Skip to main content
For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Unlock Category: 2. Work and volunteering

Volunteering

Benefits of volunteering

Many people of all ages and circumstances find great satisfaction in doing voluntary work. For people with convictions, undertaking voluntary work can have particular benefits. Volunteering can:-

  • Bring you into contact with new people and potentially new friends, at a time when perhaps past social contacts have been disrupted.
  • Boost self-confidence and self-esteem, when perhaps these have taken a knock.
  • Help provide a stable pattern and routine in life.
  • Help develop new skills, knowledge and experience – both social and practical.
  • Provide the satisfaction of working as part of a team to make a difference to the lives of others or to the environment.
  • Be useful experience to include in a CV that might be attractive to a potential employer.
  • Provide a source for a reference that could be invaluable when looking for paid employment.
  • Provide an opportunity, with some voluntary organisations, of getting a qualification e.g. an NVQ.
  • In some circumstances directly open up paid employment possibilities. If the organisation you are volunteering with also employs paid staff in similar work, a volunteer may make a good applicant for a paid post.

Where to find volunteering opportunities

Opportunities for voluntary work, particularly where the work is of a one off ‘work party’ nature (for example, a weekend project to renovate a canal towpath), are often advertised locally e.g. on local council, library or supermarket notice boards.

If you are interested in longer term voluntary work, or would like to talk with someone who could advise you about the kind of volunteering work that is available locally, it could be useful to make contact with your local Volunteer Centre.  You may want to consider whether or not to disclose your convictions at this point – these considerations are similar to those that apply if you are looking for paid employment – see our guide ‘To disclose or not to disclose’.  You may find it encouraging that the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) – an umbrella body for volunteer centres – gives very positive guidance on the use of people with criminal records as volunteers:-

“There are several reasons for recruiting people with criminal records as volunteers. Firstly, it enables you to recruit from a wider pool of potential volunteers, which should help increase your volunteer base. If organisations exclude people with criminal records they automatically lose access to a significant proportion of potential volunteers.  More importantly, by proactively targeting offenders and ex-offenders as part of your recruitment campaign you are demonstrating your organisation’s commitment to equal opportunities and diversity. Each individual should be looked at on their own merit.”

Of course, the response of individual voluntary organisations to people with convictions may be very varied. The details of your local volunteer centre can be found here.

But perhaps the most useful place to find voluntary work is on the Do-It website, a database of over 1,000,000 volunteering opportunities which you can search by area and type of work.

For more details about volunteering for Unlock, visit the vacancies section of our main site.

Applying for voluntary work and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) generally applies in the same way to voluntary work as it does to paid employment. Organisations may only ask about spent convictions or request Standard or Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks if the voluntary work is of a nature that is exempt from the ROA.  If you are on a barred list you would be committing a criminal offence if you applied for voluntary work involving the relevant regulated activity with children or vulnerable adults.

If you are on licence or supervision

It is part of the standard licence conditions that you “Undertake only such work (including voluntary work) approved by your supervising officer and notify him or her in advance of any proposed change.”

This means that, if you have this as a condition, you will need to keep them up to date of what voluntary work you’re doing. In some situations, they may tell you to disclose your convictions, even if the organisation hasn’t asked. This might influence whether you choose to disclose or not.

Voluntary work that is not exempt from the ROA

One off ‘work-party’ type volunteering (e.g. a one-off ‘clearing of a site’ task) may not have any formal application procedure or form to complete – perhaps just a phone call to obtain details of where to turn up.

Many longer term volunteer opportunities may have a simple application form to obtain basic information for the organisation’s own record keeping and insurance purposes. There may not be any question about criminal convictions. There may be an informal interview, although if the work is of a skilled nature, perhaps involving training or a long term commitment, some organisations do have quite formal procedures for recruiting volunteers.

The considerations as to whether in these circumstances you would wish to tell someone in the organisation about your conviction are similar to those if you were seeking paid employment – see here. However, as less is at stake in disclosure of convictions as a volunteer (your source of income is not at risk) than if you are in paid employment, you might feel more positively about disclosing an unspent conviction at some stage to someone in the organisation.

For these types of voluntary opportunities (i.e. roles not eligible for a standard or enhanced check), if there is a conviction question on the application form only unspent convictions should be disclosed. Any organisation would be entitled to request a basic criminal record check from Disclosure Scotland which would only disclose unspent convictions.

An organisation should not refuse to take you on as a volunteer, or to subsequently dispense with your services, because they become aware of a conviction that is spent. However, if this happens as a volunteer you do not have the same statutory rights as a paid employee (see here). Your only redress would be to make a complaint using the organisation’s complaints procedure.  A paid employee might be able to claim unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal in those circumstances, and it is a strong argument to point out that the organisation should not treat a volunteer less favourably than it can get away with in respect to an employee.

Voluntary work that is exempt from the ROA

If the voluntary work is covered by an exceptions order to the ROA – most likely a regulated activity involving children or vulnerable adults as defined in the legislation (see here) – the organisation should make it clear on their application form that they will be requesting a DBS check. There is likely to be a criminal conviction question on the application form with a statement that the role is exempt from the ROA.  See our guide as to how to respond to this question. There is also likely to be a more formal recruitment and interview procedure, with references being taken up.

The organisation should not have a policy that automatically rules out taking on any volunteer with a criminal conviction. The DBS Code of Practice requires organisations seeking disclosures to have a written policy on the suitability of ex-offenders that is available on request to potential applicants. The sample policy provided by the DBS contains the statement;

[Organisation Name] undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a criminal record check on the basis of a conviction or other information revealed

Ineligible checks by voluntary organisations

As is clear elsewhere on this site, there is a problem with ineligible checks – standard or enhanced checks being undertaken for roles which are not exempt from the ROA. Unlawful checks may be a particularly common issue in voluntary work and there are several reasons for this –

  • Voluntary organisations may not have the management resources to keep fully informed about the law
  • There is no charge to an organisation seeking a Standard or Enhanced DBS checks for volunteers, so there is no financial restraint on seeking checks
  • The organisation might properly wish to obtain a basic check, but would have to pay £18 – so instead obtains a free standard or enhanced check
  • There is a widespread misunderstanding of the legal definition of “work with vulnerable adults”, which changed completely in 2012. Organisations may not understand how limited is the scope of this exception to the ROA. The DBS explanation of regulated work with Vulnerable Adults is here.

A ten minute search on the Do-it website found that these volunteer jobs all appeared to be the subject of illegal DBS checks:

  • Helpers at Food banks run by a leading national charity
  • A volunteer walk leader working for a council
  • A female allotment volunteer (“You will be planting seeds, keeping beds tidy and ready for the summer”!)

