The disclosure of police-held ‘non-conviction information’ to employers

Abstract

The police have been disclosing criminal records and other non-conviction information to employers for the last 30 years as part of the pre-employment screening of job applicants. This employment has largely consisted of work with children and vulnerable adults. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) took some of this work – the disclosure of criminal records – off the police in 2002 and its successor, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), has continued to do so since 2012. The police, however, have always been left with the residual task of deciding what other ‘non-conviction information’ should be passed to employers. This article seeks to critically examine the disclosure of non-conviction information to employers by the police. The background and legal and ethical context surrounding this area of police decision-making are considered, as are the guidance provided to the police, the practicalities of decision-making and the additional guidance published for the police on similar disclosures; we also consider the court judgements that have been both supportive and critical of this area of police decision-making.