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.