Laws relax criminal record vetting

New employment legislation will mean most job applicants will no longer be required to reveal their criminal history, the Home Office has announced. Old and minor cautions will soon no longer appear on criminal records checks carried out by employers in England and Wales. This follows January's Court of Appeal ruling that blanket checks did not comply with human rights laws. All serious violent and sexual crimes will continue to be made known, however.

The current system divulges all convictions and cautions, which are then revealed to potential employers. Convictions resulting in a non-custodial sentence will be filtered from record checks after 11 years for adults and five-and-a-half years for young offenders under the new plans. The Home Office plans to implement the system within weeks after parliamentary scrutiny.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach, Minister for Criminal Information, said the new system of checks strikes a balance between ensuring that children and vulnerable groups are protected and avoiding intrusion into people’s lives. But he added that criminal records checks are an important tool for employers to use in making informed, safeguarded choices. Lord Taylor said: “The protection of children and vulnerable groups is of paramount importance to this Government."