The following table shows the current rehabilitation periods that can be applied. It shows the differences between our legislation in Northern Ireland compared to that in the rest of the UK. If you are getting applications for roles from people who are not currently resident in Northern Ireland, then you need to make them aware of differences. Having a conviction that is spent in England & Wales or Scotland does not necessarily mean they are spent in Northern Ireland.
The rehabilitation period starts from the date of the conviction in court NOT the date of sentencing e.g. a fine received on the 1 January 2000 would have become spent on 1 January 2005 under the current legislation in NI.
Please see below this table for further information about concurrent, consecutive and the circumstances under which a rehabilitation period may be extended.
If more than one sentence was imposed, the longer period applies. It will state on the person’s AccessNI certificate clearly whether their conviction is considered concurrent or consecutive. Consecutive is seen less often.
Reoffending during a rehabilitation period has the potential to extend the spending period. Being convicted in a Crown Court during a rehabilitation period will mean the first conviction does not become spent until the second one does.
So, a fine is spent 5 years after the date of conviction but if someone is convicted of an indictable offence (which means if it could be heard in the Crown Court) before the 5 years period is up, it resets the rehabilitation period to reflect the sentencing period from the new conviction. Example a fine (5-year spending period) is received in 2010, but in 2014 a conviction is given in the crown court for a 7-month suspended sentence (10 year spending period).That means that both the fine AND the suspended sentence are not going to be spent until 2024. So once again it's a crown court conviction DURING a spending period that prolongs the rehabilitation timeframes.
If you receive the new conviction in Magistrates Court, it will not affect the spending periods. It is very important to know this distinction.
AccessNI has informed us that they have a simpler approach to the rule - the fact that a case was heard in the Crown Court extends the spent timeframe.
Under this Legislation an employer is not entitled to ‘spent’ conviction information and cannot use this as a reason to dismiss or not to recruit an applicant except in the cases of “regulated activity”.
Having a spent conviction doesn’t mean that it is removed from the person’s criminal record, just that they don’t have to declare it except in roles considered “regulated activity”.
