Blog Image
Profile Image Verifile
August 14 2017

Criminal Record Checks: Filtering System Ruled Unlawful

The incoming Government has been tasked with reconsidering record disclosure rules after defeat in the Court of Appeal over the process of filtering out less serious or long-standing convictions.
 
The recent decision in R (on the application of P and others) v Secretary of State for Justice is the latest case to challenge the disclosure to prospective employers of less serious offences or those that were committed many years ago or when the offender was a minor.
 
Changes were made in 2013 that allow criminal record checks to filter out single convictions for some offences. The "multiple conviction rule", however, was up for challenge. In the above-mentioned case, two individuals were successful in challenging the revised scheme in a judicial review application in the High Court for offences that had taken place many years before.