Policy background Rehabilitation of Offenders
A key element in reducing reoffending is access to employment. In order to support these aims, Part 11 amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 to provide for some custodial sentences of over four years to become spent after a certain period of time, meaning when asked, the conviction would not have to be disclosed. The existing rehabilitation periods for certain other disposals given or imposed on conviction are also reduced. This will reduce the number of ex-offenders required to disclose their convictions as part of basic checks for employment and mean that those who have served their time and stopped committing crime are not unfairly discriminated against in the job market.
	To ensure the protection of the public, this change will not apply to persons sentenced to any sentence of more than four years following a conviction for any serious violent, sexual or terrorism offence. The policy therefore means that such convictions will continue to never become spent (and will always need to be disclosed). A table setting out the changes to rehabilitation periods is set out at Annex C.
	Part 11 also clarifies the applicable rehabilitation periods for certain other orders on conviction.