If you believe that the organisation you would like to volunteer with is seeking an ineligible DBS check you should read our guide to ineligible checks. Guidance from the NCVO makes it clear to voluntary organisations that “It is illegal to apply for a check unless the role is eligible for one. You must also tell the volunteer why they are being checked”.

Volunteering and claiming benefits

Job Seekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance

The good news is that generally you can undertake voluntary work without it affecting any state benefit. This is provided that the only money you receive is for reimbursement of any expenses you have actually incurred. There is no restriction now on the number of hours that you do, but if you receive Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) or Employment Support Allowance (ESA) you should inform the Job Centre if you are doing voluntary work. If you are on JSA you should be able to keep to the terms of your Job Seekers Agreement, be actively seeking work, available to attend an interview for a job at 48 hours notice, and be able to start paid employment within a week’s notice.

Volunteering England have an excellent guide to the rules, about claiming benefits and voluntary work. It is a good idea to read this before committing yourself to volunteer.

Disability Benefits

You can volunteer whilst claiming a disability benefit (Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments), or Carer’s Allowance.  If you are receiving a disability benefit or ESA you should remember that the Benefit Agency is entitled to take into account any abilities apparently shown by your voluntary work when it assesses your eligibility for the benefit.  Of course the fact that you are able to do some voluntary work does not mean that you are disqualified from the benefit, but you would need to take care if, for example, your voluntary work apparently involved physical activity, and you were claiming benefit on the basis of having a physical disability.

If you receive or are making a new claim for either ESA or PIP it is useful, if you have not already done so, to get familiar with the points scoring systems that are the bases for the award of these benefits.

Useful contacts/websites

NCVO works to support and increase the quality, quantity, impact and accessibility of volunteering throughout England.

Step Together provides tailored one-to-one support to help individuals into volunteering placements that match their needs and interests and helps them develop new personal and practical skills.

Time Bank is a national charity inspiring and connecting a new generation of people to volunteer in their communities, and enabling charitable organisations and businesses to develop innovative and effective volunteer recruitment programmes.

Do-it was launched in 2001 with the first national database of volunteering opportunities in the UK.

The Just People website is a resource from Pact, which provides volunteers wishing to take up roles in the criminal justice system with training, vetting, volunteer placements and ongoing support and development. They work in partnership with a wide range of statutory, voluntary and community-based organisations.

Useful resources

Back on Track detail a number of examples that show the benefits that ex-offenders found in undertaking voluntary work in the Greater Manchester area, and give good advice about volunteering.

A study by The Griffins Society into Women ex-offenders’ experiences of volunteering found that for some of the women involved in the research “volunteering really was a life changing experience which has included making a successful career for themselves. However, in order to do this, women do have to put in hard work, show commitment and treat volunteering as if it were paid work”.

What can I do? – Your guide to volunteering opportunities in the criminal justice system (PRT/Pact)

Get involved

Help us to add value to this information. You can:
1. Comment on the information page itself
2. Send your feedback directly to us
3. Discuss with others your views and experiences on our online forum
4. Share a personal experience or story by contributing to our online magazine, theRecord

 

Enforced subject access

Summary

‘Enforced subject access’ (under section 184 of the Data Protection Act 2018) prevents employers from requiring people to use their subject access rights under the DPA to provide certain records, such as police records, as a condition of employment. It also prevents contracts from requiring certain records as a condition for providing or receiving a service, such as housing or insurance. Requiring people to provide these records will become a criminal offence, punishable by a fine. In England and Wales the maximum financial penalty on summary conviction in the magistrates’ court is £5,000 (soon to be unlimited). On indictment in the Crown Court the fine can be unlimited.

We’ve long argued that section 184 needs to be brought into force, but this wasn’t ever possible until reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 were brought in on the 10th March 2014. Section 184 came into force on the 10th March 2015.

For people with convictions, this is an important development. Although it doesn’t prevent employers and others from getting access to criminal records through legitimate means, what section 56 does do is prevent the use of significant amounts of sensitive personal data that can be disclosed as part of a subject access request.

In the past, we’ve come across examples where employers, insurers, education providers and housing providers have required people provide copies of their police record by applying to the ACRO Criminal Records Office for a subject access request. This type of request discloses all information held on the Police National Computer, including convictions and cautions that are spent, as well as allegations or other ‘local police information’.

The introduction of section 184 will enable a clearer message to be given to any organisation that is found to be undertaking this type of practice. The legislation only allows requirements of this type where the record is required by law or is justified in the public interest.

Frequently asked questions

No. It means that an employer can’t make you do a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act to get a copy of your police record.

Depending on the job, an employer will still be able (if they wish) to require you to undergo a basic, standard or enhanced criminal record check.

What you should do will depend on the reason for the request. For example, if it’s for a job that would be eligible for a standard or enhanced check, then you might advise them of that. If not, then it might be that they’re only allowed to ask you to do a basic disclosure. Ultimately, you should be able to refuse to do it. Use the guidance above to help you. Either way, if you have evidence of them requiring you to do an enforced subject access, send us the details.

This is the phrase that is used to describe the process of obtaining a copy of the records that organisations hold on you. In this context, it’s mainly referring to you obtaining a copy of your police record.

Yes. This means that insurers will no longer require you to provide a copy of your police record. Instead, if they do require any form of official record of unspent convictions, they may ask you to consent to a basic disclosure.

Yes. It applies to any individual or organisation that ‘requires’ you to do a subject access request. For example, housing associations will no longer be able to require you to obtain a copy of your police record.

Yes. In guidance to schools it’s been made clear that they cannot require individuals to obtain police records of either themselves or those that live or work in the same household as them.

Yes. Under the 2003 Licensing Act Guidance (4.6) Regulations, in order to substantiate whether or not an applicant has a conviction for an unspent relevant offence, a licensing authority can, for the granting of a personal licence request a criminal conviction certificate, a criminal record certificate (both of these are basic DBS checks), or the results of a subject access search of the Police National Computer by the National Identification Service to the licensing authority. This means that whilst an enforced subject access request is now illegal, it can be requested for the granting of a personal licence. We would always recommend that when applying for a personal licence, you provide a basic DBS check rather than a SAR which would disclose the details of all convictions rather than just those which are unspent.

Other useful resources

ICO guidance on enforced subject access requests

Looking for friendly employers

Introduction

A criminal conviction doesn’t have to be the end of your career but many people with convictions feel anxious about disclosing details of their past fearing that they will be judged and discriminated against.

For many people, knowing that an employer is ‘friendly’ towards people with convictions helps them to apply for jobs with more confidence.

That’s why we’ve developed this page to go on top on the information we have about disclosing to employers.

On this page, we’ve identified a number of employers who, either as a result of their recruitment process or company ethics, have a positive attitude towards people with convictions.

However, please note – you shouldn’t limit yourself to only applying to these companies as we know from our work there are loads of employers that regularly recruit people with convictions, it’s just that they simply don’t shout from the rooftops about it.

