Supreme Court ruling could help thousands of children threatened with DBS disclosure

The Supreme Court heard the case of a young person whose career was blighted by the threatened disclosure of two youth reprimands, imposed when he was a young teenager.

Such disclosures on Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) forms are "directly inconsistent" with their intended purpose as a diversion from the criminal justice system and is a breach of the right to privacy, the judges found.

Charities involved in the case have now called for the government to conduct a review of the disclosure regime for children and young people.

The young man in question was aged 13 when he received a police reprimand, in September 2006.

In 2011, he lost his job as a library assistant after enhanced DBS checks were required, which would have flagged the reprimand. Since then, he has felt unable to apply for jobs where enhanced checks are needed.

Children's charity Just for Kids Law argued that the policy fails to treat children differently to adults and contravenes Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Such disclosure is "disproportionate and unnecessary", said the charity. This is because reprimands and final warnings - which have been replaced with youth cautions - should be primarily a rehabilitative measure, and not a punishment for life.