How long does a police caution remain on file?

[Iwanttobefree]

8 years ago,a friend had a dispute with a relative. Both were cautioned and he's just discovered that the caution is still on file. The police say that it cannot be removed,but it's affecting his chances of employment. It was not a major dispute,and was to do with ownership of property.

How is it affecting his chances of employment? He doesn't have to declare it and an employer will only find out about it if they are entitled to request a CRB check.

A caution will normally expire after 5 years although, as prh47bridge says, it isn't a conviction so doesn't have to be declared to an employer. It would only show up on a CRB although if it shows after 5 years it should appear as "spent" which means an employer is not allowed to use it against a potential employee.

Even if the CRB is an enhanced one, nocake?

If he works with children or vulnerable adults he will have to have an enhanced CRB check and the caution will show up. However the presence of a caution, or even a conviction, will only be a problem if it is relevant to the job concerned. Employers are not allowed to bar people just because something shows up on the CRB. A conviction for a child sex offence, for example, will be a permanent bar to employment involving children or vulnerable adults. However, a caution for shoplifting is unlikely to be relevant in most cases.

If he goes for a job involving an enhanced CRB check he should be honest with the potential employer about this caution and explain the circumstances.

Thankyou for your replies. It is actually a teaching job that was sought. So it looks as though,despite the caution being apparently irrelevant in terms of child safety,it will be 'flagged-up'.

Enhanced CRB checks do pull up everything, relevant, spent or not. DP nearly got into trouble for not declaring a youthful caution, the offence wasn't a problem but the non-declaration could have been. DP was simply under the impression it would no longer appear on his record, not deliberately misleading and his employer realised this, so it didn't cause any major problems in the end.

He needs to declare it but it shouldn't affect his chances. He should record it as spent. It will show up on extended record checks.

Although anything below age of 18 will not show up post 18 as long as 3 years have past. eg. an offence when 14 will not show up when 18.