Nacro calls for review of rules surrounding disclosure of criminal records

It will highlight the case for change at the House of Commons on 13 September with a campaign and report called Change the Record.

At present, any custodial record of more than two and a half years must be disclosed for life, even if the offence took place when the offender was under 18. There is a sliding scale for the spending of offences under two and half years.

Nacro is calling for a change in regulations so that only life sentences would have to be disclosed for life with most sentences spent within four years for adults and less for under-18s.

One in four adult males in the UK has a criminal record, which can be a major barrier to finding work. Sentence inflation has meant that offenders are now receiving longer sentences for more trivial offences than in the past.

According to a survey of 2,000 people by Nacro, those aged 18-24 felt that possessing a criminal record was the fact that they would be most ashamed to tell an employer, with 59 per cent naming it. A previous conviction was seen as more shameful than having a mental health problem (54 per cent), being fired from a previous job (41 per cent) or bankruptcy or debt (39 per cent).

Jackie Lowthian, Nacro’s director of policy, said: "People who have a record are aware that their past will count against them in the job market. Yet the truth is that many people who commit an offence move on. Work is the most effective way of preventing offending."