Employers ‘banning the box’ and improving their recruitment process

Many employers consider individuals with convictions on merit and take steps to encourage applications from people with convictions.  However, it is important to remember that this doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed a job.

In order to try and ensure individuals get the most positive start to their applications, a number of companies have signed up to a campaign run by Business in the Community to Ban the Box. This calls on UK employers to create a fair opportunity for people with convictions to compete for jobs by removing the tick box from application forms which asks about criminal records.

We’ve developed a list of Ban the Box employers which includes the name and contact details of the employers as well as setting out the point at which they may ask you to disclose your criminal record.

Find Ban the Box employers here

Employers who have signed up to the Ban the Box campaign:-

  • Do not request information about unspent criminal convictions on application forms
  • Examine their own recruitment policies and practices to identify how positive disclosure of criminal convictions can take place later in the process
  • Register their commitment to offering fair opportunities for people with convictions on the Ban the Box website

Places to look for friendly employers

As more employers recognise the advantages of having more fully inclusive recruitment policies, there may be other employers not included on this page. Other places to look for ‘friendly employers’ are:-

Ban the Box is a national campaign (led by Business in the Community, and supported by Unlock and others) which calls on UK employers to create a fair opportunity for people with convictions to compete for jobs by removing the tick box from application forms and asking about criminal convictions later in the recruitment process.

Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending (EFFRR) is a membership organisation for employers who agree to recruit people with convictions.  As part of their membership regulations they have to agree to supply data regarding the number of  people with convictions that they employ and also commit to support the wider recruitment of people with convictions.

Working Chance is the UK’s only employment charity exclusively for women who have convictions. They help women to develop the confidence, skills, and self-belief to get into work or education. They partner with over 110 employers across England and Wales to match women with the right opportunities.

Companies recruiting from the community

Do you know of others we could add to this list? Let us know

The following are some well-known ‘friendly’ employers that are known to recruit people with convictions from the community.

Alliance Boots initially recruited 10 people with convictions into warehouse roles but have since recruited people with convictions across all areas of their work. They were one of the founder members of the ‘Ban the Box’ campaign.

Camden Garden Centre offer opportunities to older people, women returning to work, people with convictions, people living with mental health problems, homeless people and those recovering from drug or alcohol addictions.

Compass Group have involvement in food services, healthcare, education and sport and leisure. They offer opportunities for people with convictions and were part of a group of organisations who wrote an open letter to the Financial Times setting out their positive experiences of recruiting individuals with convictions.

Cook Food Ltd cook and sell frozen ready meals. Job opportunities vary from working in their network of shops, working in their kitchens, delivering food or working as part of their central team keeping everything running.

Co-op are a food retailer, insurance provider, funeral services provider and a growing legal services provider.  They offer employment opportunities to people with convictions, provide financial education within prisons and help those about to be released from prison set up bank accounts.

Costain Group work within the energy, water and transportation industry. Applicants would usually be expected to meet the entry standard for any specific vacancy. However, Costain work with a number of organisations, including the Princes Trust to ensure that opportunities are open to people who may have difficulty in demonstrating that they meet the standards, including people with convictions.

Enterprise work within the field of car rental and leasing.  They have won many recruitment awards, especially around the recruitment of disadvantaged groups and have solid links with organisations such as Business in the Community and Stonewall.

ESH Group launched a major recruitment drive at the end of 2014 as demand for its construction services grew in the North East, Cumbria and Yorkshire with a commitment to recruit anybody (including people with convictions) who were prepared to ‘buckle down and hit the ground running’.

Forward Trust is a social enterprise which offer jobs to people with convictions. They were previously known as RAPt and Blue Sky.

Greggs have been actively recruiting people with convictions since 2010 and take on individuals from both prison and the community.

Home Group provide housing for people with low to medium support needs. They positively encourage applications from people with convictions as a way of demonstrating their commitment to enable people to gain independence and lead a stable life.

Iceland are another retailer who signed an open letter to the Financial Times supporting the recruitment of people with convictions.

Lend Lease  employees set up a dedicated not-for-profit company called BeOnsite in 2007.  They provide people from excluded groups with industry relevant training and sustained employment within the property industry.

London North Eastern Railway run high speed passenger services between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland.

Mitie Group work in conjunction with Mosaic, a mentoring charity, to provide workshops and training which ultimately lead to work placements and paid employment with Mitie.

Pets At Home are another retailer who signed an open letter to the Financial Times supporting the recruitment of people with convictions.

Poundland have been supported by the Shaw Trust to provide employment opportunities for people with convictions.

Ringway set itself a challenge in 2007 to recruit a more diverse workforce and find young people who wanted to enter the transport infrastructure industry.  The recruitment of people with convictions started following a visit to HMP Rochester but now extends to recruitment from the community.

Sainsbury’s state that ‘diversity and inclusion are an integral part of their heritage’ and have for many years had links with the prison service providing opportunities to people in custody and also people with convictions living in the community.

Tesco has a fully inclusive recruitment policy which includes working with the prison service to provide opportunities for people in custody and extends to people living in the community with convictions.

Timpson actively recruit people with convictions, alongside their work in prisons (see below).

“I have been in contact with the Timpson Group with regards to employment. The contact was initially well received and as the Timpson Group actively, overtly, recruit and publicise that they recruit people with criminal records, I did expect this positivity. After a couple of phone calls and several emails, I was asked to disclose my offence and when I did so I received an email back saying that they cannot accept CV’s from people with criminal convictions for sexual offences. I was not allowed in anyway to explain my circumstances or have any face to face discussions at all. I was saddened and I now want others to know that this is their stance so they aren’t surprised by this. It is really sad that a company, that on one level is so open and supportive, take such a singularly blinked view of a whole group and disregard everyone connected to that group without consideration or discussion.”

Trafford Housing Trust has worked in partnership for many years with social enterprise, Clean Start but has more recently outlined its commitment to provide opportunities to people with convictions in the community.

Virgin Group actively encourage the recruitment of people with convictions in the community and those who are still in custody, or working towards release.

Wates Group set up its own independent Community Interest Company, Changing Paths, a scheme helping people with convictions in local communities get back into the workplace.

Companies with links to prisons

There are some employers that have established direct links with prisons. This might first involve offering training or work experience opportunities.

These include:-

Amaryllis Group Holdings works within the facilities management, environmental and manufacturing sector. They provide a programme in prisons offering training in the ‘green’ economy. The programme provides a progression into work opportunities upon release.

Cisco Systems has a programme in place mentoring individuals in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Spring Hill who are studying for the Cisco networking qualification.

DHL Supply Chain work in prisons themselves, allowing prisoners to gain work experience as well as a qualification. Upon release, many gain full time employment with DHL Supply Chain. Note – DHL have a number of business units (including DHL Express) – this reference relates specifically to DHL Supply Chain.

