Well, there are two types of police information - the arrests/cautions/convictions on the Police National Computer, and information held on local files. That is non-conviction information, such as fixed penalty notices, cannabis warnings, allegations, soft intelligence and so on. Crucially, it also includes details of convictions for non-recordable offences. These won't show on the PNC but will be kept on local records for future reference. Unlock has information about recordable offences here, and a link to the law on recordable offences.

=========================================================

As Chris Stacey said: Although its not formally part of the sentence that is handed down in court, the criminal record that someone comes away with effectively becomes a second sentence, which can have a long-lasting, if not lifelong, impact.

Thanks AB2014,


This is the answer I was hoping to get.  I just wonder why Unlock would suggest to also get a copy of the local Police records as suggested here:
https://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/retention-deletion-police-records/#conviction

Was this article written before 2013? It's clear the advice given is a bit conflicting. What do you (and any other forum members) think?

Well, your information is quite thorough, but hopefully I can keep my answers short.

1) No. Filtering does not apply to the PNC.
2) You are probably right.
3) Enhanced DBS checks are based on what is on the PNC, so if it isn't on the PNC against your name, it shouldn't be on an enhanced DBS check against your name.

Effectively, if it is not on the PNC, it doesn't exist. If there was a mistake in recording it, such as the wrong name, then it shouldn't be linked to you if/when a check is done. The only problem you would have is if you disclose a conviction that isn't on your record, as that would at least cause confusion and would probably trigger all sorts of discrimination. If your subject access request doesn't show it, then the best thing to do is probably not to disclose it.

=========================================================

As Chris Stacey said: Although its not formally part of the sentence that is handed down in court, the criminal record that someone comes away with effectively becomes a second sentence, which can have a long-lasting, if not lifelong, impact.

Hi everybody. First things first, I wish to thank all the staff and the volunteers at Unlock for this precious website. I've been been binge-reading your pages, and with your help I'm trying to make sense of my criminal record, but there are still a couple of questions I need to ask because they're not 100% clear.

I've decided to split my questions into different threads, so that I can separate the various matters from each other.

On Retention and deletion of police cautions and convictions I read:

What if my conviction doesn’t show up on my police record?
Check local records
It is possible that you have only received details from the PNC. You need to see a copy of the local police records from wherever you received the conviction. It may be recorded there. This wouldn’t automatically be disclosed on a DBS certificate, but may be disclosed on an enhanced certificate.

But on Filtering of spent cautions / convictions – A simple guide I read:


and on Filtering of spent cautions / convictions – A detailed guide

So at this point my questions are:
1) If my spent conviction doesn't appear on the PNC, does it mean it is filtered?
2) if 1=true, this makes me think it will never appear on an enhanced DBS, however:
3) In the first link above, it is said that the conviction might appear on an enhanced certificate.

Therefore I'm a bit confused on how to proceed, because I have a past conviction (more details in a separate thread) that doesn't show up on the Subject Access from ACRO , but I'm still worried.

Many thanks for your attention and I will appreciate any input.