Arthur was disappointed to hear that a recruitment agency he’d tried to register with had refused to put him on their books due to his criminal record. He had used the guidance the agency had provided which stated that any prison sentence of over 2.5 years would never be spent and, as he’d received a 3 year sentence, Arthur had disclosed this to the agency.
It was only once he started to research whether the agency’s actions were lawful that he discovered that in March 2014 changes had been made to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which meant that it was only prison sentences of over 4 years that were never spent.
Arthur found links to Unlock’s ‘Is it spent?’ poster as well as the disclosure calculator which he used to confirm the date upon which his conviction would be spent. After inputting the details of his conviction, he was pleased to learn that it was already spent.
Arthur took a print out of the result together with information from Unlock’s InformationHub site to the agency and asked them to reconsider their decision to register him.
Arthur said:
“The disclosure calculator was such a great tool and gave me the evidence I needed to prove that my conviction was spent. The agency immediately registered me and I’ve been getting regular work through them. I’ve since noticed that there are copies of Unlock’s poster dotted about their office so it looks as though I won’t be the only one to benefit from Unlock’s work.”
Lessons
The disclosure calculator does not provide a formal record of whether or not a conviction is spent but as we’ve seen in Arthur’s case, it can help to get an employer or agency to review the guidance they’re providing to job applicants.
Links
- Visit our disclosure calculator
Notes about this case study
This case study relates to our disclosure calculator.
Names and details have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.
