Criminals allowed to keep past secret

Criminals allowed to keep past secret

Serious criminals will be able to keep their records secret from employers under new government plans.

Anybody jailed for more than 30 months currently has to disclose their convictions for life when they go for job interviews.

Under the new proposals, people jailed for four years or more, for crimes such as robbery, rape or manslaughter, would only have to disclose their record for the first four years after the end of their sentence.

For criminals given non-jail sentences, the "buffer" period before convictions become "spent" would end a year after the sentence itself.

If this is supposed to increase the employability of ex-offenders, we don't think it will work on its own

Confederation of British Industry

The plans are part of efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders and stop them getting caught up in a continuing cycle of crime.

But they have prompted concerns from some employers groups, who also argue more training is the real answer to getting ex-offenders into work.

Under the proposals, people jailed for less than four years will have to wait two years after their sentence, including the time spent on licence out of prison, before the record becomes spent.

The proposals come in the government's response to consultation on possible changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, which governs the rules on spent convictions.

'Breaking the circle'

The government has decided to defer judgement on another idea which proved unpopular - giving a "clean sheet" to 18-year-olds.

Ministers may come back to the idea if there continues to be a particular problem with resettling young offenders.

They say judges and magistrates should be able to order that employers be given access to conviction records beyond the normal timescales in special cases.

The government says: "It will be important to ensure that sentencers are able to use this discretion to protect the interests of employers, and others, in the limited number of cases where a real risk is perceived."

The document, called Breaking the Circle and released on Budget Day, stressed the need for "an effective balance between the need to protect the public and the resettlement needs of ex-offenders".

The review says ex-offenders should still have to disclose their convictions if they want to take up certain jobs, such as work involving vulnerable adults or children, police or court work and national security posts.

Certain jobs in the banking and finance sectors are also exempt from the disclosure limits of the current laws - and will continue to be so.

Employers' concerns

A spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said many employers would be uncomfortable with some of the changes.

But the "buffer" periods had been made longer, he said, so the government had listened to employers.

The spokesman told BBC News Online: "If this is supposed to increase the employability of ex-offenders, we don't think it will work on its own."

The key problem with ex-offenders failing to get long-term jobs was a lack of training, or insufficient help with tackling drugs, alcohol or mental health problems, he added.

Ruth Lea, head of policy at the Institute of Directors, said serious offenders should have to disclose their convictions for life.

She told the Daily Telegraph: "No one wants to stigmatise or condemn someone for ever but with so much trust at stake, an employer ought to be told."