Spent Convictions in the UK: When You Don’t Have to Disclose

Spent convictions are convictions that, under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, are treated as if they never happened for most purposes once a set rehabilitation period has passed. In England and Wales, once a conviction is spent you generally don’t have to disclose it to employers, insurers or landlords, and it won’t appear on a basic DBS check. There are exceptions for certain jobs, such as work with children, healthcare and law, where spent records can still be asked about and disclosed.

The rules have been reformed twice in the last decade, in 2014 and in 2023, and many people still rely on out-of-date information. This guide explains the rules in general terms and covers the reputation side: what employers see, and what to do about old records that still show up on Google. It’s not legal advice.

How the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act works

The Act sets a rehabilitation period for each sentence. When that period ends, the conviction becomes spent. After that, in most situations:

• You don’t have to mention it when asked about convictions, for example on a job application or an insurance form.
• An employer shouldn’t refuse you a job, or dismiss you, because of it.
• It doesn’t appear on a basic DBS check.

Cautions work in a similar way. A simple caution is spent immediately. A conditional caution is spent after a short period or once its conditions end.

Rehabilitation periods, in general terms

The length of the period depends on the sentence, not the offense. As a general guide:

Sentence type	How the period generally works
Fines	A fixed period from the date of conviction, shorter for under-18s
Community orders and youth orders	Linked to the end of the order
Conditional discharge	Spent at the end of the discharge period
Custodial sentences	The whole sentence, including any time on license, plus an extra period that grows with the length of the sentence
Motoring endorsements	Can have their own period, which may be longer than the fine that came with them

People sentenced when under 18 generally get shorter periods than adults. Because exact periods vary by sentence and date, use an official source or a free advice service to work out yours, rather than a figure you find on a forum.

What changed in 2014 and 2023

The 2014 reforms, brought in by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, restructured rehabilitation periods. They shortened most periods and changed them to run from the end of the sentence.

The 2023 reforms, brought in by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, went further. In general terms, they:

• Shortened many rehabilitation periods again.
• Allowed some longer custodial sentences, which previously could never become spent, to become spent after a period.
• Kept an exclusion for certain serious sexual, violent and terrorism offenses with long sentences, which still never become spent.

The changes generally apply to past convictions as well as new ones, so a conviction that wasn’t spent under the old rules may be spent now. If you last checked before 2023, check again.

The exceptions: when spent convictions still matter

Some roles are listed in an exceptions order to the Act. For these, employers can ask about spent convictions and cautions, and standard or enhanced DBS checks can show them, subject to filtering. Common examples include:

• Work with children or vulnerable adults.
• Healthcare professions and many care roles.
• Lawyers, accountants and some regulated financial roles.
• Police, prison and some security roles.
• Certain licenses, such as taxi licensing in many areas.

Filtering removes some old and minor records from standard and enhanced certificates, but not all. Our guide to the DBS check explains the levels and how filtering works in outline.

What employers, insurers and landlords see

For ordinary jobs, employers can ask about unspent convictions and request a basic DBS check. A spent conviction won’t appear. If a form asks “do you have any criminal convictions?”, for a role outside the exceptions you’re generally entitled to answer about unspent ones only.

Insurers can ask about unspent convictions. Landlords can do the same in practice, but they can’t require you to disclose spent ones either.

What the Act can’t control is the internet. A court report from a local newspaper, a post on social media, or a listing on a people-search site can stay online long after the conviction is spent.

Dealing with spent convictions online

This is where the reputation work starts. A spent conviction is legally in the past, but an employer who searches your name may still find it. You have a few routes.

Ask search engines to delist it

Under UK GDPR, you can ask search engines to remove results for your name where the information is outdated or no longer relevant and your privacy interest outweighs the public interest. Spent convictions are a strong factor in that balance. In the 2018 NT1 and NT2 cases, the High Court ordered Google to delist results about one businessman’s spent conviction, while refusing the other’s request, which shows each case is weighed on its facts. Our guides to the right to be forgotten and UK GDPR cover how to make the request.

Ask the publisher to update or remove the story

Newspapers rarely remove accurate court reports, but some will anonymize an old report or add an update, particularly for minor matters. A short, polite request that mentions the conviction is spent is worth sending. Our guide on how to remove a news article from Google includes example wording.

Complain to the regulator if a request is refused

If a search engine or website refuses a data protection request and you think it’s wrong, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Build accurate results above it

Where removal isn’t possible, a professional profile, a personal website and other accurate pages can help push the old result further down. That takes time and doesn’t make the result disappear.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative, not a real client. Marcus received a short custodial sentence in his early twenties. He’s now applying for project management jobs, and a local news story about the case is on the first page for his name.

1. He uses free guidance from an advice charity to confirm that his conviction is spent under the current rules.
2. He stops disclosing it on applications for ordinary roles, as the law allows.
3. He submits a delisting request to Google for the news story, explaining the conviction is spent, that he was young, and that it has no bearing on his work.
4. He writes to the newspaper asking whether it would anonymize the story. It declines, but the delisting request succeeds and the result stops appearing in searches for his name.

A different outcome was possible. Delisting is decided case by case, and a more serious or recent matter might have been refused.

Common mistakes

• Disclosing when you don’t have to. If a conviction is spent and the role isn’t exempt, you can generally answer “no”.
• Failing to disclose when you must. For exempt roles, leaving out a conviction that will appear on the certificate can cost you the job and may be treated as dishonesty.
• Relying on old rules. The 2023 changes shortened many periods. Recheck.
• Threatening a newspaper. Legal threats over accurate reports rarely work and can generate a fresh story. A calm request is more effective.

Where to get free advice

Nacro is a UK charity that provides free advice on criminal records, including whether a conviction is spent, what you need to disclose, and how to talk to employers. Specialist criminal record charities publish detailed guides and tools for working out rehabilitation periods. Citizens Advice can also help. For disputes with employers, or complex cases, talk to a solicitor.

If you’d like help with the online side, our content removal team can review which results about an old conviction might qualify for delisting or removal and prepare the requests with you. We can’t promise removal, and we’ll tell you honestly where a request is unlikely to succeed.

Frequently asked questions

Do spent convictions show on a DBS check?

Spent convictions don’t show on a basic DBS check. They can show on standard and enhanced checks for eligible roles, unless they have been filtered under the DBS filtering rules.

Do I have to tell an employer about a spent conviction?

For most jobs, no. You only need to disclose spent convictions for roles covered by the exceptions to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, such as work with children, healthcare and some legal and financial roles.

Can a conviction with a prison sentence become spent?

Many can. Since the 2023 reforms, some longer custodial sentences can become spent for the first time, but certain serious sexual, violent and terrorism offenses with long sentences are still excluded.

Can I get a spent conviction removed from Google?

You can ask. Under UK GDPR you can request delisting of outdated or irrelevant results about you, and a spent conviction is a strong factor, but each request is weighed against the public interest.