Gelder Group work in partnership with Milton Keynes College to provide construction related training courses in HMP Lincoln.  Completing training through the Gelder Training Academy provides genuine opportunities for employment upon release.

Greggs deliver training courses for people with convictions setting them up with a placement in a shop with a view to being offered a full time position at the end of the training period.

Halfords work in partnership with HMP Onley to provide training and employment opportunities for people in custody.  Upon release, employees can go onto complete a three year technician programme leading to the Institute of Motor Industry NVQ3 and Diploma.

National Grid operate a Young Offender Programme throughout 22 prisons and provide training and employment upon release.  They also act in an agency capacity to meet the recruitment needs of 80 other companies they have links with.

Pret a Manger run an apprenticeship scheme which offers up to 70 places a year to people with convictions and/or the homeless to enable them to access a three month work placement within Pret. Apprenticeships can often lead to a full time job.

Skanska UK offer training placements for people in custody who are in the last 12 months of their sentence.  The training leads to certificates in minimum gas industry standards and individuals are guaranteed employment upon successful completion of the training.

Sue Ryder have been offering volunteering placements in their shops and central offices since 2006 to people with convictions. Many of these individuals go on to secure paid work with the charity.

Timpson employs more prison leavers than any other company in the UK. They provide training workshops in prisons which can train up to 35 apprentices at any one time. Successful applicants will often go on to work in a Timpson shop whilst still in custody and would usually expect to be kept on after release. Timpson help other retailers to employ people with convictions.

Member of Parliament

The rules about becoming an MP are less restrictive to those that apply to standing for election as a local councillor.

Under the Representation of the People Act 1981, you are disqualified from becoming a member of the House of Commons if you have been found guilty of an offence and sentenced to more than one year in prison, and are currently detained as a result of that offence.

Once you are released from prison, you are not prevented from standing for election as an MP.

Technically, you are also able to stand for election while you are in prison, so long as the sentence is one year or less.

 

Other relevant pages on this site

If you’re looking to stand for election as a local councillor, different rules apply. 

Long list of sentences/disposals and how long it takes for them to become spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

Aim of this page

This page sets out the rehabilitation periods for current sentences and disposals as well as some historic sentences/disposals.

It’s part of our information on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

Why is this important?

When changes were made to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act in October 2023, the time it took for some sentences and disposals to become spent changed.

It’s important to know if, and when, your conviction becomes spent before you start applying for jobs, purchasing financial products etc so that you only disclose what you are legally required to.

A-Z of current sentences/disposals

Below is a long list of current sentences and disposals, with the length of time they take to become spent (known as the ‘rehabilitation period’).

This list adds to the detailed guide on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, which should be read alongside this list. Please also read the notes that are below the table.

  • Attendance centre order – Spent immediately
  • Absolute discharge – Spent immediately
  • Bind over – Length of the order
  • Care order – Length of the order
  • *Community order (e.g. ‘probation’) (see note 3 & 11) – Length of the order
  • Compensation order (see note 4) – When paid in full
  • Conditional caution / Conditional youth caution – 3 months or when it ends, if earlier (3 months)
  • Conditional discharge (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Confiscation order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Court costs (see note 5) – Doesn’t impact on the time it takes for a conviction to become spent
  • Criminal behaviour order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Disqualification order (see note 6 & 11) – Length of the order
  • Endorsement (imposed by a court) – 5 years (2 ½ years)
  • Extended driving test
  • Extended Sentences – These are excluded from rehabilitation and never spent.
  • Financial reporting order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Fine (see note 7) – 1 year (6 months)
  • Football banning order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Forfeiture order (see note 11) – Length of the order (although see note 11 below)
  • Hospital order (with or without restrictions) (see note 8 & 11) – Length of the order
  • *Prison sentence (see note 9)
    Less than (or equal to) 12 months – Sentence + 1 year (Sentence + 6 months)
    More than 12 months and less than (or equal to) 4 years – Sentence + 4 years (Sentence + 2 years)
    More than 4 years – Sentence + 7 years (Sentence + 3 ½ years)  **
  • Referral order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Relevant order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Reparation order (see note 11) – Spent immediately
  • Restraining order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Serious crime prevention order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Sexual harm prevention order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Sexual notification order – Doesn’t impact on the time it takes for a conviction to become spent
  • Sexual offence prevention order (see note 11) – Length of the order
  • Simple caution / youth caution – Spent immediately
  • *Suspended prison sentence (see note 12) – Same as ‘Prison sentence’ above
  • Victim surcharge – Doesn’t impact on the time it takes for a conviction to become spent

Notes

  1. In the table, the time starts from the date of conviction (unless indicated with a * – see below) and relate to adults – if it’s different for those under 18, this is detailed in brackets.
  2. Those marked with an * (asterix) do not necessarily start from the date of conviction. Prison sentences, suspended sentences and community orders have a rehabilitation period which is made up of the original sentence, plus an additional fixed period. For these, you normally start from the date the sentence started (which is not always the same as the date of conviction), work to the end of the full sentence, then add the further fixed period.
  3. If the order is subsequently changed, this will not affect the rehabilitation period. A community order or youth rehabilitation order which has no specific end date has a default rehabilitation period of two years from the date of conviction.
  4. These are only regarded as spent once they are paid in full. Unfortunately, there is no record kept on the Police National Computer that compensation orders are paid, and this is what Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) see when they process basic checks. As a result, it is important that you obtain proof of payment of the compensation order from the court and keep this document to prove it has been paid in full. This may be needed by the DBS when processing a basic check before they would regard it as ‘spent’ and so not disclose it. It should be noted that the DBS will treat a compensation order as being paid in full if (1) it was for an amount of less than £100 or (2) it is over 6 years old. Further information about relevant orders can be found at note 11.
  5. Court costs are not regarded as fines, and do not have their own rehabilitation period. They are given alongside other “disposals”, which attract rehabilitation periods in their own right.
  6. These include being disqualified from being a company director. Motoring disqualifications will normally come with an Endorsement, which is likely to be longer.
  7. Fines become spent regardless of whether they are paid or not. The rehabilitation period for a fine applies even if you are later imprisoned for default of the fine. Fines as a result of fixed penalty notices (FPN) and penalty notices for disorder (PND) are not covered by the Act as they do not form part of your criminal record so they don’t have a rehabilitation period.
  8. These relate to those issued under the Mental Health Act 1983.
  9. The term ‘prison sentence’ includes suspended prison sentences, detention in a young offender institution, detention under s.91 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, detention and training orders, youth custody, corrective training and borstal training. ** Certain offences which result in a prison sentence of over 4 years are excluded from rehabilitation and will never be spent.
  10. This includes imprisonment for life, sentence of preventive detention, sentence of detention during Her Majesty’s pleasure or for life, imprisonment for public protection, detention for public protection, extended sentences of imprisonment or detention for public protection and extended determinate sentences for dangerous offenders.
  11. These are often known as ‘ancillary orders’ (see CPS detailed guidance on ancillary orders and the CPS long list of orders) that are given alongside other sentences. Some orders are aimed at redressing some harm caused by an offender, e.g. compensation orders. Others aim to prevent future re-offending or repeat victimisation, e.g.restraining orders or sexual harm prevention orders.  These orders can run for longer than the rehabilitation period of the other sentences issued by the court which means that the conviction can remain unspent for longer than was initially thought. The term ‘relevant order’ is used in Ministry of Justice guidance, and refers to orders such as conditional discharges, bind overs and referral orders. It also includes restraining orders and sexual harm prevention orders (SHPO). See below for more information on when relevant orders become spent. Some ancillary orders (i.e. sexual notification orders) are civil orders which have no impact on the time it takes for a conviction to become spent.
  12. The rehabilitation period is based on the length of the prison sentence that would have been imposed, not the length it was suspended for. The ‘buffer’ period starts from the end of the prison sentence. For example, if you received a 12 month suspended sentence in January 2014 (suspended for 2 years), the buffer period would be 4 years, starting from January 2015. The conviction would become spent in January 2019.

