction details will be passed to the UK’s Central Authority for the Exchange of Criminal Records (UK-ECR). If the equivalent offence in England and Wales is deemed ‘recordable’, it will be added to the Police National Computer (PNC). If you reside in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the information will be forwarded to the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) and/or the Police Service in Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The UK has bilateral agreements for the exchange of criminal record information with numerous countries outside of the EU. If you were convicted in a country outside of the EU, this information may be passed to the Non-EU Exchange of Criminal Records (NEU-ECR) and updated on the PNC accordingly.

You can find out if your conviction details have been recorded on the PNC by applying for a Subject Access Request. If you find that the information has been recorded and you are applying for a criminal record certificate, your record will be treated in line with the relevant legislation as it applies in the country you are applying to. For further details about what will show on different levels of criminal record certificates.
 

Can I get information removed from my basic DBS?

If your offence is spent, or if it would be filtered out, then it won’t show up on a basic DBS check.

Outside of that, if the information on your basic disclosure certificate is incorrect, you can raise a dispute with the relevant disclosure body.

For further information about disputing your DBS certificate, please visit the Government website.

For further information about disputing your Disclosure Scotland certificate, please visit their website.

For further information about disputing your Access Northern Ireland certificate, please visit their website.

If the information is factually correct and unspent, you cannot get this removed from your basic disclosure certificate.
 

Can I get information removed from my standard or enhanced DBS?

If the information on your standard or enhanced DBS is incorrect, or if the criminal record information is not your own, you should raise a dispute through the DBS’s disputes channel within three months of the issue of the DBS certificate.

For standard and enhanced certificates, the DBS is obliged to disclose details of convictions, cautions, final warnings and reprimands held on the Police National Computer (PNC) that are not protected (i.e. eligible for filtering).

If your convictions and cautions are not protected (i.e. eligible for filtering), it is highly unlikely that you will get them removed from your standard or enhanced DBS certificate as the police do not routinely remove convictions, cautions, final warnings or reprimands from the PNC. If you believe that there are extenuating circumstances why the information on your criminal record should be removed, you are entitled to ask the police to remove it under the Exceptional Cases Procedure. Please be advised that the removal of convictions and cautions is extremely rare.

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