The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 is an important piece of legislation. It is designed to help people with a criminal record get back into work by allowing their record to become ‘spent’ after a period of time, provided they have not reoffended.

Once a record is spent, this means that the person is no longer required to declare their offence to a prospective employer. At this point, as the Act says, they are ‘entitled to be treated for all purposes in law as a person who has not been convicted or sentenced’.

Some posts are rightly exempt from the Act. For example, people working with children or vulnerable adults may be required to have a Criminal Records Bureau check which will disclose their offences, whether they are spent or not. Nacro supports keeping these safeguards in place.

Why should the Act be changed?

1. Sentences are longer than they were When the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act was passed in 1974 only 3,000 people received sentences of 30 months or more. A sentence of this length means people have to declare their offence to employers forever if asked to do so.
   Now over 12,000 people receive similar sentences every year. This is not due to an increase in crime; it is because of longer sentencing for the same offences.
2. It’s out of step with other countries: the time it takes for sentences to become ‘spent’ is roughly twice as long as it is in comparable European countries.
3. More employers than ever are checking on employees and are becoming increasingly reluctant to employ people with a record. Declaring a conviction can result in applicants being dismissed out of hand, irrespective of the skills and talent they can offer, the severity of the offence and how long ago it was committed.

The amended Act must reduce the time it takes for offences to become spent, otherwise known as the buffer period.

For more detail on how the Act needs to change, click here