Do I Have to Disclose a Spent Conviction in England and Wales?

Who this guide is for

People in England and Wales who have a caution or a conviction and want to know whether they have to tell an employer, an insurer, a landlord, a college or anyone else about it. It explains when a caution or conviction becomes spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, what spent means, and the jobs where spent ones can still be asked about.

What this guide does not cover

• Scotland or Northern Ireland: the periods are different. See the Scotland guide or the Northern Ireland guide. For a job in Scotland, the Scottish rules apply, wherever you were convicted.
• What a DBS certificate shows, how to get one, and how to challenge a certificate you think is wrong: use the DBS check checker.
• Immigration, nationality and visa applications. Immigration and nationality decisions are exempt from the 1974 Act, so the Home Office can consider spent convictions as well as unspent ones. For a visa to another country, ask that country's embassy.
• Diversionary cautions and community cautions (the new out-of-court disposals in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022): ask Nacro or Unlock.
• Armed forces punishments, hospital orders, convictions from outside the UK, sex offender notification, the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme and Clare's Law: ask Nacro or Unlock.
• What to do if you were turned down or dismissed because of a conviction: ask Citizens Advice, Acas or a solicitor.

⚖ At a glance

• A caution or conviction becomes spent when its rehabilitation period ends. After that you are treated, for most purposes, as if you had never been cautioned or convicted of that offence.
• Once it is spent, you do not have to mention it on an application form or at a job interview, unless the job is listed in the Exceptions Order. Unless an exception applies, an employer cannot refuse to employ you or dismiss you because of a spent caution or conviction.
• While it is unspent, you must disclose it if you are asked: for a job, insurance, housing or a course.
• The length of the rehabilitation period depends on the sentence or disposal you got and your age on the date of conviction, not on the offence. The one exception is a sentence of more than 4 years for a serious violent, sexual or terrorist offence, which is never spent.
• The periods in this guide came into force on 28 October 2023. Older, longer periods you may find online are out of date.
• GOV.UK has a free disclosure checker: search "Check when to disclose cautions or convictions".

The questions that decide the answer

1. Where is the job or application? England or Wales: this guide. Scotland or Northern Ireland: see that guide.
2. Was it a caution or a conviction? A simple caution or youth caution is spent immediately. A conditional caution is spent after 3 months, or earlier if it stops having effect. A conviction depends on the sentence.
3. What sentence did you get, and how long was it? Custody (including a suspended sentence), a community order, a fine, a discharge, a driving endorsement or ban, or another order. Each has its own period below. If you do not know the length or the end date, this guide cannot give the date it becomes spent.
4. How old were you on the date of conviction? Under 18: most periods are shorter.
5. Were you convicted again before it became spent? Yes: the earlier conviction may stay unspent for longer (see "More than one conviction").
6. What are you being asked for? Most jobs, insurance, housing and courses: only unspent cautions and convictions. A job listed in the Exceptions Order (the advert usually says a standard or enhanced DBS check is needed): unspent ones and some spent ones. A very small number of roles of the utmost integrity: everything.

When a caution or conviction becomes spent

Rehabilitation periods from 28 October 2023. The shorter period in brackets applies if you were under 18 on the date of conviction or when the caution was given.

• Custodial sentence of 1 year or less: 12 months after the day the sentence ends, including any licence period (6 months).
• Custodial sentence of more than 1 year and up to, or consisting of, 4 years: 4 years after the day the sentence ends, including any licence period (2 years).
• Custodial sentence of more than 4 years, not for a Schedule 18 offence: 7 years after the day the sentence ends, including any licence period (42 months).
• For a custodial sentence, the period runs from the end of the whole sentence including the licence period, not from the day you were released.
• A suspended sentence counts as a custodial sentence. It is the length of the sentence the court imposed that counts, not the period it was suspended for.
• Community order or youth rehabilitation order: spent on the last day the order is to have effect (the end date given by the order). If the order gives no end date, 2 years from the date of conviction. If unpaid work hours are extended past the original end date, the conviction is still spent on the original end date.
• Conditional discharge, bind over, referral order, restraining order or another order that restricts you: spent on the end date given by the order. If the order gives no end date, 24 months from the date of conviction. If the order says "indefinitely", "unlimited" or "until further order", it stays unspent until a court changes the order.
• Fine: 12 months from the date of conviction (6 months).
• Compensation order: spent when it is paid in full. Get proof of payment from the court and keep it.
• Absolute discharge: spent immediately.
• Simple caution or youth caution: spent immediately.
• Conditional caution or youth conditional caution: 3 months, or when the caution stops having effect if that is earlier.

Driving offences

• An endorsement is spent 5 years from the date of conviction (2 years 6 months if you were under 18). This includes an endorsement from a fixed penalty notice.
• A driving ban is spent when the ban ends. A ban "until a test is passed" is spent only when you pass the test.
• Penalty points are spent when they stop having effect.
• If you got more than one sentence or penalty for the same conviction, the longest period decides when the conviction is spent. For example, a fine with an endorsement is not spent until the endorsement is.