When does a ‘relevant order’ become spent?

As note 11 above references, relevant orders are known as ancillary orders.

While there is no definitive list of relevant orders, in this context we believe it includes most ancillary orders, including compensation orders, criminal behaviour orders, driving disqualifications, forfeiture orders, confiscation orders, football banning orders, company director disqualification orders and sexual harm prevention orders. .

Essentially, a conviction cannot become spent until the order ends. Some orders run for many years longer than the ‘main’ sentence.

If someone received a 4 month prison sentence, this would be spent 1 year after the end of the full sentence. But if they receive a 5 year SHPO, the conviction will not become spent until the 5 year SHPO has ended.

Essentially, where the order remains in force “until further order”, this will remain in place until you return to court to have it varied or ceased, so it will be regarded as unspent indefinitely.

Example – For a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) that is deemed to be in place “until further order”, the conviction attached to the SHPO cannot become spent until the case goes back to court and the SHPO amended accordingly.

It’s also important to note that while a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) is a relevant order, being subject to sex offender notification requirements (i.e. being on the sex offenders register) is not treated as a relevant order and has no impact on when the conviction becomes spent.

Relevant orders only relate to the conviction that they’re linked to, they don’t ‘drag through’ other convictions.

Example – Marcus was convicted of assault on 1 August 2009 when he was 26 and received a 3 month suspended sentence. This would become spent on 1 November 2010.

On 10 June 2010, he was convicted of battery and sentenced to:

  • a 6 month custodial sentence
  • a restraining order until further notice
  • a fine for £50

The 2010 conviction would remain unspent until further notice, due to the restraining order. His earlier conviction in 2009 would have it’s rehabilitation period extended until 10 December 2012 due to the custodial sentence Marcus received in 2011. However, the rehabilitation period would not be affected by the restraining order.

Where the order has an immediate effect or has a specific lifespan that hasn’t been quantified, the order becomes spent 2 years from when it was given.

For example, a forfeiture order would become spent 2 years from when it was given.

Note – a “community order with an unpaid work requirement only” also fits into the 2 year category above, but these cases are very rare and do not happen now. If you think this applies to you, we would recommend that you check with Probation and/or get a copy of your police record.

Historic sentences and disposals

The list below is of sentences/disposals that have been replaced in some way with those mentioned above. If you have received one of these in the past, you may need to use the list above to work out if/when they are spent.

  • Anti-social behaviour order – Refer to ‘Relevant order’ above
  • Action plan order – Refer to ‘Youth Rehabilitation order’ above
  • Approved school order – Refer to ‘Community order / Youth rehabilitation order’ above
  • Borstal training sentence – Refer to ‘Prison sentence’ above
  • Combination order – Refer to ‘Community order / Youth rehabilitation order’ above
  • Community punishment order – Refer to ‘Community order / Youth rehabilitation’ order above
  • Community punishment and rehabilitation order – Refer to ‘Community order / Youth rehabilitation order’ above
  • Community service order – Refer to ‘Community order / Youth rehabilitation order’ above
  • Curfew order – Refer to ‘Community order / Youth rehabilitation order’ above
  • Detention and training order – Refer to ‘Prison sentence’ above
  • Disqualification from working with children (under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000) – Does not affect the rehabilitation period associated with the conviction (see section 38 of the Act)
  • Drug treatment and testing order – Refer to ‘Community order / Youth rehabilitation order’ above
  • Final warning – Refer to ‘Youth caution’ above
  • Probation order – Refer to ‘Community order’ above
  • Reception order – Refer to ‘Relevant order’ above
  • Reprimand – Refer to ‘Youth caution’ above
  • Secure training order – Refer to ‘Prison sentence’ above
  • Supervision order – Refer to ‘Youth rehabilitation order’ above
  • Youth custody order – Refer to ‘Prison sentence’ above

Can’t find your sentence/disposal?

If a sentence/disposal is not explicitly covered in the above tables, it is likely not to have a rehabilitation period and so will become spent immediately (unless it is attached to another sentence/disposal which does have a rehabilitation period). This follows the guidance that is given in the Ministry of Justice guidance.

However, there are some old sentences/orders that are not directly covered in the MoJ guidance, but it doesn’t mean they have no rehabilitation period, because they’re now treated as other orders. This applies where the order is given at the point of conviction. Some of these are listed in the tables above.

If you can’t find your sentence or disposal listed above, and you want to know when it would become spent, please contact us.

If you’ve spotted a sentence or disposal that’s missing from either of the lists above, please let us know.

Discuss this with others

Read and share your experiences on our online forum.

Key sections include:

Below you will find links to useful websites relating to this page. More specific details (including addresses and telephone number) of some of the organisations listed below can be found here.

More information

  1. For practical information – More information on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act  and Applying to a court to end a court date
  2. To discuss this with others – Read and share your experiences on our online forum
  3. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

 

 

Motoring convictions and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act

Help us – As part of our policy work we’re working on stopping the sharing of spent motoring convictions by the DVLA

Why is this important?

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act applies to a number of areas of life, but particularly employment and insurance.

Motoring convictions are treated slightly strangely under the ROA, when compared with other types of offences.

Motoring endorsements

Sadly, the way that endorsements are treated under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act has not been changed by the 2014 changes. This was in large part because of resistance by the insurance industry. Unfortunately, the knock-on effect of this is that it means that they also remain unspent for other purposes, such as when applying for employment. This is an area that we are actively working on, and are keen to gather evidence of where this is having a disproportionate impact for people.

