Our helpline was recently contacted by an individual who wanted to highlight a question being asked about criminal records by a professional body on their application form. The individual believed that this question was potentially very misleading as it asked: “Have you ever received a caution or conviction for a criminal record?” We informed the

We were contacted recently by an individual who was concerned about the criminal record question being asked on a Council’s housing reference form and the fact that the Council were asking applicants to give authorisation to the Council to carry out a police check. The question relating to criminal records asked: “Have you been convicted

We were recently contacted by an individual who was concerned about a question relating to criminal records on a generic college application form. This asked: “Do you have any criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands, final warnings or prosecutions pending?” The individual felt that the college should be a lot more specific about what they needed an

We were contacted recently by an individual who wanted some advice about answering a criminal record question being asked by a housing provider on their housing application form. The question on the application form stated:   Have you or any member of your household ever been convicted of a criminal offence?  Yes/No   The individual

Our helpline was contacted recently by a probation officer who was working with an individual looking to apply for a college course. She believed that the wording on the application form was unclear as the question asked:   Please declare whether you have any relevant* convictions or current proceedings against you:  Yes/No   *Relevant proceedings or

We were contacted by an individual after she’d been dismissed from her job as a receptionist with a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC). When she’d applied for the job, she was aware that she’d need a basic DBS check and, as her conviction was spent, she didn’t disclose it to the employer. However, after starting the

We were recently contacted by an individual who had some concerns about the question relating to criminal convictions on the application form to join a professional body. The question asked: ‘I have been convicted of a criminal offence       Yes / No’ The organisation stated that they would be carrying out a standard Disclosure

A few years ago a member of staff of a housing provider who had attended one of our training courses forwarded us a copy of their organisation’s housing allocations policy and application forms. As a result of the training they’d received, they were concerned that their documentation may not be compliant with the Rehabilitation of

In August 2016, we were made aware of a declaration on a building societies corporate ‘buy to let’ mortgage application form which we believed could be misleading. This stated:   I declare that, if I have been convicted of, or cautioned for (or charged but not yet tried with) fraud, arson, robbery or any other

  We were recently contacted by an individual who had been referred by his local job centre to an organisation that ran a job club assisting individuals to get back into work. He was very concerned that the organisation’s referral form asked a question that he believed was misleading and could have led him to

We were recently contacted by an individual who was considering applying for a job as a manager in a charity bookshop but had been concerned about the level of criminal record check that the company had requested. They stated that:   xxxx takes its obligation to protect the rights of children and vulnerable people very

We were recently contacted by an individual who had taken out a home insurance policy and was concerned that he had not fully disclosed his convictions. His confusion had arisen due to a declaration form that he had been sent with his policy documents. This stated:   You have confirmed that you, or any person