Glossary
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There are four types of check that can be carried out:
- Basic. These can be asked for by any organisation in any situation and includes information on all unspent cautions of convictions.
- Standard. These can only be asked for by employers for certain professional roles (such as a taxi driver or solicitor) and includes information on any cautions or convictions that are not protected.
- Enhanced. These can only be asked for by employers for certain regulated roles (such as nurses, teachers or therapists) and includes information any cautions or convictions that are not protected as well as relevant police information.
- Enhanced with barring. These can only be asked for by employers for certain roles which involve unsupervised work with children or vulnerable adults and includes information the same information as Enhanced checks, as well as whether you are on the relevant barring list (for children or vulnerable adults).
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For those situations which are considered exempt from the ROA, all convictions and cautions have to be disclosed, until they are filtered, at which point they are considered protected. For most cautions or convictions this is after 5.5 years for any childhood offences and 11 years for any adult offences. Custodial sentences of any kind can never be filtered.
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The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 states that after a rehabilitation period, people have a right to be considered rehabilitated. During the rehabilitation period, a caution/conviction is considered unspent. After this period, a caution or conviction becomes spent.
An unspent record will need disclosing in more circumstances than a spent record. As people move forward in their rehabilitative journey, there is less obligation on them to disclose their record in certain situations.
There are a list of exceptions to this rule under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. The exceptions apply to certain professions, legal permits and proceedings.
Our Disclosure Calculator is a useful tool in determining whether a conviction is spent.
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The Police National Computer, or PNC, mainly stores details of people who have been cautioned or convicted of a recordable offence. Other information can be stored on the PNC, including any conviction received along with a conviction for a recordable offence, even if it is for an offence that is not itself recordable. For example, driving without insurance isn’t a recordable offence, but if you are convicted of this alongside a recordable offence such as drink driving, then a record of it will be held on the PNC (rather than just on local police records, as would be the case for non-recordable offences). Between 40-45% of criminal offence convictions each year are for non-recordable offences.
Convictions received overseas may also appear if the offence is considered a recordable crime in the UK and has been shared with UK police. Information remains on the PNC until you reach the age of 100. If you are unsure whether an offence for which you have been convicted has been recorded on the PNC, you can make a subject access request to view a copy of your police record.
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The Police National Database, or PND, holds records on intelligence, crime, custody, domestic abuse and child abuse. It allows users (generally the police) to search the data records of all UK forces in relation to people, objects, locations and events. Managed by the Home Office, the PND is intended to be a tool for preventing serious organised crime, enabling the police to better protect children and vulnerable people, and reduce the risk of terrorist activities.
Practically speaking, the PND collates police intelligence held locally by various police forces. Police intelligence can be anything from an informal resolution of a criminal matter, an acquittal for an offence, a fixed penalty notice, an arrest that led to no further action , or even an unsubstantiated allegation that the police never pursued.
The PND will have a record for everyone who has been arrested and processed through custody, so even if you were convicted of a minor offence that was not recorded on the PNC, it will be held on local records and form part of the PND. This kind of information could be disclosed as part of an Enhanced check.
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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights. As an independent body, they monitor what individuals and organisations are doing in relation to data and have power to take action where inappropriate data practices are identified.
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The Independent Monitor is appointed by the government as a fully independent role, separate to both police and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). There are two statutory duties of the Independent Monitor that relate to the disclosure of information on an individual’s Enhanced criminal record certificate. These are to review a sample of police non-conviction information disclosure and to review cases where the police forces have included information on an Enhanced certificate that an individual feels is either not relevant to the workforce to which they are applying, or that it ought not to be disclosed. Individuals would first raise this concern with the DBS, who would refer it on to the police for review. If the police do not agree that there is a mistake, the dispute will be referred to the Independent Monitor to carry out a review of the case. An Enhanced certificate will be corrected if the Independent Monitor agrees with the dispute. The Independent Monitor has power only to overturn additional information disclosed, not convictions or cautions (as they are matters of legal fact).
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Handed out by the police or the Crown Prosecution Service for minor offences. Not a criminal conviction, but do form part of someone’s criminal record and may show up on DBS checks. Conditional cautions impose certain requirements and rules, which could lead to a charge if breached.
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A financial punishment given for lower-level crimes. These are the most common kind of sentence handed out (78% of all sentences in 2022).
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Most life sentences (except sentences such as whole life orders) are served for a period in prison, before being completed in the community if the Parole Board determines that an individual is not a risk to the public. Where someone in the community is serving a life sentence, they may be recalled if they are at risk of breaching their parole (not necessarily committing further crimes).
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A prison sentence between two weeks and two years long may be ordered to be completed in the community, rather than in prison. The court will impose requirements on the person serving a suspended sentence.