The result is that an endorsement imposed by a court for a road traffic offence is treated as a sentence under the ROA and becomes spent after 5 years (or two and half years where you are under 18).

Every endorsement has a minimum 5 year rehabilitation period. This is even the case for endorsements that only remain on your driving licence for 4 years. The length of the endorsement is irrelevant. Endorsements that remain on a licence for 11 years do not stop the conviction relating to the offence from becoming spent earlier, subject to the other elements of the sentence.

This also applies to endorsements issued by way of Fixed Penalty Notice for a road traffic offence listed in Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 (see below for more information).

There remains a lot of confusion about the way that motoring convictions are being dealt with under the ROA, particularly given the way that motoring offences are recorded (or not) on the Police National Computer, and what this means in practice for individuals in terms of applying for employment and insurance. We are working on some specific guidance on this, so if you have any information or experiences that you think would help with this guidance, please send them to policy@unlock.org.uk.

Penalty points

Penalty points imposed by a court become spent when they cease to have effect. Under road traffic legislation, penalty points may be taken into account for ‘totting up’ purposes for three years, hence they have a three year rehabilitation period.

However, it is our understanding that penalty points are only ever issued alongside an endorsement, and so the 5 year period for the endorsement will normally be more relevant.

Driving disqualifications

The rehabilitation period for a driving disqualification is the length of the disqualification. If you are disqualified from driving and at the same time receive another penalty, the longer of the two rehabilitation periods applies.

Driving disqualifications will normally come with an endorsement, so the 5 year period for the endorsement will be applied, unless the period of the disqualification was longer than 5 years, in which case that period will be used to determine the spent date.

If you are banned from driving for seven years and also fined and receive an endorsement on your licence, although the fine becomes spent after 1 year, and the endorsement is spent after 5 years, the rehabilitation period for the conviction would be 7 years.

Motoring fines

A fine on its own under the ROA is 1 year, but for motoring offences dealt with by way of a court imposed conviction, it will normally come along with an endorsement, which has a 5 year rehabilitation period.

Multiple motoring disposals

Where the court imposes more than one sentence or penalty for the offence then the longest rehabilitation period determines when the conviction may become spent.

If you go to court and get convicted with a sentence of a fine, an endorsement, penalty points and a 1 year driving disqualification, the conviction will become spent after 5 years because the endorsement carries the longest period.

Fixed penalty notices for road traffic offences

A Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) can be used to deal with minor road traffic offences, but it is not a criminal conviction or a caution.

However, if you are given an FPN for a road traffic offence in Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, and your licence is endorsed, then (in line with s. 58 of that Act) the endorsement is treated as having been given by a court following conviction of the offence and is subject to a 5 year rehabilitation period, from the date the FPN was issued.

A full list of the offences covered by this are available here. Examples include:

  1. Exceeding the speed limit
  2. Failing to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test
  3. Failing to stop motor vehicle when required by constable
  4. Refusing to give, or giving false, name and address in cases of reckless, careless or inconsiderate driving or cycling

Where section 58 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act does not apply, an FPN is not a conviction. FPN’s do not appear on basic disclosure certificates.

Differences between endorsable and non-endorsable offences

Regardless of whether an offence was dealt with by FPN or whether it went to court, it is important to know whether the offence was an ‘endorseable’ or ‘non-endorsable’ offence, as this will determine whether your licence was endorsed and therefore whether the offence is subject to the 5 year rehabilitation period for endorsements.

We are planning to produce specific guidance on this shortly. In the meantime, the easiest way to find out if you received an endorsement on your licence is by checking with the DVLA. You can contact the DVLA by calling 0300 790 6801 or writing to Drivers Customer Services, Correspondence Team, DVLA, Swansea, SA6 7JL.

Differences between spent periods and licence periods

The length of time that motoring offences stay on your licence is governed by road traffic legislation. This is entirely separate to the time it takes for it to become spent under the ROA. It is perfectly possible for a motoring conviction to become spent under the ROA, but still be on your licence.

If you are fined for drink-driving and have your licence endorsed and receive 3 penalty points, the rehabilitation period would be five years (because of the endorsement), although it will stay on your driving licence for 11 years.

There remains some confusion around motoring offences, the ways in which they link with your criminal record, and the reasons for the DVLA retaining data once it is spent under the ROA. For further information about DVLA records see here..

FAQ’s on ROA and Basic DBS disclosures

This page sits within our information section on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. This is a specific page with FAQ’s covering specific situations and when convictions become spent and/or disclosed on basic DBS disclosures.

It depends on the disposal/sentence.

Sentences with a buffer period (i.e. prison sentences, suspended sentences and community orders) are made up of the original sentence, plus an additional fixed period. For these, you normally start from the date the sentence started.

For sentences with no buffer period (i.e. a fine) the rehabilitation period is either the length of the order, or a fixed period starting from the date of conviction.

No. The buffer period starts from the end of the full sentence. This includes time spent on licence. For example, if you were sentenced to 12 months in June 2013, and we’re released in December 2013, the buffer period wouldn’t start until June 2014, which is the end of the full 12 month sentence.

The buffer period starts on the sentence end date of the custodial sentence, which takes into account any time spent on remand. For example, if you were held on remand in May 2013 for one month, and then sentenced in June 2013 and given a 6 month sentence with remand having been taken into account, the end of the full sentence would be November 2013, which is when the buffer period would apply from.

Extended sentences for public protection are not covered by the Act, and so they cannot become spent.

If you get a further conviction while an earlier one is unspent, neither of them will become spent until the longest of them does. This is covered in more detail in our detailed guide.

No. The earlier sentence of more than 4 years would drag through any previously unspent convictions, and these would never become spent as a result. However, any further convictions after the one of more than 4 years can become spent on their own. For example, if you were sentenced to 5 years in prison in June 1995, this would never become spent. If you were later given a community order in June 2004, this could become spent on its own.

Suspended prison sentences are treated as prison sentences under the Act. It is the length of sentence that is used, not how long it was suspended for.

The rehabilitation period is governed by the custodial sentence, not the period of suspension or supervision. So, a six month custodial sentence suspended for two years has the same rehabilitation period as that for an immediate custodial sentence of six months. The length of the supervision order, or how long it was suspended was, is irrelevant

The provisions in the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2013 provide for a period of supervision post-sentence. This is to make sure that all individuals sentenced to imprisonment have at least 12 months on supervision on release. Individuals receiving sentences of two years or more will not be subject to post-sentence supervision because they will spend 12 months on licence subject to conditions following automatic release at the half-way point of the sentence.

Under the 2013 Act, where an individual receives a custodial sentence of less than two years, they will serve the second half of the sentence on licence and then there will be a period of post-sentence supervision to make sure that the overall period of supervision in the community is 12 months. For example, under these provisions an individual given a six month sentence may serve three months in prison and three months on licence with a further period of nine months on post-sentence supervision – the period of licence and post-sentence supervision will be 12 months.

