A Centre for Voluntary Services

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

This act was introduced to help people who had committed a criminal offence but now want to move on in their life.

If a person receives a sentence of no more than 2.5 years in prison and they are not convicted again, there follows a specified period, known as rehabilitation.

Once this rehabilitation period has passed and the person has not re-offended, then their conviction is known to have been 'spent'. After this has happened a person does not have to reveal or admit to this previous conviction in any area of their life, including applying for jobs.

Is the role exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act?

There are some paid positions and/or voluntary roles in which people are expected to declare their convictions, even if they are spent. In this case it includes:

Those whose duties invlove regular contact with children/vulnerable adults
Application forms for posts/roles that are exempt from the ROA (Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) should always make this clear.

Examples

Sentence Rehabilitation Period People aged under 18 when convicted Rehabilitation Period People aged 18 or over when convicted
Prison sentencesº of 6 months or less 3.5 Years 7 Years
Prison sentencesº of more than 6 months to 2.5 years 5 Years 10 Years
Borstal (abolished in 1983) 7 Years 7 Years
Detention centres (abolished in 1988) 3 Years 3 Years
Fines¹, compensation, probation², community service³, combination*, action plan, curfew, drug treatment and testing, and reparation orders 2.5 Years 5 Years
Absolute Discharge 6 Months 6 Months
º Including suspended sentences, youth custody (abolished in 1988) and detention in a young offender institution (abolished for those under 18 years old in 2000 and for those aged 18-20 in 2001)

¹ Even if subsequently imprisoned for fine default

² For people convicted on or after 3 February 1995. These orders are now called community rehabilitation orders

³ These orders are now called community punishment orders

* These orders are now called community punishment and rehabilitation orders
Sentence Rehabilitation Period People aged under 18 when convicted Rehabilitation Period People aged 18 or over when convicted
Detention and training order of 6 months or less 1 year after the order expires 3.5 Years
Detention and training order of more than 6 months 1 year after the order expires 5 years 5 Years

With some sentences the rehabilitation period varies:

Sentence Rehabilitation Period
Probation¹, supervision, care order², conditional discharge and bind-over 1 year until the order expires (whichever is longer)
Secure training (abolished 2000) and attendance centre orders 1 year after the order expires
Hospital order (with or without a restriction order) 5 years or 2 years after the order expires (whichever is longer)
Referral order Once the order expires
¹ For people convicted before 3 February 1995 ² Care orders in criminal proceedings were abolished by the Children Act 1989 and effectively replaced with a supervision order with residence requirement
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