If you recruit for jobs that are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act you will be familiar with filtering. Since May 2013, some cautions and convictions are automatically ‘filtered’ from standard and enhanced DBS certificates and job applicants are legally entitled to withhold filtered cautions and convictions from employers. The existing rules apply to […]
HMPPS confirms prison and probation roles are covered by filtering rules
Samantha contacted Unlock’s helpline for advice on applying for a ‘Through the Gate’ role with Sodexo. The job involved helping women prepare for leaving prison and would be subject to prison vetting. Sodexo has banned the box, so Samantha was surprised to see the application form ask: Have you ever been convicted of any offences […]
Confusion over filtering legislation and taking into account an old caution
We’ve recently been involved in a case where an employer suspended an individual from his teaching position as a result of the alleged non-disclosure of a caution he’d received 9 years ago. Following the introduction of new legislation in May 2013, the individual’s caution was eligible to be filtered from standard and enhanced Disclosure and […]
Confusion over filtering legislation and DBS checks for accountants
We were contacted by an individual who was looking to become a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and had been asked to complete a declaration form which contained the following wording: “I confirm that I have now read the notes section and: I have not been subject to any criminal conviction […]
Confusing questions about criminal record checks
We’ve recently worked on a case where the employer had a confusing question about criminal records. We were contacted by an individual who had just received notification from a local school that his application for a teaching position had not been successful. The individual explained that he hadn’t been surprised by the decision as the school […]