26/03/2013

Home Office Announce Criminal Record Checks Relaxation

The Home Office have announced a relaxation of police checks for job applicants, following a Court of Appeal ruling in January that blanket checks did not comply with human rights laws.

In England and Wales old and minor cautions and convictions will be filtered out of the information revealed in applications for jobs.

All serious violent and sexual offences will continue to be disclosed.

Under the proposed legislation, convictions resulting in a non-custodial sentence will be filtered from record checks after 11 years for adults and five and a half years for young offenders.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), formerly known as the Criminal Records Bureau, will filter cautions from record checks after six years for adults and two years for young offenders.

"The protection of children and vulnerable groups is of paramount importance to this government,” Lord Taylor of Holbeach, Minister for Criminal Information, said

"Criminal records checks are an important tool for employers to use in making informed safeguarding decisions.

"This new system of checks strikes a balance between ensuring that children and vulnerable groups are protected and avoiding intrusion into people's lives."

(H)


Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

13 October 2004
New NHS staff to face criminal record checks
All eligible new recruits into the NHS must undergo checks on their criminal record under a new measure to increase patient safety announced today. From early next year, Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks will become mandatory for every new recruit with access to patients as part of their normal duties.
22 September 2011
Business Records Checks Programme Extended
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced an extension of its Business Records Checks programme. Business Records Checks were piloted earlier this year in eight key areas, and involve checks on the adequacy of small and medium-sized enterprises' business records.
01 April 2008
NHS Reforms To Boost Health Checks For Over 40's
Health checks for the over 40s are to be implemented under a set of reforms within the National Health Service. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's promise of a "more personalised" NHS will be one step closer to reality as screenings for heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and stroke will become readily available for the 40-74 demographic.
06 June 2003
CRB doubles healthcare worker checks
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which vets employee applications for sensitive jobs, has more than doubled its capacity to process applications and will step up checks on healthcare workers, claim the Home Office.
05 July 2012
NHS Trust Investigated Over 25 Patient Death
One of the UKs biggest NHS trusts is being investigated over the death of 25 patients, after it admitted “poor record keeping”. “Extreme concern” has been expressed by Westminster and two other London local authorities over lost data on referrals at Imperial College Healthcare.