Back in September, the Teesside Probation Service came up with what on the face of it was an innovative - if rather startling - solution to the serious skill shortage in the North-East labour market: recruit ex-offenders.

Although the response of most employers is to instantly reject any candidate or application with a criminal record, according to the probation service, there are many highly-skilled ex-offenders out there looking for work who are capable of making a valued contribution to the economic life of the region.

In light of this local initiative, it is worth recapping on the rules relating to the employment of convicted criminals. Obviously, there are some professions - teaching, nursing and childcare to name but three - where the degree of contact the worker has with vulnerable people means that it is always justifiable to refuse a person employment upon the basis of relevant convictions, even where the offences to which those convictions relate were committed many years previously.

In the vast majority of other cases, the position is governed by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, which provides for certain convictions to be spent once a period of time has elapsed. For example, a conviction leading to a term of imprisonment of between six and 30 months becomes spent after ten years, one leading to a term of imprisonment of less than six months is spent after seven years, and one leading to a fine is spent after five years. Convictions leading to imprisonment terms of longer than 30 months are never spent.

Once convictions become spent, they must be disregarded for all employment purposes. An applicant cannot be refused employment because he has spent convictions and a failure to disclose spent convictions is not an acceptable ground for dismissing or otherwise prejudicing an employee.

At this early stage, it remains to be seen whether the local skills shortage is sufficiently acute, or whether local employers are sufficiently altruistic, to consider employing those whose convictions are not yet spent and who are not yet protected by the legislation.

Stephen Elliott is a solicitor in the employment team of North-East law firm Ward Hadaway. He can be contacted on 0191-204 4000 or by email at stephen.elliott@wardhadaway.com

Published: 30/11/2004