theForum » Criminal record checks for employment (including DBS checks) » DBS filtering » Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

dave_uk — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:14:55 GMT

Hi, 11 years ago i was arrested for common assault (section 39) i remember on the little form he gave me it did only say common assault section 39 and nothing else.
In that time i have not applied for any new job out of fearing if it got found out I’d lose my current job as i would probably want to look at another job in the place i currently work (NHS) (No patient contact)

I read that after 11 years common assault can be filtered out from DBS checks, does that include standard and enhanced checks?

I read that it can be removed if the conviction was non violent, well yeh i hit someone but it wasn't exactly out of violence as such.

How do i know if what i done was classed as violent? i read on another site if it was classed as violent then it would have been classed as ABH or GBH?

If that’s the case would i be filtered out? How would i also know the date it would be wiped from my record or would i be best phoning them to confirm its been taken off?

This is something I’d say has pretty much ruined my life because it was actually something really stupid but I’ve felt i can't apply for another job as I’ve been so worried about losing the job i have, if i went for a job in the place i work and didn't get it, they could then get rid of me i assume?

Thanks

Dave

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

Evan Davis — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:14:55 GMT

[quote]

[b]dave_uk - 13 Apr 25 11:15 AM[/b]

Hi, sorry to reply to this again.
I have finally applied to ACRO to see what comes back (was much easier than I thought it was going to be).

In the crime offender record, it shows:
Offence recorded desc: Sec 47 assault occasioning actual bodily harm

Then at the bottom in the Court result record it shows:
Offence: Common assault, Sec 39
Result: Community order (180 hours unpaid work)

I still have not applied for any job in the whole time since this happened, which is now a good amount of time over 11 years, so is spent. I have still always worried about it appearing on checks.
I have always worked for the health service doing an admin role, and it's never been mentioned to them. Funnily enough, the arresting officer took me aside and told me to say I don't have a job when asked.

I have always wanted to go for other admin roles, but the worry of this harming my current role has always stopped me. If I did go for a job, still within the health service, and anything got brought up on the DBS check, even if i didn't get the job I am going for, could that then get me sacked from my current role for never letting them know?

I know these jobs should really just be a basic check as there's no patient contact, but I only ever see them being advertised as standard or enhanced, I don't think I have ever seen any of the admin roles being advertised with a basic check.

I know my offence would be filtered and comes under that, I guess the thing I am so hesitant about is that the police can still disclose information if they feel it's relevant, can't they? And I keep thinking being a health service role, even admin, they may feel that should be disclosed? Would that be the case, or is there just no way of knowing without applying for a job?

Because the ACRO document shows the police recorded it initially as sec 47 which is worse, could they only see that and not the outcome was sec 39, so they may feel they are responding to what they think was a sec 47 offence?

Or am i really just over thinking everything? I just don't want to lose my job, in the process of trying to get a new one. :(

Regards
Dave

[/quote]

Hi Dave

As you rightly stated, the reason for the difference in what PNC and court records show is simply because the offence was downgraded - the Police suspected you of a ABH offence, but ultimately, a prosecutor/the Court decided that in fact it was only a common assault.

This means the conviction can filter 11 years from the date of the conviction, as the conviction is for common assault - this wouldn't have been possible of course had the conviction been for ABH.

Generally, the "additional relevant information" section on an Enhanced DBS certificate is for serious matters that raise safeguarding issues but haven't resulted in a disclosable conviction - I really do not think that your common assault conviction from well over 10 years ago qualifies as this - so whilst I can't give you the 100% categorical assurance that it won't be disclosed, I can say that it'd be extremely rare for it to be disclosed and I personally have not seen any case myself where this type of conviction has been disclosed.

Furthermore, you should be aware that "additional relevant information" can only be added to Enhanced certificates, not Basic or Standard ones.

I'd say, honestly - you probably are overthinking this a bit. Which is completely understandable as I'd probably do the same myself! But I'd just remind you to remember that this incident took place many, many years ago, you don't present any ongoing risk to anybody, and in any event, your contact with patients is very limited anyhow - the NHS generally are good with these situations where employees have minor or old convictions that don't impact their ability to safely carry out their role - at least from my experience.

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

dave_uk — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:15:49 GMT

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

AB2014 — Thu, 18 May 2023 10:37:45 GMT

[quote]

[b]dave_uk - 17 May 23 11:58 PM[/b]

Thank you, that sounds brilliant and such a relief.
Would anything on PNC also be filtered, or could anything there show up?
Or after this amount of time and given my scenario, do I need to just stop worrying and be assured nothing is going to show now, even on a standard or enhanced check?

[/quote]

It will stay on your PNC record, but unless there are any safeguarding issues around the conviction and the victim, the police shouldn't be disclosing it. The check should be clear, but it's human nature to be unsure of the unknown until it finally becomes known. If anything does show up, I suggest contacting Unlock for advice.

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

dave_uk — Wed, 17 May 2023 23:58:13 GMT

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

AB2014 — Mon, 15 May 2023 11:08:26 GMT

[quote]

[b]dave_uk - 15 May 23 12:03 AM[/b]

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I don't have multiple convictions, so not sure how your reply relates?
Does that mean mine would be filtered?

