Non spent convictions on access NI

[Cali13]

Ok , so 5 years ago my mental health was the worst ever ... long story short I got very drunk, took drugs and was going to jump off a harbour. Again I'm shortening this - I got cautioned for assaulting police, common assault, resisting, drunk and disorderly and damage ...
I've recently applied for a classroom assistant course , got a placement and everything. I was waiting for my enhanced access ni check to come back when the serc called to say if I can come talk to them about it... I had no idea they woukd still ahow up ! I thiught after 5 years they woukd be gone as it was a caution. Hence why I never mentioned it. It's embarrassing and my mental health has improved greatly.
Question is - will this affect my placement now? Obviously I'll have to go and say to the school "oh by the way I forgot to mention..." I've been looking online and all the answers are so different.
Please give me some advice. Will I be told no because these are violent cautions? Will they think i haven't been truthful? This is making me so anxious and I dunno what to do

[kittybiscuits]

Were you asked if you had any convictions or cautions which may include spent convictions? Or did you sign a declaration that you had none? In which case, I would be very unhappy that you lied. If you have not been asked, I would give them a frank summary of the situation and explain that your MH is now stable and provide evidence of this.

[prh47bridge]

Cautions remain on your DBS check for 6 years. A caution for assault with intent to resist arrest will remain on your DBS check forever.

There is no definitive answer as to what will happen now. It is up to the school to decide whether these cautions are acceptable. The fact you did not disclose them before they got the check won't help. You need to be completely open with them and hope for the best.

[PersianCatLady]

Also if you have more than one caution for the same type of offence it will always be disclosed on your DBS check.

[PersianCatLady]

Forgot to add, as the cautions are in the last five years they were always going to show up.

You need to go and speak to the school and at least now you know about them.

[Cali13]

I wasn't asked to disclose anything I was just asked to get an access ni check and didn't even think that the cautions would show up as I always thought it was removed after 5 years. Thanks for the replies I will see what happens tomorrow

[Allthebestnamesareused]

The caution for the assault will be showing up forever. They will probably ask you to explain the circumstances and then make a decision whether they still want to offer the job.

I am surprised that there was nothing on the application form about asking for details of any unspent convictions as this gives you the chance to explain what happened and they'd have taken a view earlier. You will just have to tell them that you honestly thought they were spent and did not need to be disclosed.

My son got a caution when he was 12 which we did not expect to show up on his uni application (he was doing a course which required placements with children). He was just asked to submit a statement stating what had happened; he still got his place but I think each placement had to be informed too.

They have changed the DBS rules now and his type of caution no longer needs to be disclosed - just certain ones involving violence, certain sex offences etc

[PersianCatLady]

Cautions will always show up on an enhanced check unless they are filtered.

Here is a link -
www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/types-accessni-checks

The caution for the assault will be showing up forever
That is not always true any more actually.

Under the old CRB system a caution for assault would have showed up forever, now certain cautions are removed after six years as long as there is only one of them (for that offence).

www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/information-disclosed-about-you#toc-2

OP - What type of assault caution did your check show?

Was it -

• Section 39 Criminal Justice Act 1988
  
• Section 47 /20 / 18 Offences Against The Person Act 1861??
  
  All of these can be called assault but vary in severity.

[PersianCatLady]

They have changed the DBS rules now and his type of caution no longer needs to be disclosed - just certain ones involving violence, certain sex offences etc
A caution that your DS got at age 12 would remain on your son's check for two years (under 18) under the new system.

The same caution on the OP's record would remain on her check for six years as she is over 18.

Only after six years and as long as there are no similar cautions would it not show up.

DBS are actually quite good at filtering old cautions automatically so if something is showing up, usually it is because it does not meet the filtering rules.

As the OP herself has explained, she got the caution 5 years ago, the fact that it is still showing up on her DBS check is correct.

On the positive side, this time next year it will be filtered from her DBS check.

Before CRB changed to DBS, the rules were such that it would have showed up forever, which was ridiculous.