Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and spent and unspent convictions

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 applies to England, Scotland and Wales, and is aimed at helping people who have been convicted of a criminal offence and who have not re-offended since.

Spent convictions

Convictions that carry a sentence of 30 months imprisonment or less will become spent after a certain period of time. This period is known as a rehabilitation period and varies in length according to the severity of the penalty.

If the person does not re-offend during this rehabilitation period their conviction becomes 'spent'. The individual is considered to have put their criminal past behind them and rehabilitated back into society.

• simple cautions, reprimands and final warnings become spent at the moment of issue
• an adult or youth conditional caution will become spent after three months

You can find more information about the ROA on the Ministry of Justice website.

Rehabilitation periods

The length of the rehabilitation period depends on the sentence given for the original offence and runs from the date of the conviction. Sentences can carry fixed or variable rehabilitation periods and these periods can be extended if the person offends again during the rehabilitation period. 

You can find more information about rehabilitation periods including a table showing when convictions become spent on the Nacro website.

Unspent convictions

A conviction is unspent if

• the rehabilitation period is not complete
• the sentence for the offence was more than 30 months imprisonment*

* It is the sentence imposed by the courts that counts, even if it is a suspended sentence, not the time actually spent in prison.

Convictions and work

Once a conviction is 'spent', the convicted person does not have to reveal it or admit its existence in most circumstances. As a job applicant they have no legal obligation to reveal a spent conviction and it is illegal for an employer to ask whether an applicant has any spent convictions.

However, there are certain areas of employment that are exempted from this rule for which employers may ask about spent convictions and these are listed in the Exceptions Order to the ROA.

The two main exceptions relate to working with children or working with vulnerable adults. If a person wants to apply for a position that involves working with children or vulnerable adults, or both, they are required to reveal all convictions, both spent and unspent.

When an employer asks an individual to complete a CRB application the employer is asking an exempted question.

Find more information about employing someone with a criminal record on the Business Link website.