STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
Criminal records checks and recruitment of ex-offenders
The post you have applied for is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and
you are therefore required to disclose any spent and unspent convictions with the
exception of protected cautions and convictions.
Furthermore, if you are the preferred candidate, any offer of appointment will be made
conditional on a satisfactory criminal records check from the Disclosure and Barring
Service (DBS).
Please complete and return this form to HR in the confidential envelope enclosed, or email
a signed pdf copy to staff.recruitment@dmu.ac.uk before your interview date.
Please refer to the guidance to help you complete the section below. More detailed
guidance issued by the government can be found on the gov.uk site.
Disclosure

Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence?
If so, please give details of any unspent convictions and any spent convictions
(including cautions, reprimands and final warnings) that have not been filtered under
the current filtering rules.
Print Name……………….
Signed……………………..
Date………………………..
Guidance
If you have a criminal conviction, caution or a reprimand or final warning, these will be
revealed by a DBS check, although old and minor convictions and cautions (known as
‘protected’ convictions and cautions) will not appear on a DBS certificate and do not need
to be disclosed by you on this form.
Unspent convictions
An unspent conviction is where the rehabilitation period is not complete. See table.
It needs to be disclosed on this form.
Spent convictions
Certain convictions will become spent after the ‘rehabilitation period’. Its length depends
on how severe the penalty was. See table.
Some convictions will never be spent ie where the offence resulted in a custodial sentence
of more than four years (whether the sentence was served or not).
On this form you need to disclose both spent and unspent convictions with the exception
of ‘protected’ convictions and cautions.
Cautions
Cautions are given to adults aged 18 or over for minor crimes.
A caution is used as an alternative to a charge and possible prosecution where the person
has admitted an offence.
There is no rehabilitation period for a caution; it becomes ‘spent’ immediately.
‘Conditional cautions’ (where certain conditions are imposed as part of the caution) are
spent after three months.
A caution will show on a DBS check unless it has been filtered. If it is not filtered, you will
need to disclose it on this form.
Reprimands and final warnings
Reprimands and warnings (for young offenders aged 10-17 years old) were abolished in
April 2013 and a reprimand or warning given before that date is now to be treated as a
youth caution which, as with adult cautions, is spent immediately.
It will show on a DBS check unless it has been filtered. If it is not filtered, you will need to
disclose it on this form.
Motoring offences
An endorsement for a road traffic offence listed in Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic
Offenders Act 1988, imposed either by the court or by means of a fixed penalty notice
(FPN) is a sentence for the purposes of the 1974 Act and may become spent after 5 years
(or two and half years where the offender is under 18). Road traffic legislation specifically
provides for a FPN in these circumstances to be treated as a conviction and dealt with as
such under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Penalty points and a driving
disqualification imposed by the court on conviction may become spent when they cease to
have effect (penalty points have effect for three years as set out in road traffic legislation).
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.
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 and the 1974 Act does not apply.
Further guidance on rehabilitation periods for particular driving offences can be found on
direct.gov.uk
Rehabilitation periods
The rehabilitation period (the length of time before a caution or conviction becomes spent)
is determined by the type of disposal administered or the length of the sentence imposed.
Rehabilitation periods that run beyond the end of a sentence are made up of the total
sentence length plus an additional period that runs from the end of the sentence, called
the ‘buffer period’. Other rehabilitation periods start from the date of conviction or the date
the penalty was imposed.
The rehabilitation periods are shown in the table below:
Custodial sentences1:
Buffer period for adults
(18 and over at the time of
conviction or the time the
disposal is administered).
Sentence/disposal
This applies from the end
date of the sentence
(including the licence
period).
Custodial sentence of over 4 years, or a
public protection sentence
Custodial sentence of over 30 months
(2 ½ years) and up to and including 48
months (4 years)
Custodial sentence of over 6 months
and up to and including 30 months (2 ½
years)
Custodial sentence of 6 months or less
Community order or youth rehabilitation
order2
1
Buffer period for young
people
(Under 18 at the time of
conviction or the time the
disposal is administered).
This applies from the end
date of the sentence
(including the licence
period).
Never spent
Never spent
7 years
3 ½ years
4 years
2 years
2 years
1 years
18 months
6 months
Custodial sentence includes a sentence of imprisonment (both an immediate custodial sentence and a
suspended sentence), a sentence of detention in a young offender institution, a sentence of detention under
section 91 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, a detention and training order, a
sentence of youth custody, a sentence of corrective training and a sentence of Borstal training.
2 In relation to any community or youth rehabilitation order which has no specified end date, the rehabilitation
period is 2 years from the date of conviction.
Non-custodial sentences
The following table sets out the rehabilitation period for sentences which do not have
‘buffer periods’ and for which the rehabilitation period runs from the date of conviction:
Sentence/disposal
Fine
Conditional discharge
Absolute discharge
Conditional caution and youth
conditional caution
Simple caution, youth caution
Compensation order3
Binding over order
Attendance centre order
Hospital order (with or without a
restriction order)
Referral order
Reparation order
Rehabilitation period for
adults
Rehabilitation period for
young people
(18 and over at the time of
conviction or the time the
disposal is administered).
(Under 18 at the time of
conviction or the time the
disposal is administered).
1 year
Period of the order
None
3 months or when the
caution ceases to have
effect if earlier
Spent immediately
On the discharge of the
order (ie when it is paid in
full)
Period of the order
Period of the order
Period of the order
6 months
Period of the order
None
3 months
Not available for adults
Not available for adults
Period of the order
None
Spent immediately
On the discharge of the
order (ie when it is paid in
full)
Period of the order
Period of the order
Period of the order
Filtering rules for criminal record check certificates
For those 18 or over at the time of the offence:
An adult conviction will be removed from a DBS certificate if:



11 years have elapsed since the date of conviction; and
it is the person’s only offence, and
it did not result in a custodial sentence
Even then, it will only be removed if it does not appear on the list of offences which will
never be removed from a certificate, for example, offences of a sexual of violent nature. If
a person has more than one offence, then details of all their convictions will always be
included.
An adult caution will be removed after 6 years have elapsed since the date of the caution –
and if it does not appear on the list of offences relevant to safeguarding.
For those under 18 at the time of the offence:
The same rules apply as for adult convictions, except that the elapsed time period is 5.5
years
The same rules apply as for adult cautions, except that the elapsed time period is 2 years.
3
It is important that individuals obtain proof of payment from the court and keep this document to prove that
the compensation order has been paid in full.
The DBS maintains a list of offences that will never be filtered. The flowchart below can be
used as a reference tool to help you identify if you need to disclose the conviction or
caution.
Filtering rules – flowchart
‘Unspent’ convictions/
cautions need to be disclosed
and will show up on a DBS
check.
NO
Is your conviction/caution
‘spent’?
YES
Was the offence committed of
a violent/sexual nature or on
the list of offences that will
never be filtered?
NO
Conviction
YES
Is this your only conviction?
It needs to be disclosed and
will show up on a DBS check.
NO
All convictions need to be
disclosed and will show up on
a DBS check.
YES
It needs to be disclosed and
will show up on a DBS check.
YES
Caution
Did you receive a custodial
sentence?
NO
At the time you were given
the caution, were you 18
years old or over?
YES
Did you receive the caution
within the last 6 years?
NO
Did you receive the caution
within the last 2 years?
YES
It needs to be disclosed and
will show up on a DBS check.
At the time of conviction,
were you 18 years old or
over?
NO
YES
Were you convicted within the Were you convicted within the
last 11 years?
last 5 years and 6 months?
NO
It does not need to be
disclosed and will not show
up on a DBS check.