The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

What is the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act?

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act applies to England, Scotland and Wales and is aimed at helping people who have been convicted of a criminal offence and who have not re-offended since.

The Act allows certain types of convictions to be treated as 'spent' after a period of time. Once a conviction is 'spent' the person does not have to reveal it or admit its existence in most circumstances. The period of time, known as a 'rehabilitation period', before a conviction becomes 'spent' depends upon the sentence given, see table below for guidance.

It is the sentence imposed by the courts that counts, even if it is a suspended sentence, not the actual time spent in prison. Where the sentence given is more than 2½ years in prison the conviction never becomes 'spent', and must always be taken into account.

Cautions, reprimands and final warnings are not considered to be criminal convictions and become 'spent' immediately.

However, there are some exceptions relating to employment and these are listed in the Exceptions order to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. The main exceptions relate to working with vulnerable groups such as children, young people, the elderly, sick or disabled. Anyone applying for a job that involves working with vulnerable groups is required to reveal all convictions both spent and unspent including cautions, reprimands and final warnings.

Staffordshire County Council will ask questions about your entire criminal record if the position requires an enhanced disclosure. For all other employment only unspent criminal convictions need be revealed.

The following sentences become 'spent' after the period of time set out in the table below:-

Sentence	Rehabilitation Periods
	Age 18 or over when convicted	Under 18 when convicted
Prison and Young Offender Institution - sentence of 6 months or less	7 years	3 years
Prison and Young Offender Institution - sentence of more than 6 months - 2 ½ years	10 years	5 years
Fines, compensation order, probation (for people convicted on or after 3 Feb 1995), community service, combination order, action plan, curfew order, drug treatment, reparation order	5 years	2 years
Borstal (abolished 1983)	7 years	7 years
Detention centres (abolished 1988)	3 years	3 years
Absolute discharge	6 months	6 months

Implications of the Act on Recruitment within Staffordshire County Council

Irrespective of whether a post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act or not the authority will adopt the following systematic approach to assessment during the recruitment process when a criminal record is disclosed by an applicant:

the relevance of the offence to post applied for;
the seriousness of the offence;
the length of time since the offence;
whether the applicant has a pattern of offending;
whether the applicant's situation has changed since the offence was committed;
the circumstances surrounding the offence;
the applicant's explanation for the offence; and
evidence submitted by the applicant of their good character.

If you have a query relating to your criminal record when applying for a position please contact the Recruitment Team in confidence on 01785 276480 who will be able to refer you to the Appointing Manager for advice.

Last Modified: 05/11/2008 16:09:03

e-Mail a link to this page