Thousands locked out of jobs because of mistakes in youth, campaigners say
Thousands of people risk being unfairly locked out of jobs because of mistakes in their youth, campaigners have said, as new data showed childhood offences were disclosed in more than 11,000 criminal records checks last year.
Politicians and justice campaigners are calling for a reform to the criminal records check system. They say the widespread release of minor historical offences does not protect the public and leaves people with no opportunity for a clean slate.
More than a third of the childhood offences set out in Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates in 2021 happened more than 40 years ago. The oldest was a 74-year-old conviction for simple larceny (petty theft without violence).
Thousands of people are also still having to disclose decades-old adult cautions and historical, irrelevant offences in routine criminal records checks every year. Cautions were released in more than 23,000 DBS certificates last year, more than 8,000 of which were a decade or more old.
The government data was released under freedom of information to FairChecks, a campaign backed by justice charities pressing for reform of the system. It is calling for an end to cautions being automatically revealed in checks; to wipe the slate clean for childhood offences and to stop forcing people to reveal short prison sentences for ever.
Penelope Gibbs of FairChecks, said: “For too long reform of criminal records checks has languished in the ‘too difficult’ box. Of course we need some checks. But our disproportionate system ruins lives by forcing people to disclose relatively minor crimes to employers decades on.
“Rehabilitation involves allowing people to move on in their lives. The government could facilitate that by making criminal checks
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