Latest in Employment Law>Case Law>R (on the application of T and another) (Respondents) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and another (Appellants) [2014]
R (on the application of T and another) (Respondents) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and another (Appellants) [2014]
Published on: 20/06/2014
Issues Covered: Recruitment and Selection
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Legal Island
Legal Island
Background

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (1978 Order in NI) provides that, after a period of time, the criminal convictions of a person are in many cases “spent” i.e. they are no longer deemed relevant and need not be declared to prospective employers, nor should they be disclosed under criminal records vetting procedures.

There are, or have been, some exceptions to spent convictions in caring sectors, where convictions never become spent for jobs working with, for example children and vulnerable adults. Employers may apply for Enhanced Criminal Record Certificates, where all convictions, no matter how trivial or old, are made known to employers in these caring professions. 

One of the respondents here ('T') had a caution for stealing a bicycle when he was 11 - it was declared to prospective employers when he wanted to work with children. The other ('JB') stole some false fingernails. She was refused work after the warning was declared to prospective employers.

By majority, the Supreme Court has found the disclosure of all convictions without further information exposed the prospective claimants to arbitrariness, was disproportionate and was not necessary to protect children or vulnerable adults (or, indeed, society as a whole) and therefore violated their right to respect for their private life under article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms:
http://bit.ly/1njClUS 

As ever, the summary of the decision of the Supreme Court is on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFfkMof2j0&list=UUdkf93h71xVAl28v467Hk7w

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 20/06/2014