Sentences that are never spent

• A life sentence.
• A custodial sentence of more than 4 years for a serious violent, sexual or terrorist offence listed in Schedule 18 of the Sentencing Code. Each sentence must be more than 4 years on its own: sentences are not added together for this test.
• Preventive detention, detention during His Majesty's pleasure or for life, and custody for life.
• Public protection sentences: imprisonment or detention for public protection, extended sentences for public protection and extended determinate sentences for dangerous offenders.

Fixed penalty notices and penalty notices for disorder

These are not convictions or cautions, so the 1974 Act does not cover them, except where a fixed penalty notice gives you a driving endorsement. Police may still keep a record, and an enhanced DBS check can include information from local police if they think it is relevant.

More than one conviction

• If you got more than one sentence for one conviction, or for offences dealt with in the same proceedings, the conviction is spent only when the latest period ends.
• Concurrent sentences are treated as one term and the longest period applies. Consecutive sentences are added together.
• If you are convicted again before an earlier conviction is spent, neither is spent until both periods have ended (there are very limited exceptions).
• A later caution does not extend an earlier conviction's period. An order such as a restraining order or a football banning order does not extend the period of a different conviction.
• If a later sentence can never become spent, any earlier conviction that was still unspent at the time can never become spent either. Convictions after that can still become spent.
• Once a conviction is spent, it stays spent, even if you are convicted of something else later.

Do I have to tell them?

Most jobs

• Unspent: if the employer asks, you must tell them.
• Spent: you do not have to mention it on an application form or at interview.
• If an employer takes into account a caution or conviction they are not entitled to ask about, they are acting unlawfully under the 1974 Act.

Jobs listed in the Exceptions Order

Some jobs and activities are listed in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. The job advert will usually say that a standard or enhanced DBS check may be needed, and the employer should be able to tell you whether an exception applies and where it is in the Order. Examples:

• work with children, and caring for, training or supervising people in vulnerable circumstances (including social work, fostering, adoption and childminding);
• healthcare professions such as doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and optometrists;
• the legal profession, courts and tribunals, and law enforcement;
• prison and probation work;
• some financial sector roles, and national security;
• some certificates and licences, such as a firearms certificate.

For these jobs you must disclose every unspent caution and conviction. You must also disclose a spent one if it is on this list:

• a caution for a specified offence given when you were 18 or over, however long ago;
• any other caution given when you were 18 or over, if it was less than 6 years ago;
• a conviction for a specified offence, at any age, however long ago;
• a conviction that led to a custodial sentence, at any age, however long ago;
• any other conviction, if it was less than 11 years ago (less than 5 years 6 months if you were under 18).

Anything not on that list is protected and does not have to be disclosed, including spent youth cautions, reprimands and warnings. A specified offence is a serious offence, mostly sexual or violent or relevant to safeguarding. The full list is on GOV.UK (the list of offences that will never be filtered from a DBS certificate).

A very small number of roles of the utmost integrity need full disclosure, including protected cautions and convictions. These are generally national security, police constables, judicial appointments and firearms certificates. You will be told if full disclosure is needed.

Insurance

Insurers are entitled to ask about convictions. If they ask, you must tell them about unspent ones. If they do not ask, you do not need to tell them. You never have to tell an insurer about a spent conviction.

Housing, mortgages and renting

If you are asked and you go ahead with the application, you must disclose unspent convictions, but not spent ones. If you are already a tenant and get a conviction, you do not always have to tell the landlord, unless the tenancy agreement says so. A landlord cannot apply for a DBS check on you, but may ask you to get a basic check yourself and share it.

College, university, apprenticeships and training

Unspent cautions and convictions: yes, if asked. Spent ones: no, unless the course leads to a job listed in the Exceptions Order.

What stays on record

Details of recordable offences are kept on the Police National Computer until you are 100. That does not mean they are disclosed on a check or that you have to disclose them once spent. It is a criminal offence for anyone with official access to criminal records to disclose a spent conviction except in the course of their official duties.

Deadlines

• This guide has no court or tribunal deadlines. The dates that matter are the rehabilitation periods above.
• Fines and driving endorsements count from the date of conviction. Orders are spent on their end date. Custodial sentences count from the end of the whole sentence, including any licence period.

Money figures

• This guide gives no money figures. The amount of a fine does not change its rehabilitation period.

Traps

• The period depends on the sentence, not the offence. The only offence-based rule is the Schedule 18 rule for sentences of more than 4 years.
• For custody, the clock starts when the whole sentence ends, including licence, not on the day of release.
• A suspended sentence is a custodial sentence for this purpose.
• A new conviction before an earlier one is spent keeps both unspent until both periods end.
• Spent does not mean deleted. It means you do not have to disclose it, except for the jobs and roles above.
• Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own, different periods. For a job in Scotland, the Scottish rules apply.
• Employment tribunal time limits have nothing to do with rehabilitation periods.