Some job applicants in England and Wales would no longer need to declare criminal convictions they received as children under government proposals designed to improve the employment prospects of rehabilitated young people.
The changes would mean criminal records for people detained when they were under 18 years old would no longer show up for life during checks carried out by employers.
The Ministry of Justice has also launched a consultation on relaxing disclosure requirements for some specific drug-related and violent crimes committed by children.
Young people who have not re-offended as adults struggle to find work because of their past behaviour, the government says.
Many employers require applicants to undergo a background check, which in their most basic form require people to self-declare if they have a criminal record.
For more sensitive roles, such as working with children or joining the police, an employer can carry out a standard or enhanced check, which allows them to request information from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
How long a criminal record must be volunteered for or will show up in those checks differs depending on the severity of the offence, the punishment received and how long ago the crime was committed – sometimes referred to as whether a conviction is ‘spent’.
For example, a young person who was convicted and fined for an offence when they were under-18 will have that information show up in checks for five-and-a-half years. If they were given a custodial sentence, that will be disclosed for the rest of their lives.
The government wants to reduce the number of young people those disclosure rules apply to if an applicant has not continued to offend as an adult.
Five offences would be removed from a list of crimes which will show up in background for checks for life if committed by an adult. They are: affray, violent disorder, supplying a controlled drug to a child, robbery and assaults occasioning actual bodily harm.
Between March 2022 and March 2026, around 8,500 under-18s were convicted of those offences, according to Ministry of Justice data.
The government says that type of crime is often a result of peer pressure, exploitation and “adolescent impulsivity” by individuals who are still developing, as opposed to a broader propensity for crime and violence.
Under the new rules, they would cease to show up in checks after five-and-a-half years.
Lifelong disclosure would also be removed for offences which led to a detention period of less than two years, the maximum which can be handed out by a youth court, and replaced by a new 11-year disclosure period.
In cases where a child was given a sentence longer than two years – which can only happen if the severity of the crime meant they were dealt with by an adult crown court – the rules would stay the same.
The most serious offences – including severe violence, terrorism-related crimes and sexual offences – would be exempted from the reforms.
Other proposed changes include:
Cutting or removing altogether the disclosure period for offences which led to a fine, the majority of which are for driving-related crimes
Ending disclosure of offences which were dealt with via an out of court resolution, which have primarily been used to tackle knife possession and assault
Reforming how long earlier offences appear in checks for young people who committed more than one crime as a child
Announcing a consultation on proposals, justice minister Jake Richards said: “Many young people who offend do not go on to lead lives of crime.
“They take responsibility, turn their lives around and want to make something of themselves.
“When they do, we should recognise that progress and support them – not put unnecessary barriers in their way.”
The proposals come as the government prepares to publish a long-awaited report authored by former Labour minister Alan Milburn on tackling the number of young people not in work or education.
In May, he warned the UK was at risk of a raising a “lost generation” as almost one in eight young people are not working or studying.
Richards pointed to that intervention as he announced the disclosure reforms, saying barriers to employment can be “particularly difficult to overcome” for people who committed crimes as children.
