A criminal record will not necessarily exclude you from employment. The information provided will be treated as strictly confidential and will only be considered in relation to the job for which you are applying. You are required to disclose any ‘unspent’ criminal convictions in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
However, if you are applying for work which involves substantial opportunity for access to children or vulnerable adults, you are required to give details of criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings even if they are regarded as ‘spent’. The amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’ and are not subject to disclosure to employers, and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found at the Disclosure and Barring Service website
www.gov.uk.
Should you identify that you have a criminal record, this will be discussed in confidence at interview.
