Disclosure Of Driving Offence Part 2

[catsrcool]

My wife went for an interview for a job in childcare today as it is closer to home and would be better paid. In the interview she was told that they could not offer her a job because of her 1997 conviction for drinking and driving.
This brings up a number of questions.
1 does it mean she can never work in childcare?
2If you already were in childcare and were convicted of drinking and driving does that mean you lose your job?
3 her new CRB/DBS has been accepted by her current employer and they know about the conviction. So is it because she is doing elderly care as opposed to childcare that is the problem?

[MallyJ]

That is why I never declared mine...... I would check if the dd conviction actually shows up on a CRB check .... perhaps her current employer would ask for another so she can see. Sometimes there are many applications for jobs and there has to be a way of cutting numbers particularly if all applicants are similarly qualified. I really wish her the very best.

[RATTER15]

It really depends on the employer concerned, I have quite a few criminal convictions going back many years but not had any issues for 30 years and I have never been turned down yet based on my CRB/DBS. and all my work has been with the elderly.

I do however be upfront with these convictions and send a note with my application making a prospective employer fully aware of the situation and the mitigating circumstances surrounding the offences etc.

[RATTER15]

When she got her CRB for the work she is currently doing, she would have had a copy, is the offence listed on that copy?

[Traci66]

My daughter has a drink driving conviction and has worked in both childcare (11 years) and elderly care (4years), as driving children or the elderly around were not part of her job, it didn't affect her.

[catsrcool]

Thank you. I have been declaring her conviction on any application forms. I was working on the " honesty is the best policy" route. We spent an hour driving to the interview al for nothing. If I had known that they were going to say "thanks but no thanks" we would not have gone. I had my 3 year old grandaughter with us who is not 100% well which was the icing on the "cake". Now I am in a quandry do I phone the prospective employer and ask if my wife is automatically barred from employment with them because of the D D conviction before we leave for an interview ?

[hc4361]

You don't do anything, catsrcool - your wife can either enclose a covering letter explaining the conviction with her application form and/or she can phone the prospective employer herself and discuss it prior to interview.

[catsrcool]

RATTER15 My wife and I are waiting to recieve the new CRB/DBS . When we recieve it I will let you know. FYI her last CRB issued in 2009 lists the offence.

[catsrcool]

hc4631 thank you but the reason I am so involved is that English is her third language after her native African language and French. If I could get her a job in a French speaking role I would.

[hc4361]

Ah. Thanks for the extra info

[ToraToraTora]

first check if the disqualifications shows here:
https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
driver number/post code/national insurance no needed. If not the chances are it won't come up on a CRB check either so don';t mention it. If it does come up in the interview simply say that you assumed as it was now expired on the licence it was no longer relevant.

[ToraToraTora]

for info, I had a 56day ban in 1996 and that does not show on my record, though it may be the DD is a special case.

[Buenchico]

If a person has only ONE criminal conviction, which was over 11 years ago (and not within a specific group of offences, such as sexual ones), it's now automatically filtered from DBS checks. (A court has ruled that limiting the number of offences to just one is unjust but it's not clear if, or when, the legislation will actually be changed).

Further, since the 'filtering' system was introduced, employers should be modifying the wording on their application forms, to make it clear that 'filtered' convictions are regarded as 'protected' and thus do NOT need to be declared (even when the type of employment is otherwise exempted from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 [as amended]):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-filtering-guidance/dbs-filtering-guide

When non-spent convictions (for any type of employment) or non-spent ones (for those types of employment exempted from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act) are declared [or discovered via a DBS check], such convictions do not, in general, automatically bar an applicant from the job. There are some specific rules (e.g. those set down by the Secretary of State for Education barring people with convictions relating to sexual offences against children from working in schools or by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority in relation to certain offences by solicitors) but, in general, it's entirely up to the discretion of the employer as to whether to regard a conviction as relevant or not.

So the childcare provider was NOT in any way obliged to refuse your wife the job and she most definitely is NOT automatically barred from working elsewhere in childcare. Further, if the drink-driving offence is her only conviction:
(a) it will no longer show up on a DBS check ; and
(b) she does NOT have to declare it on any job application, even when the application forms says that she should, because it's now 'protected'.

[EDDIE51]

1 & 2, No it does not.
3, I do not know the answer.
After your comment at 14.30 I am wondering if the real reason is that English is her 3rd language. You saying that it is the reason why you are helping her makes me suspect that 'poor language skill' may be the real reason and the D D conviction is just a handy excuse.
Children still learn language for many years after starting school and a carer with poor command of English would be more of a problem with young children than it would with the elderly who are no longer learning new words/language.

[PeelerPal]

The problem is that under the rehabilitation of offenders act, that conviction has now been spent and it is illegal for any employer to not give a job based on a spent conviction. Once a conviction has been spent under the act, no man or woman has to declare those offences. As this was in 1997, this conviction is normally spent after 11 years and therefore I would pursue a claim for discrimination.

[catsrcool]

Thanks for all the replies.
I think it would be very difficult to make a discrimination claim as it is was not in writing.

[EDDIE51]

You would not be able to make a claim for discrimination anyway!
To do that you would have to PROVE that the real reason for not giving your wife the job was NOT the DD conviction but something to do with her age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity.
Some places do refuse to employ anyone with a history of alcohol abuse and that can include a DD conviction.