Will a penalty notice from 10 years ago ruin my future career

[Jessi28]

10 years ago I was accused of lying to the police and given a fixed penalty notice. Though I was innocent I paid the fine rather than go to court. As I particularly stressed, and felt unable to handle the pressure of going to court.

I was sexually assaulted by a previous boyfriend on the night we broke up. And unfortunately the police chose to believe him and not me. I was under a lot of stress due to the relationship ending and physically and mentally unwell at the time. And absolutely terrified by the police, and having been given morphine by the hospital. (Which made me very confused).I just wanted them all to go away. And the ordeal to be over and tried to make them go away. They therefore assumed I'd made a false report.

I just put it behind me and got on with my life. Though it's never particularly right that this happened to me.

10 years on, having moved on with my life in happy secure relationship with a decent man. I worry that this will stop me going on with my life. I want to volunteer at my daughters school to help out on school trips. And I also dreamed of one day being a foster mother. Will this all be barred to me now. Can anyone advise me?

I've never had any other dealings with the police whatsoever

Hi Jessi.

Someone may come along with more detailed knowledge than me, but I will just tell you what I know based on working in the criminal justice system for 12 years.

Assuming that a fixed penalty notice is the same as a Court fine, it would have become spent after 12 months. Being "spent" means that the conviction no longer has to be disclosed when applying for jobs etc. unless the application specifically asks for details of spent convictions.

I can't tell you whether you'd be approved for the specific things you ask about, but generally speaking, I would say that most employers etc. would take little notice of such a minor thing after such a long time. Just as an example, my husband had a caution when he was 18, he's now in his 30s and has worked in the civil service for about 15 years. When he applied for his job, he had to disclose the caution on his application, but because it was so long ago, it's been pretty much ignored since then and has caused him no problems whatsoever. In my workplace I'm also aware of a couple of colleagues who have historic convictions from when they were younger but were still employed by us - I'm a Probation Officer.

I hope this reassures you a little bit.

Thank you, that helped

It's silly that one night 10 years ago, that wasn't even my fault is having this affect on me. I'm actually scared to get a dbs check to volunteer at my daughters school. I shouldn't be!!! I know

I feel ashamed and this is my deep dark secret, and it kills me cause I didn't do anything wrong. I was scared and very much alone and the police frightened me more.

I'm only just starting to really process it after all this time. Which is why these worries have come to the surface.

I've done some googling, and found some information which suggests that a fixed penalty notice might not count as a conviction at all, and therefore might not show up on a standard DBS check. I'm not absolutely sure though, there is a lot of misinformation out there. Why don't you give Nacro a ring on Monday, they might be able to give you more accurate advice? www.nacro.org.uk/resettlement-advice-service/support-for-individuals/

I'm so grateful to you, for taking time out of your lives to help me.

Thank you again

All advice is gratefully received

Good luck! :)

You can do a subject access request and find out what information the Police hold on you. I suspect as others say, this wouldn't be on any sort of record, but this might give you some peace of mind before you apply for a DBS.

Also, even if it shows on dbs for volunteering it does not prevent you from doing so. If nacro suggest it will show up I would ask for a confidential meeting with head/ wrote a note addressed to them in confidence, just giving a brief outline of what/ when. '10 yrs ago I was in abusive relationship, and rather than face this I accepted a caution to make a situation go away. This is very much a part of my past, as (name a character referee) will attest.' No need for specifics, and I would be confident that at the school I worked at this would cause no problems with you volunteering- and probably not even if you wanted to be a teacher! I would be surprised if it impacted fostering too.
Once an offence, if this even counts as an offence, shows up the person checking carries out a risk assessment as to wether you are suitable for the role. If t was for a violent/ drug related offence, maybe. However, being upfront and giving a little back story would make this assessment easy- no risk.

Absolutely not an expert here.... BUT

DP had a fixed penalty notice about 6 years ago for something because he was a fool.

He often has DBS checks for work as he works in schools etc and nothing has ever come up.

It also didn't come up when we went to America on the ESTA visa last year.

It did reappear when he applied to join the police force and was subsequently rejected.

Hope that helps!