Jake Richards has set out England and Wales youth custody reform proposals that would stop some people convicted as children from having to tell prospective employers about those offences for life. The plans would apply to robbery, affray, actual bodily harm, violent disorder and supplying drugs to a child, and they go to consultation before any change in law.
Under the proposals, people convicted of those offences under 18 would not face automatic lifetime disclosure if they did not receive a custodial sentence. They would have to disclose the offence for five and a half years, while a sentence of two years or less would require disclosure for 11 years. Anyone given a longer custodial sentence would still have to disclose it for life.
Jake Richards and DBS rules
Richards, the justice minister, said: “Where it’s safe, we believe as a government, people should have second chances – second chances to make something of themselves, to contribute to work and to turn their back on crime.” He also said: “The system at the moment doesn’t discern for offences committed when you were a child [and] those committed as an adult.”
The proposal also changes how fines and out-of-court resolutions are treated. If someone is convicted of a crime that results in a fine, they would no longer have to disclose it; the current rule requires disclosure for six months. The plans would also end automatic disclosure of any out-of-court resolution and stop a rule that lengthens the time before a conviction becomes spent if a second crime is committed during the rehabilitation period.
Paula Harriott on disclosure
Paula Harriott, chief executive of Unlock, said: “It is not proportionate or fair that each year tens of thousands of people have to disclose childhood offences that are irrelevant to who they are today.” Standard and enhanced DBS checks are used for jobs including teaching, early years work, social work, healthcare and transport roles such as taxi driving, so the disclosure rules can affect access to work years after childhood offending.
David Lammy found in a 2017 review that childhood criminal records were one reason black and minority people faced discrimination later in life. Companies have also said criminal convictions are the second biggest barrier to employing people from disadvantaged backgrounds, which is the employment problem the proposals are designed to address.
Consultation and law
The plans remain subject to consultation. If the government turns them into law, the disclosure periods would replace lifelong reporting for the offences covered, but the longer-sentence carve-out means not every childhood conviction would be treated the same way.
For people with childhood convictions, the practical issue is the sentence attached to the offence. A fine would stop being disclosed after the current six months, most covered offences would move to five and a half years or 11 years depending on the sentence, and only the longest custodial sentences would still follow someone into every future application.
