Hi Ben,

You can also do a basic disclosure on yourself through Disclosure Scotland - it costs around £25 and comes back to you in a week. That way, you know if anything shows before you start applying anywhere.

Even though it's Disclosure Scotland, it still concerns anything from the UK that's on the PNC.

Hi Deb,

Thank you very much for your response. That is an excellent piece of advice, to make sure the certificate goes to my home address so that I can rectify any potential problems without a potential employer needing to know.

Thanks a lot
Tom

Morning everyone, hope your week is starting OK.

I'm wondering when exactly a spent conviction will no longer appear if you are asked to do a basic disclosure by an employer. Of course in an ideal world, it should be midnight at the end of the last day that it is unspent...

I'm happily and securely employed but am casually looking at other opportunities after a few years at the same place.

My conviction recently became spent, but I am sceptical about whether the police might "forget" to remove it from the record as soon as it becomes spent. Having had previous issues where they told me a banning order lasted longer than it actually did, and I had to go out of my way and at personal expense to provide court documents and a solicitor's letter before they reluctantly agreed to remove my order, I would not be surprised if my spent conviction still "accidentally" appeared, in the event that I apply for a job and the potential employer requests a basic disclosure.

I'm guessing a subject access request won't help because it will just list everything, spent or unspent.

Has anyone ever had any issues with a spent conviction coming up for something that is only meant to reveal unspent ones?

Thanks in advance.

Ben

I have had issues with the Scottish legal system.... nobody seems to know anything! I spent near-on a month trying to find out when my conviction becomes spent. Seriously, Disclosure Scotland, the Justice Department and even Social Work couldn't tell me. I Fully recommend doing what Deb and JohnL say - get copies of certificates and ensure that the conviction is no longer showing up before you state you have no unspent convictions.

Hi Ben

Really sorry to hear of the problems you had with your Banning Order - I've seen a similar situation with a client that I did some work with earlier this year.

Generally, we don't see too many people contacting us where spent convictions have been disclosed on basic disclosures. Typically this tends to happen when clients need to provide evidence to Disclosure Scotland that things like compensation orders have been settled - (a compensation order does not become spent until it has been settled in full).

To alleviate this type of problem, always ensure that the disclosure certificate is returned to you, irrespective of whether the employer is paying for it. If an error was made, this would give you the opportunity to deal with it before it was seen by the employer.

Good luck for the future.

Debbie

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