Latest in Employment Law>Articles>What is the Law in Relation to the Recruitment of Individuals with a Criminal Record?
What is the Law in Relation to the Recruitment of Individuals with a Criminal Record?
Published on: 10/03/2023
Issues Covered: Recruitment and Selection
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Chris Fullerton
Chris Fullerton

What is the Law in Relation to the Recruitment of Individuals with a Criminal Record?

Whilst businesses and companies can be cautious and, at times, reluctant to recruit individuals with a criminal record, this can be a key factor in any ex-offender’s rehabilitation and employers should treat fairly job applicants who have criminal convictions. The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 seeks to ensure that ex-offenders who have not re-offended for a period of time since the date of their conviction are not discriminated against in recruitment processes.

The fact that an applicant has a criminal record should not factor into recruitment until the individual has been successful; with the exception of jobs under the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979, application forms should not require a criminal record declaration. It is only when the applicant has been recommended for the position and where relevant to the job itself that a record check should be undertaken.

It is advisable to have a policy that covers the recruitment of ex-offenders and this is necessary if an AccessNI check is part of a recruitment process. There are various levels of AccessNI checks, namely basic, standard and enhanced (depending on the job role that is being recruited for). These checks are allowed under Part V of the Police Act 1997 with the exception of the basic check which can be utilised for all recruitment processes regardless of the advertised job.  An enhanced check by AccessNI involves a check with the Disclosure and Barring Service which keeps a list of people who are unsuitable for work with children and vulnerable adults – it is illegal for employers to employ an individual on this list in a regulated activity.

In Northern Ireland in particular, employers are advised to ignore any conflict-related conviction unless it is considered to be materially relevant to the job concerned. If it is determined by an employer that a candidate should not be offered a role based upon a conflict-related conviction, if the individual is unhappy with this decision it can be brought to the attention of the non-statutory Review Panel provided that informal discussion has occurred between the candidate and employer but resulted in an unsatisfactory conclusion.

Continue reading

We help hundreds of people like you understand how the latest changes in employment law impact your business.

Already a subscriber?

Please log in to view the full article.

What you'll get:

  • Help understand the ramifications of each important case from NI, GB and Europe
  • Ensure your organisation's policies and procedures are fully compliant with NI law
  • 24/7 access to all the content in the Legal Island Vault for research case law and HR issues
  • Receive free preliminary advice on workplace issues from the employment team

Already a subscriber? Log in now or start a free trial

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 10/03/2023