New Law: The Police, Crime, Sentencing And Courts Act 2022

• Published date: 13 November 2023
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Criminal Law, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations, Crime
• Law Firm: Michelmores
• Author: Dan O'Sullivan

As of 28 October 2023, nearly 125,000 people sentenced in 2022 immediately benefitted from the changes arising from the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Under the previous law, some offenders were required to disclose criminal convictions to their employer or prospective employer for the rest of their lives, in accordance with the relevant 'rehabilitation period', which created a significant barrier to obtaining employment. Now, this position has changed, except for those offenders who have committed serious sexual, violent, or terrorist offences, who are excluded from these changes (a step which was felt necessary to avoid an increased risk to the public). The changes do not directly affect, for example, teaching applicants, as the stricter disclosure rules applicable to jobs working with vulnerable people continue through standard and enhanced DBS checks. We previously shared our insight on this related topic 'Is an applicant required to disclose all of their criminal convictions when applying for a role at a school?', which you may wish to read here in order to further your understanding of such matters.

For context, the rehabilitation period is the 'spending period' following a full sentence after which a conviction becomes 'spent', which means the conviction will no longer appear on a basic criminal record and will only show up on standard and enhanced DBS checks. This means that an employee would no longer be required to tell a potential employer about a conviction if only a standard DBS check is undertaken.

The changes made to rehabilitation periods for adults (over 18s) after which convictions become spent are:

Previous		New
Sentence	Spending Period	Sentence	Spending Period
(Adult) Community Order	1 year beginning with the last day on which the order has effect	(Adult) Community Order	The last day on which the order has effect
Custody of 6 months or less	2 years	Custody of 1 year or less	1 year
Custody of more than 6 months up to 30 months (2.5 years)	4 years	Custody of more than 1 year up to 4 years	4 years
Custody of more than 30 months (2.5 years) up to 4 years	7 years	Custody of more than 4 years	7 years
Custody of more than 4 years	Conviction is never spent

The changes made to rehabilitation periods for under 18s after which convictions become spent are:

Previous		New
Sentence	Spending Period	Sentence	Spending Period
Youth Rehabilitation Order	6

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