Rehabilitation Of Offenders Act 1974

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 has strict limitations on disclosure of spent convictions. Some professions are exempt from the regulations on disclosure, including the Police and Prison Service. The Fire and Rescue Service however has no such exemption, and therefore should not be requesting information on spent convictions especially from new entrants. Despite this, there is evidence that some Fire and Rescue Services are requesting disclosure of spent convictions during the recruitment process. This conference therefore calls upon The Fire Brigades Union to: 1) Obtain the correct legal position on exemptions from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. 2) Raise this issue at the first Practitioners Forum after Annual Conference 2009. 3) Issue a Brigade Officials circular requesting information as to how many brigades are asking for spent convictions disclosure as part of their application process. 4) Demand that CLG send out a guidance note to all Fire and Rescue Services on this issue.