Between April 2016 and March 2017 our disclosure calculator was used by over 50,000 people who were looking to find out if and when their caution/conviction would become spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Although we’re delighted to see so many people using the tool, it makes it even more important that we’re constantly looking at ways of improving it.

With more people being given relevant orders as part of their court disposals (for example, sexual harm prevention orders, hospital orders and restraining orders), some of which run indefinitely, it was important that there was a way for a user to reflect this when using the tool.

So we’ve recently worked with the programmer who helped us develop the tool to make a few improvements. In particular, we’ve:

1. Added a ‘tick box’ which allows users to record an indefinite relevant order. This is important, because an indefinite order will mean that a conviction remains unspent until such time as it is given an end date. This usually means going back to court to have the order amended or revoked.
2. Added a specific sentence/disposal of “Sexual harm prevention order (formerly sexual offence prevention order)”. We’d received feedback from some users who had not chosen “Relevant order” (which is what those disposals come under) so we thought it would make it clearer for these to be a standalone option to add.

If you have any suggestions for further improvements, please email your thoughts through to advice@unlock.org.uk.