Criminal records

This policy gives you information about what the University will do if an applicant or an existing employee has a criminal record.

  • Applicants must declare unspent convictions (and spent convictions for jobs exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA)).   
  • We won’t take spent criminal records into account unless the job is exempt from the ROA.
  • We have the right not to offer someone a job, or to take action against existing employees, if they have a criminal record.
  • Existing employees should tell the HR Director (or nominee) about any criminal records they have.

Overseas criminal record checking

Our guidance will help you to carry out a criminal records check for a non-UK national.

The guidance details:

  • the process for obtaining criminal record information from different countries,
  • how to ensure an effective process and that documents produced are genuine, and
  • what to do if you cannot obtain a check from overseas.