Enhanced criminal record checks - Court of Appeal ruling

A recent Court of Appeal ruling relating to enhanced criminal records disclosures is to be challenged by the Government.

The case of R (app T) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and others concerned a number of appeals over information revealed by enhanced CRB checks (now known as Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks).

The headline case of ‘T’ related to a 17 year old who applied for a part-time job at the local football club. An enhanced DBS check was obtained due to the fact he may have been required to work with children and this flagged that he received police warnings when aged 11 over two stolen bicycles.

The disclosure of old convictions and cautions under enhanced checks was designed to afford greater protection for children and vulnerable adults, particularly after the Soham murders. However, the Court’s judgment is reported to say that the “disclosure of all convictions and cautions relating to recordable offences is disproportionate to that legitimate aim” and that a system of "filtering" is required in order to weed out irrelevant criminal records.

The Court also decided that their decision will not take effect until a determination by the Supreme Court of an application by the Secretaries of State for permission to appeal so the law remains unchanged for the moment.

We will keep you updated with developments.