However, the extra supervision period is post-sentence and does not affect the rehabilitation period for the conviction. In the example given, the sentence imposed is six months and the rehabilitation period would apply accordingly – the period of the sentence plus two years beyond the end date of the sentence – and the additional nine months of supervision will not be counted.

For example, if somebody was convicted as an adult in June 2014 and given 5 months in prison, the end of their sentence would be November 2014, so the conviction would become spent 2 years later (i.e. November 2016). The fact that the individual might be subject to ‘extended supervision’ into 2015 does not effect the ‘end of the sentence’ under the ROA.

A Community Order should have an end date, i.e. you might be given 180 hours, as part of a 12 month order. It doesn’t become spent quicker if you finish the hours quicker – the fixed period starts from the end of the court order.

Yes. However, non-payment of a fine may result in a further conviction, which will have its own rehabilitation period, and may drag the earlier conviction with it.

When you are applying for your basic DBS disclosure, you need to provide evidence to the Disclosure and Barring Service that the Compensation Order has been paid. You can obtain a letter of confirmation (or a receipt) from the Court when it is paid. If you don’t have this, you should be able to contact the court and ask them to confirm this in writing (and there shouldn’t be a charge for this). You can find further information on this advice post.

No, you only need to provide the evidence once. The Disclosure and Barring Service will keep this on file for all future basic disclosures.

It is unlikely that after 6 years a compensation order would be disclosed on a basic DBS certificate. However, this does not mean that you do not have to repay the compensation order. You are still legally required to repay the order and could be open to further legal action if you failed to do so.

A SOPO falls within the definition in the ROA of an Order that imposes a prohibition. The rehabilitation period for this type of Order ends on the date when the prohibition ceases to have effect. In your case, in five years time.

The conviction will become spent after a year (as an adult) or when the SOPO ends, whichever is longer. This will usually mean that the conviction won’t become spent until the SOPO ends. If you have a SOPO that doesn’t have an end date, you should consider getting legal advice and get it amended – find out more information here.

No. A sexual offender notification requirement is not regarded as a “disqualification, disability, prohibition or other penalty”. This means that the length of time you’re on the Sex Offenders Register is separate to how long it takes for a conviction to become spent. As a result of the reduced rehabilitation periods that came into force in 2014, it is now common for a conviction to become spent, but an individual still be subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

The order itself isn’t deemed to be a criminal conviction it would only become one if you breached the order. The time it would take to become spent would depend on the sentence/disposal you received.

Technically, the conviction cannot become spent until the order ends. If you have an order that doesn’t have an end date, you should consider getting legal advice and get it amended.

The Act applies where an order is made on conviction, and the order imposes any disqualification, disability, prohibition or other penalty. Only if both of these circumstances are met will the order be subject to the rehabilitation provisions and may appear on a basic DBS disclosure certificate, if it has not yet ended. The Ministry of Justice hasn’t published a list of orders that this applies to, but the ones we have seen it apply to are covered in our detailed guide.

Fixed penalty notices (FPN) and penalty notices for disorder (PND) are on-the-spot fines issued by the police for minor offences. If you receive a FPN or PND and pay this within the specified time limit, all liability for the offence is discharged and the offence does not form part of your criminal record. However, if you fail to pay a FPN or PND on time, you are likely to receive a court summons. If you accept responsibility for the offence, whether in person at court or by post, or are found guilty, you will have a conviction which will (in most cases) form part of a criminal record.

In some cases where a FPN or PND has not been paid on time and has defaulted to court, the offence is not recorded as a conviction on the Police National Computer and remains a locally held record. If you have failed to pay a FPN or PND on time and the matter has defaulted to court, you may wish to access a copy of your criminal record after the court hearing to see how your information has been recorded.

Neither of these are technically classed as convictions, and are not technically covered by the Act, so they don’t become spent as such. Although this means that, if asked, you are not entitled to withhold the details of them, in practice you won’t normally get asked about them. Also, they don’t come back on basic, standard or enhanced DBS criminal record checks. This means that employers don’t have access to them through ordinary employment vetting processes.

However, a Fixed Penalty Notice for an endorseable motoring offence will result in an endorsement on your licence. This will stay on your licence for either 4 or 11 years. It also takes 5 years (as an adult) to become spent. In practice, this means that you will need to disclose it to motor insurers until it becomes spent. You may also need to disclose it to an employer, if you need to provide your employer with your driving licence.

Fixed Penalty Notices are not disclosed on basic DBS disclosures. Details of FPN’s are recorded locally by the Police, but they do not form part of the Police National Computer, which is what is used when basic disclosures are carried out.

Usually, when you receive a driving disqualification in court, you will receive an endorsement to your licence. An endorsement is subject to a five year rehabilitation period (as an adult) and your conviction would therefore be spent at the end of the five years and not at the end of the 18 month disqualification.

Unfortunately not. As part of applying for UK citizenship, there will be a check with the Police and other authorities as part of the character check. You will need to give details of all criminal convictions (this used to be just unspent convictions, but it now applies to all). There is further detailed guidance available here.

Counteracting negative ‘Google’ or other internet search results

Introduction

In a perfect world, we’d be able to remove all the unfair, outdated, and negative search results about ourselves.  In reality, most content is here to stay except in special circumstances. Remove what you can, but creating your own positive content to suppress the negatives is a practical way to control your image and improve your search results.

If you are looking to disappear from the web, then this isn’t the solution for you.  You’ll be creating more content about yourself, but you might be able to tip the balance from negative to positive.

For anybody looking to increase their positive profile on the web then there are a number of steps that you could consider.

Which sites should I create a profile on?

Certain sites consistently appear high in the search results.  By simply creating a profile on them with your name and a bit of identifying information, you can suppress negative results. Make sure that you set your privacy settings to be publicly viewed, and only post content that you’re absolutely sure you won’t regret later.

Some sites you could consider posting to include:-

Other sites

You can also use your real name to register on news websites and comment on articles, although these types of posts don’t tend to rank as highly as those on the sites listed above. If you’re prepared for a little self-censorship, posting under your real name can be a smart strategy for selling yourself.  Knowing that anything you say online may show up when someone Googles you, use your postings to your advantage: post intelligent, grammatically-correct, spell-checked, well-reasoned content.

Express yourself in the field in which you want to become established.  One of the ways that Google determines a site’s rank in search results is by analysing how many times other sites link to it.  You can get your content to rise by linking it to itself.  For example, create a Twitter account, connect that to your Facebook page, and link to all of them on your Blogger page.  Of course, the more you use your accounts and interact with other people, the more likely they are to link to your content, which drives your results even higher.

Is there anything else I need to consider?

