- Practical information & advice
- Read personal stories
- Discuss this with others
- Help us with our policy work on this
Practical information & advice
For most jobs (and insurance) you don’t need to disclose your criminal record once it’s ‘spent’. This is because of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Most convictions will become spent at some point. We have a tool that can help work this out (disclosurecalculator.org.uk).
Taken from our top 10 things to know
Read our latest news posts about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
Information
Here you’ll find links to various parts of this site where we have information and useful resources relating to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
This law is designed to help people with convictions. It doesn’t help everybody (like people given more than 4 years in prison), and in some situations (like certain jobs), it doesn’t apply. Useful links include:
- Is it spent? [Poster]
- A simple guide to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA)
- Detailed guide
- Long list of sentences/disposals and when they become spent
- Easy Read guide [PDF]
- Differences between unspent and spent convictions
- Spent and unspent convictions – when you might have to disclose them
- What will be disclosed on a basic DBS check?
- When and how to disclose to employers
- Applying to a court to end a court order
You’ll need to have the details of your conviction and the disposal you received. If you have only one conviction it’s simple to work this our for yourself but if you have more than one, you could try using our Disclosure Calculator. Useful links include:
- Is it spent? [Poster]
- Use our Disclosure Calculator [Website tool]
- Finding out when your convictions are spent
- A brief guide to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) [PDF]
- A simple guide to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA)
- A detailed guide to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA)
- Easy Read guide [PDF]
- Long list of sentences/disposals and when they become spent
- Motoring convictions and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
- Basic DBS disclosures – disclosing unspent convictions
The changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act meant that in many cases the time it takes for a conviction to become spent was reduced. Useful links include:
- What was the law like before March 2014?
- Is it spent now? Brief guide to the changes
- Changes to the ROA – A summary of what happened in March 2014
- Outstanding technical queries relating to the changes
Advice
Here you’ll find some of the common advice we give on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. This is based on what we’ve learnt as a charity, as well as the real-life experiences of people with convictions.
- The law can be complicated and confusing. When coupled with individuals often struggling to remember precisely what sentence they received, mistakes can be made. Make sure you fully understand your criminal record before you withhold convictions that you think are spent under the ROA. If in doubt, apply for a basic DBS disclosure.
Frequently asked questions
Here you’ll find some specific questions that we regularly get asked about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and thr answers we generally provide. More detailed FAQ’s may be included in the information pages above.
General questions about the Act
Please note: The Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 is a separate piece of legislation which is focused on changes to Probation and rehabilitation services.
However, not everyone gets it right. Some employers and volunteer bodies might ask about spent convictions when they’re not allowed to, it’s not always obvious whether a particular job or role is covered by the Act or not. We have a detailed section on eligibility, which gives some advice about the types of things to look for, as well as a link to the Government’s guidance on eligibility.
Specific technical questions about when convictions become spent
We’ve produced a separate web-page with FAQ’s covering specific situations and when convictions become spent and/or disclosed on basic disclosures.
Useful links
Here you’ll find links to useful organisations and websites related to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act that we refer to in our information and advice. Contact details for the organisations listed below can be found here.
Read personal stories
The personal story below has been posted on theRecord, our online magazine.
Discuss this with others
Read and share your experience of this on our online forum.
Key sections include:
- Finding out when your convictions become spent – Particular sentences & disposals and convictions obtained overseas
- Difference between spent and unspent convictions
Help us with our policy work on this
Read more about the policy work we’re doing on pushing for further reform of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.