We’re continuing to look for examples of employers who have carried out inappropriate criminal record checks.
We’re gathering this information as part of our Fair Access to Employment project and to feed into our legal strategy which aims to put an end to unlawful criminal record checks.
We’re especially keen to hear from anyone who believes that an employer has carried out a standard or enhanced criminal record check for a role that wasn’t eligible for that level of check and that employer has subsequently taken into account spent convictions or other information from the police that they are not entitled to see (so called “soft intelligence” or “local police information”).
The types of information we’re looking for
We’re interested to hear examples where:
- Employers have carried out a standard or enhanced criminal record check which revealed spent convictions or “soft intelligence” or both, AND
- The role in question was not eligible for that level of check (i.e. a standard check was carried out when the role was only eligible for a basic check, or an enhanced check was carried out when the role was only eligible for a standard or basic check).
We will review all of the evidence and advise you about your options, including potentially participating in legal action against the employer or umbrella body for submitting an ineligible check or against the DBS for processing an ineligible check.
