Criminal Convictions
Retention of criminal convictions
A judgement passed by the Court of Appeal on October 19th, 2009
supported the retention of criminal convictions on the Police
National Computer (PNC) for policing
purposes.
The PNC is a national information system that holds details of
people, vehicles, crimes and property.
Police Act
Under Part V of the Police Act, the police are obliged to
provide disclosure services to other parties, including the
Criminal Records Bureau, with access to all convictions held on the
PNC.
The judgement passed requires all criminal conviction data to be
retained, including reprimands, warnings and cautions, until an
individual’s 100th birth date.
The data will be available for disclosure to the Criminal
Records Bureau in relation to employment vetting.
Step down
Essex Police has been informed that the Criminal Records Bureau
and Association of Chief Police Officers Criminal Records Office
(ACRO) will
no longer advise that conviction data can be ‘stepped down’ –
remain on the PNC but only be available to police users.
Applications received by Essex Police for step down will not be
processed, irrespective of whether the date of application was
prior to the decision made by the court of appeal.
For more information you can
read the full adjudication.
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act identifies all issues where
employers may or may not take account of convictions. You can find
more information about this on the Direct Government and
NACRO websites.
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