Conviction and enhanced DBS

[sameoldagain]

I know the rules have changed on this and I’ve been googling but honestly it’s as clear as mud.

I have a conviction; a ‘minor’ one (no fraud or sexual or violent misconduct or anything like that.) It was a driving offence.

I received this five years ago.

I believe under new (ish) rules i will not have to declare it after a certain date but does anybody know or can make sense of the government website to tell me when this is? It’s really confusing.

But it is - it’s like declaring your sexuality and race, in theory they aren’t allowed to discriminate but in practice they do, of course they do. They just can’t say ‘this is what put us off.’

You can't figure it out from the .gov website and you're being so coy about it, we can't help either - because if it's not clear from the website/guidance then the nature of the 'traffic offence' must be something you consider relevant to the job.

Is it really not clear when you look at:
https://www.gov.uk/tell-employer-or-college-about-criminal-record/driving-convictions
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-filtering-guidance/dbs-filtering-guide
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-checking-service-guidance--2

Declare it, as not declaring it on your application brings into question your honesty and integrity, which is worse than the actual conviction in some cases.

It is then down to the DBS officer of the relevant police force to decide if it is relevant to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults

Even if it is disclosed on your certificate ( and I would be very surprised if it was) it is then down to the employer to decide if it is a risk they can manage.

Don't opt for not saying anything because it opens up questions as to what else are you concealing

There seems to be a lot of confused and, in some cases, incorrect advice on this thread.

If this was a conviction, it will remain on your DBS for 11 years unless you were under 18 at the time of conviction. If you were under 18, it will be on your DBS for 5.5 years. The only driving offences that remain on your DBS longer than that are where you have caused a death or serious bodily harm - those offences remain on your DBS for life.

Employers can only ask about spent convictions for certain jobs. Even if they ask, you are not obliged to disclose anything that won't appear on your DBS certificate.

Is it definitely eleven years? I’m sure it was six but it could have changed again.

No, it hasn't changed. It is 6 years for cautions, 11 for convictions.

Ah - mines a caution

In which case yes, 6 years.

Did you receive a custodial sentence of over 12 months?

No custodial sentence at all, not even suspended.

You need to declare a spent conviction but it's illegal for them to refuse you a job due to it unless it directly impacts the role.

www.gov.uk/tell-employer-or-college-about-criminal-record/what-information-you-need-to-give#:~:text=You%20only%20need%20to%20tell%20a%20potential%20employer%2C%20university%20or,'filtered')%20from%20DBS%20certificates

I wish this was true in practice!

Have a look at the Unlock.org.uk website. All the information you need will be there, and they have a helpline you can call.

They are a charity that exist to help people move on if they have offended. All of their information will be up to date.

Ah, a caution is very different to a conviction. A caution will show up on an enhanced DBS check for 6 years until it is considered spent. Therefore I would definitely disclose it on job applications or anything that requires an enhanced DBS. I work with vulnerable people and a caution rarely holds anyone back even in this field, unless it is related to sexual / violent behaviour - which yours isn’t. I am confident you will be fine.