The legally required period for declaring custodial convictions by individuals to their employer has changed.

New legislation (Section 193 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022) came into force on 28 October 2023 which means that criminal convictions become spent after a shorter time, reducing the period that individuals are legally required to declare them to their employers.

It makes the following changes on declaring custodial convictions:

Custodial sentence of over 4 years – now not required to be disclosed after 7 years although certain offences are exempt and never spent including offences classified in the Sentencing Code as ‘serious violent, sexual and terrorism offences’

Custodial sentence of 2 ½ to 4 years – now not required to be disclosed after 4 years

Custodial sentence of 1 to 2 ½ years – remains not required to be disclosed after 4 years

Custodial sentence of 6 months to 1 year now not required to be disclosed after 1 year

Custodial sentence of up to six months now not required to be disclosed after 1 year

These new time periods are extended in the event of re-offending during the declaration period.

These disclosure time periods relate to offenders who are over 18 at the time of conviction. The period of required disclosure is lower if the offender was under 18 at the time of conviction.

Employers need to make sure any relevant forms and systems are updated to reflect the new time periods.

These changes of course do not affect roles where basic or enhanced DBS checks are required.

With thanks to Daniel Barnett for his update on this.