If you have been offered or received a caution, you may wonder what the precise consequences of accepting a police caution (a simple police caution) are.
Is a Caution a Criminal Conviction?
A frequently asked question is whether a police caution is a criminal conviction. The short answer is no; a caution is not a criminal conviction. A caution, although not considered a criminal conviction, carries significant consequences – particularly if you hope to work in a trusted/regulated profession.
What are the Consequences of Accepting a Police Caution?
If you accept a simple police caution, it will be “spent” immediately (a conditional caution is spent after 3 months). In that case, a simple police caution will not be disclosed on a basic background check (undertaken by Disclosure Scotland).
If, however, you work in a regulated sector, then the caution will have longer-term impacts. Also, if you hope to live or work abroad the caution may cause difficulties.
The Police Caution and the PNC
When you are given a police caution, or even if you are simply arrested with no further action being taken (NFA), the police will create a Police National Computer (PNC) record for you. A PNC record will record your details, including your name, aliases, date of birth, address, date of arrest, offence and the outcome of your case.
If the police are asked to undertake a check on you, they will first check the PNC against your details. If you hope to work or live abroad, you will need a “police certificate” that checks against the PNC.
A police caution will be stepped down from a police certificate after certain periods have elapsed, more serious offences will be stepped down off a certificate only after a longer period of time.
Even though a police caution may not be disclosed on a police certificate after the relevant step down period has elapsed, the certificate will usually state “no live trace” instead of “no trace” if you had never been arrested/cautioned/convicted. This will give an indication to a foreign nation that you have previously been arrested/cautioned/convicted for something. If their domestic policies require full disclosure, they may then ask you for an interview and/or ask you to obtain your full police file so they can review your case.
There is a good argument to say that the no live trace policy on police certificates creates an anomaly when compared to domestic disclosure rules, namely, the disclosure rules in respect of disclosing criminal records to a foreign nation affords less protection to UK citizens than they do on the domestic level to employers and regulatory bodies.
Police Cautions and Enhanced and Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Certificates
Although a simple police caution will not show up on a basic check, a caution will show up on both a standard and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate.
Certain cautions will become protected after 6 years, come off of a standard certificate, and most likely will not appear on an enhanced check. Offences such as common assault, low-level theft or public order will be protected after 6 years.
Certain police cautions, however, will never become protected. Cautions for what are considered to be more serious offences, such as burglary, actual bodily harm (ABH), child cruelty or sexual assault, will never become protected and will always be disclosed on both a standard or enhanced DBS certificate.
Arrest Records and Protected Cautions on Enhanced Background Checks
The police can disclose a wide range of information on an enhanced DBS check. If the police feel it is relevant to a role you are applying for, they may disclose arrest records or information related to a police caution.
Police cautions may, therefore, impact your career even after 6 years, even if the caution you received was relatively minor. Even arrest records can be disclosed on an Enhanced DBS certificate – namely, allegations that never resulted in a charge, caution, nor conviction.
Police Cautions Removal Solicitors and DBS Specialists
We are specialist police caution removal (expungement) solicitors, and we have significant experience in challenging unlawful police cautions and having them removed (expunged) from the PNC.
We also have extensive experience in challenging the unfair disclosure of information on enhanced DBS certificates.
In addition, we are often instructed to apply to remove arrest records from the PNC. It may be the case that your arrest was unlawful so your record on the PNC should be deleted.
If you are worried about immigration to the US, we have professional contacts with attorneys from the United States with extensive experience in US immigration law and procedure.
Please get in touch to discuss your case with our specialist police caution and arrest record solicitors. We often offer our services at fixed fees. We regret that we can not offer our services under legal aid.