[/quote]

I'm guessing that Yankee was just covering all the possibilities. In your case, the conviction will be filtered eleven years after the date of conviction. You don't have to apply for filtering; it just happens from the next check after that date.

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

dave_uk — Mon, 15 May 2023 00:03:02 GMT

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I don't have multiple convictions, so not sure how your reply relates?
Does that mean mine would be filtered?

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

AB2014 — Thu, 11 May 2023 09:59:05 GMT

[quote]

[b]Yankee - 28 Feb 20 4:29 PM[/b]

[quote]

[b]dave_uk - 24 Feb 20 7:39 PM[/b]

[/quote]

Common assault section 39 is NOT on the list of offences that will never be filtered so will NOT appear on a DBS standard or enhanced check after 11 years, unless:
(1) you received a prison sentence or (2) you have more than one conviction

See the documentation on the Unlock Hub

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/756791/List_of_offences_that_will_never_be_filtered_PDF_.pdf

https://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/filtering-simple-guide/

[/quote]

The multiple convictions rule was abolished in November 2020 after the Supreme Court case about filtering.

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

dave_uk — Mon, 08 May 2023 21:24:34 GMT

Hi, really sorry to be replying to this again after 3 years.
To answer the last reply, no employer didn't ever know I had this conviction for the whole 11 years.
This is working in the NHS all that time and still am.
It's now been about 13/14 years since the conviction.
I don't have the paperwork I got at the time, so a bit sketchy on detail now. I am pretty certain is section 39 common assault.
I got 180 hours community service. I don't recall if I got a suspended sentence or not, although would this not be the case if I got a community order?
Would you generally not get both and only one?
The other thing I am a bit worried about is I read that with an enhanced check, can show information that's on the PNC.
I used the calculator, which seems to show that my offence should now be filtered. Has anything changed where I can find out? Without applying for a job, that is.
In the whole time, I have not applied for any other job, literally out of just being scared of losing my current job and then not being able to get another one if that happened.

If I applied for another job in the NHS for example, because it's the NHS, is it likely that information from the PNC would show on an enhanced check? How am I going to know if it will or won't?

I just feel I cannot apply for anything else until I know where I stand, without applying for a job to find out. Because applying for a job might be what could then end up effecting me.

If anyone can help, that would be great.

Rufus — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 13:29:44 GMT

I take it you have not declared to your current employer that you have a criminal record for the past 11 years.

Is there no way of paying for a DBS check yourself as companies seem to be able to do it at will .

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

AB2014 — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 14:05:29 GMT

[quote]

[b]dave_uk - 2 Mar 20 9:56 PM[/b]

Thats a shame because all that time i have been really worried about applying for a job, but i will probably stay worried because i have no real way of checking :(

Thank you for your help though

[/quote]

It's normal to worry about the unknown, as that's what has kept the human race alive for thousands of years. Even so, the rules for filtering are supported by law. If you have only ever been convicted on one charge of common assault and not given a prison sentence or suspended sentence, then the conviction will be filtered after 11 years. If your conviction shouldn't be shown but still is, you should raise it with the DBS so that they can get it sorted out for you. They have a legal duty to do that under the Data Protection Act 2018.

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

dave_uk — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 21:56:59 GMT

Thats a shame because all that time i have been really worried about applying for a job, but i will probably stay worried because i have no real way of checking :(

Thank you for your help though

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

Yankee — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 14:37:47 GMT

[quote]

[b]dave_uk - 1 Mar 20 11:08 PM[/b]

How would i know for sure then then if applying for a job after 11 years (which is nearly up) that it won't show up on a DBS check if i applied for a new job?

Thanks for your response.

Dave

[/quote]

It should not appear on a DBS standard or enhanced check after 11 years as long as you did not receive a prison sentence and you do not have another conviction.
I'm not aware of any way to find out for certain, other than applying for a job which requires that level of check.

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

dave_uk — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 23:08:23 GMT

How would i know for sure then then if applying for a job after 11 years (which is nearly up) that it won't show up on a DBS check if i applied for a new job?

Thanks for your response.

Dave

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

Yankee — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 16:31:34 GMT

[quote]

[b]TheWeird1 - 25 Feb 20 9:27 PM[/b]

HI Dave

I would do a Subject Access Request with ACRO

https://www.acro.police.uk/Subject-access

[/quote]

That probably won't help. Even if a conviction is filtered and doesn't appear on a DBS check, it is not deleted from the PNC so all a SAR would tell you is that the conviction is logged, it won't clarify whether it will show up on DBS or not.

Of course, the SAR will also show up any non-PNC information held locally about you that might be disclosed on an enhanced check.

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

Yankee — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 16:29:06 GMT

[quote]

[b]dave_uk - 24 Feb 20 7:39 PM[/b]

[/quote]

RE: Will my section 39 common assault conviction be removed now its been 11 years?

Dean91 — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 21:27:06 GMT

HI Dave

I would do a Subject Access Request with ACRO

https://www.acro.police.uk/Subject-access