Implications of cannabis caution at 17

[dottycat123]

My ds1 has just completed his degree and looking for work. If a job requires an enhanced dbs check will the caution be visible? He has read conflicting information, some sites say that as he was aged 17 when cautioned it won't show. He has had no further police involvement since.

As he was 17 at the time the caution will be removed from his DBS check after 2 years. As he is now presumably at least 20 it will not appear on any DBS checks.

Thanks for that information, it will put his mind at rest.

What job is he looking to go for?

He is wanting to have a year out after his degree and just do anything whilst his girlfriend completes her masters. Then apply for either graduate schemes in finance .

I have a friend who is a Foster Carer. Every three years she and her family need enhanced dbs. Her son was given a caution when he was, I think about 18, for having cannabis on his person. It comes up every check. He is now about late 20's, a professional and completely law abiding

If he was 18 when cautioned it will have remained on his DBS check longer than it will for the OP's son. If he is now late 20s a caution for possession would have been removed unless he had other offences. If that was his only offence and it is still appearing on checks more than 6 years later it was for something more serious than possession - supplying drugs to someone under 16 springs to mind.

"Just do anything for a year"

As someone who has recruited new graduates for graduate schemes / entry level graduate jobs, I would caution against this. A year of doing non graduate work will make him look, on paper, like someone who either
a) couldn't get a good graduate job, and is hence the dregs of the crop (so why should I take him if so many others have presumably rejected him?)
b) couldn't be arsed to get a job (so am I going to struggle to motivate him?)

Either way, it's not a good look. Especially for someone wanting a place on a competitive graduate scheme. I have seen people who I know personally take a post uni gap year and then find that they are struggling to find a graduate job the following year, when they are competing with other fresh graduates.

I did once have to do a graduate recruitment round in January, for reasons out of my control. The quality was, overall, dire, because all the good ones had been snapped up months ago (though the one we finally took turned out to be a rough diamond who didn't interview well but was surprisingly competent).

I would strongly advise that he either takes a masters starting in September, or cracks on with finding a graduate job pronto, for the sake of his career.

Thanks for the advice above, I will talk with him.

Piffle Avocado.

I interview on grad employment routes and we wouldn’t care - if he’s good then the fact he hadn’t jumped into work makes no odds.

I had one when I was 17 it was gone when I was 27 I always told employers in advance and my last few have been clear new dbs yearly

Never accept a caution! Police want you to do this because the alternative is charging you and taking you to court and usually this isn’t worth the bother. So they’ll drop the charge.
A caution stays on your police file.
NEVER ACCEPT A CAUTION.

So they’ll drop the charge

That is by no means guaranteed. If they are offering a caution they have the evidence needed to take it to court. If you refuse the caution they could refer the case to the CPS who may decide to charge you. You could then end up with a conviction. Always take legal advice before deciding whether or not to accept a caution.

A caution stays on your police file

True, but most cautions are removed from DBS checks after 6 years (2 years if you were under 18 at the time of caution). The police will know you were cautioned but that won't be revealed to potential employers.

An enhanced DBS can include offences from childhood if it is relevant - it is with prospective foster placements/adoption and with certain employment roles.

An enhanced DBS can include offences from childhood if it is relevant

There is no discretion as to which offences from childhood are included in an enhanced DBS check. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order sets out a list of offences that will never be removed from a DBS check. Cautions for offences not on that list are removed after 6 years (2 years if the offender was under 18 at the time of caution). Convictions for offences not on that list are removed after 11 years (5.5 years if the offender was under 18 at the time of conviction) unless the offender has more than one conviction. The law requires DBS checks to be filtered in this way.

The OP's son has a caution for possession of drugs. That offence is automatically filtered. There is no discretion for the police or anyone else to decide that this offence is relevant for a role and include it.

I was referring to the foster carer family example posted earlier in the thread.

If it's the only time he's been in trouble, as pp said it will be filtered after 2 years. Filtered means it remains on the police system but can't be included in a DBS check, even an enhanced one - as long as he never offends again.
Most employers do not have the right to do a DBS check. They need to show the check is needed, eg the job involves working with vulnerable people.
Tbh I doubt employers, or SS if he did want to foster or adopt when he's older, would care about a cannabis caution at 17 anyway. It's not as if he did time in a young offenders institution for violence or anything. Plenty of respectable adults partake in the occasional joint at a party, or have done as a teen or young adult. It's nothing really.

I was referring to the foster carer family example posted earlier in the thread

The rules are the same for foster carers as for any other DBS checks. As I said in response to that post, if the only offence the individual had was a caution for possession of drugs when he was 18 it would disappear from DBS checks by his mid-20s. If he is in his late 20s and it is still showing up on the checks being run for foster caring, the caution must have been for something else (e.g. supplying drugs to someone under 16). It is also possible it was a conviction rather than a caution, in which case it will disappear before he reaches 30.

Where the police do have some discretion is over the "other relevant information" section of the check. They can use this to disclose any information they consider relevant. However, they cannot use this to disclose convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings. They can include fixed penalty notices, acquittals, police intelligence and so on but they cannot include anything that would, directly or indirectly, point to a conviction or caution that has been filtered.

If they are offering a caution they have the evidence needed to take it to court.

I know people who refused a caution, and the CPS refused to prosecute. The police were decidedly not happy.

Having the evidence to take it to court is not the same as saying the CPS will take it to court, or even that the police will refer it to the CPS. The CPS apply their own tests, which aren't just about whether there is enough evidence. But if the police offer a caution they believe they have enough evidence to take it to court.