What is the difference between a spent and an unspent conviction?

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When a DBS check is placed, we may ask the candidate to confirm if they have cautions, convictions or reprimands that won't be filtered in line with the current guidance.

A spent conviction is a criminal offence that has passed the required rehabilitation period under the terms of Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Once the offender has completed the sentence imposed by the court e.g. community service, a set amount of time on record, or a fine, this will no longer show on a basic check.

However, spent conviction details remain on your criminal record on the police national computer (PNC). This means they will appear on the standard and enhanced checks, but not the basic.

For a more serious crime where you have received a prison sentence of over four years, the conviction will never become spent, but cautions become spent immediately (apart from conditional cautions which will become spent after three months).

The Act aims to rehabilitate offenders by not making their past mistakes affect the rest of their lives if they have been on the right side of the law for some time.

For details on the length of time before a conviction becomes spent, see the NACRO website:

https://www.nacro.org.uk/resettlement-advice-service/support-forpractitioners/the-law-on-disclosure/#long.

Please note that the rehabilitation periods vary between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

We will provide you with results that are filtered according to the rehabilitation periods applicable in the country where the candidate currently lives.

An unspent conviction is a criminal conviction that is still in the bounds of the rehabilitation period. Unspent convictions show up on many types of DBS checks - Basic, Standard, and Enhanced.

Your candidate must declare any unspent convictions when undertaking a criminal record check.

Verifile cannot advise your candidate if their conviction will appear on the check or not.

From the 28th of October 2023, there will be changes to the above process.

Custodial sentences over 4 years that are not already excluded (such as life sentences or sentences of imprisonment for public protection) will be able to become spent for the first time.

However, to ensure the protection of the public, the changes do not apply to persons sentenced to over 4 years' imprisonment following a conviction for any serious violent, sexual, or terrorist offences listed in Schedule 18 of the Sentencing Act 2020.

These convictions will remain unspent and will therefore continue to be disclosed. 

In addition, rehabilitation periods for some disposals/sentences will be reduced.

For example: 

• Custodial sentences over 1 year and up to 4 years will now become spent 4 years after the sentence ends. 
• Custodial sentences of up to 1 year will now become spent 1 year after the sentence ends. 
• Community Orders and Youth Rehabilitation Orders will now become spent at the end of the order.

The change will mean that in limited circumstances, some applicants will now see additional unspent records being disclosed.

Please contact DBS for more information.

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