If a search for your name is generally positive, but including a particular keyword brings up negative or unwanted results, try to reclaim that term.  For example if a search for “John Doe” is positive, but “John Doe” + “College” brings up negative results then John Doe should start including the phrase “College” in his positive content creation in order to associate it with his good reputation.

What else can I do?

On the 13th May 2014, a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that individuals could request that information be removed from Google’s search results.  It is unlikely that Google would agree to remove links for anybody with unspent convictions.  For further information see here.

For anybody looking for a fresh start and trying to avoid ‘informal’ disclosure, such as articles from newspapers and on-line then it may be worth considering changing your name.

Becoming a driving instructor

Aim of this page

There are approximately 40,000 driving instructors in the UK and every year there are around 1.5 million attempts at the driving test. At any one time there can be more pupils looking for lessons than there are instructors who can take them on, making this a popular career choice.

The aim of this page is to set out how a criminal record may affect your chances of becoming a driving instructor.

Why is this important?

To legally charge somebody for driving instruction in a car you must either:-

  • Be on the Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) Register
  • Have a trainee’s licence to give instruction by the ADI Registrar

You’ll need to meet the ‘fit and proper’ person criteria to become approved or get a trainee’s licence and it’s important therefore to understand how your criminal record may affect your chances of successfully getting onto the ADI Register.

 ADI Registrar:  Its role and powers

The ADI Registrar is responsible for the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency’s ADI Register and can:-

  • Refuse to let you join or stay on the register if you don’t meet the registration rules
  • Remove you from the register in certain circumstances
  • Refuse readmission to you if you were previously removed for any of the above reasons

Responsibilities of an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI)

As an ADI, you will be responsible for your own safety, that of your pupil and other road users.

You will be expected to show:-

  • A high regard for all aspects of road safety
  • A high standard of driving and instructional ability
  • A professional approach to your customers
  • A responsible attitude to your pupils and profession
  • That you’re a ‘fit and proper’ person

The ‘fit and proper’ criteria

When deciding if you’re a ‘fit and proper’ person, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will check to see if you have:-

  • Had any motoring or non-motoring cautions or convictions
  • Any penalty points on your licence
  • Been disqualified from driving
  • Been banned or barred from working with children under 18 years of age
  • Any court proceedings pending against you

Disclosing your criminal record

The DVSA will ask you to provide a copy of your enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate at the time of applying to become an ADI.

They will carry out an initial risk assessment and may seek further representations from you. These will be assessed and a recommendation made to the Registrar.

Factors taken into account by the DVSA

Before reaching a decision as to whether you are a ‘fit and proper’ person, the DVSA will assess the risk that you may pose to your pupils by considering:

  • Whether your caution, conviction or other information revealed is relevant
  • The seriousness and circumstances surrounding your offence
  • Whether your conviction was part of a pattern of offending
  • What you have done to change your situation since you were convicted, i.e. any courses you’ve taken or treatment programmes attended etc.

What are the chances of your application being successful?

There are some situation where it’s very unlikely that your application would be accepted. These include:

Motoring offences

Where:

  • You have been disqualified from driving within the last 4 years
  • Where you have been found guilty of driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs within the last 4 years
  • Your DVLA record shows you’ve been issued with a single fixed penalty notice, where 5 or more penalty points have been sustained
  • Your licence has 6 or more penalty points within the last 3 years under the totting up rules.

Non-motoring offences

This includes where:

  • You have been convicted of a sexual offence
  • You are on the sex offenders register
  • You have been convicted (or in some cases cautioned) for offences involving assault, drugs, fraud or theft and in particular, offences involving theft of tuition fees
  • You have been convicted or cautioned for providing illegal instruction, for example providing instruction for money or monies worth, while not registered or granted a trainee licence
  • You have been banned or barred from working with children under 18 years of age.

Appealing a driving instructor registration decision

You can appeal to an independent tribunal (the General Regulatory Chamber) if you disagree with a decision about your registration as an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI). The tribunal is independent of the government. You have 28 days in which to appeal a registration decision.

Further information on appealing can be found on the HM Courts and Tribunal Service website.

Discuss this with others

Read and share your experiences on our online forum.

Below you will find links to useful websites relating to this page. More specific details (including addresses and telephone numbers) of some of the organisations listed below can be found here.

More information

  1. For practical information – More information on Employment
  2. To discuss this issue with others – Read and share your experiences on our online forum
  3. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

Get involved

Help us to add value to this information. You can:

  1. Comment on this page (below)
  2. Send your feedback directly to us
  3. Discuss your views and experiences with others on our online forum

This page was last fully reviewed and updated in October 2017. If you’ve spotted something that needs updating, please let us know by emailing the details to feedback@unlock.org.uk.

 

Accountant

General

There are no licence requirements to allow you to describe yourself as an accountant. However, to use the description “Chartered Accountant”, in England and Wales you must be a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. There are equivalents available in Scotland and Ireland. There are also various trade bodies within the Accountancy profession.

Registering

The Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales (ICAEW) is regarded as ‘entry into the profession’ as a Chartered Accountant. This means that a standard check could be done, and therefore you will need to disclose everything that would be disclosed on this type of check. Although there process appears to have changed since, previously you had to complete a manual application form which could be downloaded from their website. You would then make a declaration of your criminal record on this form and return it back to student services with your registration fee. Once this was received the assessment team will look at the application and would contact you to discuss it. If they then make the decision that you are not suitable to become a student they would return the registration fee in full within 3-5 working days. You should speak to the ICAEW directly for details on their latest below.

To register with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA), you have to apply via an online application form. On this application form there is a section marked ‘legal matters’ and this is the section where you are asked about your criminal record. Once you have submitted the form it will be looked at by the Professional Conduct Department who will be in contact with you. They assess each case on its own merit and will give you an answer as to whether they will allow you to become a student member after you have disclosed to them what your conviction was for. If they decline you, then they will refund you the payment you submitted in full.

With the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), on the application form they ask for a declaration about any convictions which are not yet spent. If you have unspent convictions, you will be asked for details of:

  • What your conviction was for
  • The circumstances leading up to your conviction (ie a full step by step account of what led to your conviction)
  • When you were convicted and the court which convicted you.
  • What sentence you received
  • A copy of your Certificate of Conviction (this is the official document from the court which convicted you, confirming what your conviction was for and the sentence you received)
  • Any other information you consider would be helpful to them in assessing your suitability.

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) will assess each application on a case by case basis. You will need to complete an online application form and make payment for registration. You will then need to email your details of your unspent convictions and they will then look at your application and make a decision whether to accept your application or not. If you are rejected as a student then your application fee will be refunded to you in full within 10 working days.

We want to make sure that our website is as helpful as possible.

Letting us know if you easily found what you were looking for or not enables us to continue to improve our service for you and others.

Was it easy to find what you were looking for?

Thank you for your feedback.

12.5 million people have criminal records in the UK. We need your help to help them.

Help support us now