The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has published new guidance for employers on changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) that came into effect on March 10.
The guidance has been revised following the implementation of changes to the ROA included in the Legal Aid and Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
Under the new system, rehabilitation periods for community orders and custodial sentences will comprise the period of the sentence plus an additional specified period, rather than all rehabilitation periods starting from the date of conviction, as it was previously.
This means that people receiving custodial sentences of six months or less will only have to declare their conviction for two years plus their sentence period instead of seven years, while those who are jailed for between six and 30 months need to declare it for four years plus their sentence period instead of 10 years.
People who receive a custodial sentence of between 30 months and four years will need to declare their record for seven years plus their sentence period instead of their rehabilitation period never being spent, which is what the old ROA stated. However, people receiving custodial sentences of more than four years will always have to declare their conviction.
Meanwhile, offenders who are convicted but do not receive custodial sentences, receiving instead a Community Order, Youth Rehabilitation Order or a fine must declare their record for one year from the end of the Order instead of for five years, as it used to be.
People who are given an Absolute Discharge used to have to declare this for six months but no longer have to, while offenders who are given an Order, such as a Bind Over Order, must declare their record for the period of the Order.
The above periods are halved, however, for persons under 18 at the date of their conviction, except for custodial sentences of up to 6 months, where offenders aged under 18 at the date of their conviction must declare their record for 18 months plus their sentence term.
However, all offenders will still always have to declare previous convictions when applying for jobs in sensitive workplaces like schools and hospitals or working with people in vulnerable circumstances.