Under Section 184 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) it is illegal to require a person to provide a “relevant record” in relation to recruitment for a job, continuing employment, or when providing services to the public.

Relevant records under Schedule 18 of the DPA are the following:

• Health Records: If an individual requests their medical history from a hospital, this would be considered a relevant health record.
• Criminal Records: If someone requests their criminal record from the police, this would be a relevant record relating to a conviction or caution. This includes records obtained by a data subject that contain information about a conviction, caution, or an arrest.
• Statutory Functions: These are records obtained by a data subject that contain information related to statutory functions. The records can be obtained from entities like the Secretary of State, the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, the Scottish Ministers, and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

The law only allows these records to be provided to another person or organisation if the records are required by law or are justified in the public interest.

If someone is required to provide criminal records to obtain a job or keep a job, where there is no legal requirement to do so, it is a criminal offence that can be punished by a fine.

Employers can lawfully request a DBS check as part of their recruitment process to ensure that individuals are suitable for certain roles, especially those involving work with vulnerable groups or sensitive information. These are the different levels of DBS checks and when they can be requested:

What it shows: Unspent convictions and conditional cautions.

When it can be requested: For any role, as there are no specific eligibility criteria.

Example: A retail company hiring a cashier may request a basic DBS check to ensure the applicant has no recent criminal convictions that could affect their suitability for the role.

What it shows: Unprotected convictions and cautions.

Cautions and convictions will become “protected” after certain periods of time, unless they are for “specified” offences. Please see our DBS Calculator for more details.

When it can be requested: For roles specified in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, such as positions in security, legal professions, and certain financial services.

Example: The SRA or BSB will ask for a standard DBS check when admitting a solicitor or barrister to the profession.

What it shows: The same as a standard check, plus any additional information held by local police that is considered relevant to the role.

When it can be requested: Generally for roles involving work with children or vulnerable adults, such as teaching, healthcare, and social work, and other highly regulated roles.

Example: A school hiring a teacher will request an enhanced DBS check to ensure the applicant has no criminal history that would make them unsuitable to work with children.

Employers may also get to know about a criminal record via immigration procedures. If you are being employed outside of the UK, in the US for example, your employer may want to process your immigration application.

When this is done, they will often require you to provide an ACRO Police Certificate. Your Certificate will directly or indirectly reveal a past criminal record – for details about “no live trace” disclosures, then please visit here.

There is a grey area in UK rehabilitation laws when an employer asks to undertake a visa application for their employee. It is debatable whether an employer learning about an employee’s criminal record, where they would otherwise not be able to, by facilitating a visa application, amounts to enforced subject access.

In these circumstances a business will not have specifically requested access to the criminal record for their own purposes, but if a role is contingent on an overseas visa being granted, then the employer will inevitably become aware of the record if they process the employee’s visa application. To avoid this issue arising, a prospective employee could request to process their own visa application, but this is likely to draw suspicion from the employer, and also cause delay.

We have recently become aware that there are third-party background checking companies that, as part of their pre-employment screening checks, insist on employees and new recruits obtaining a copy of their ACRO Subject Access Request.

We are aware that this practice is being undertaken by overseas multinational companies, who will recruit a third-party organisation to undertake their new recruits’ background checks. So far, we have only heard of this being done by companies based in the US, but companies based in other jurisdictions may also be employing similar techniques.

US based companies may feel emboldened to undertake these checks, given the physical distance between the US and UK, but asking for an ACRO Subject Access check in these circumstances is clearly enforced subject access, and is a criminal offence.

If you believe you are the victim of enforced subject access, in the context of being recruited for an overseas role, or when being recruited by an employer based overseas, then please get in touch.

We have extensive success in deleting records from the PNC including police cautions, youth cautions/warnings and reprimands, arrest records, and overseas convictions. We can also assist with complaints to the ICO and/or police, with respect to data breaches, and enforced subject access.

If you have ever been involved in a minor criminal offence, such as shoplifting, assault, public order issues, criminal damage, or drug possession, you may have been offered an out of court disposal (OOCD) by the police. An OOCD is a way of dealing with low-level offending without going to court, which can save time and money for both the police and the offender. However, the government concluded that the current OOCD system was complex and inconsistent, with six different types of disposals available, such as community resolutions, penalty notices for disorder (PNDs), and conditional cautions. This was claimed to have caused confusion and variation in how different police forces use them and how they affect someone’s criminal record.

To address these alleged issues, the government has introduced a new statutory two-tier framework of OOCDs, which will replace the existing ones. The new framework consists of two types of cautions: the Diversionary Caution and the Community Caution. These cautions are in reality very similar to the existing simple and conditional caution framework, but with some differences, which in practice, may not make them very different to the old conditional and simple police caution system.

The new framework aims to simplify and standardise the OOCD system, to ensure that low-level offenders are dealt with in a consistent and proportionate way across the country. It also aims to provide more opportunities for offenders to address the underlying causes of their offending behaviour and to make amends to their victims and communities.

We will look at some of the key differences and similarities between the old simple and conditional caution system, and the new Diversionary and Community Cautions.

It should be noted that the Diversionary and Community Cautions regime has not yet been implemented, and will come into force when the government passes regulations bringing the scheme into action. Up until the new regime comes into effect, the police will continue to issue simple and conditional cautions, and PNDs.

No, your simple or conditional caution, including both adult and youth cautions, will remain on the PNC until you reach 100 years of age, unless you get it deleted.

The Diversionary Caution is the upper-tier disposal, which can be used for any offence, except for “excluded offences”, unless approved by an officer of at least Inspector rank. There is a full list of excluded offences but generally they relate to the following offences:

• Offensive weapon and bladed article offences
• Carrying a firearm in a public place
• Child cruelty
• Sexual offences against children (including those relating to child prostitution and pornography)
• Sex-trafficking offences
• Indecent and pornographic images of children
• Importing, exporting, producing, supplying and possession with intent to supply to another Class A drugs

The Diversionary Caution requires the individual to accept responsibility for the offence and to comply with certain conditions attached to the caution. These conditions may include paying compensation to the victim, attending a rehabilitation programme, or doing unpaid work. If the person fails to comply with the conditions, they can be prosecuted for the original offence. The upper-tier Diversionary Caution is intended for more serious offences, but where the police believe the public interest can best be served through prosecuting breaches of conditions, rather than going straight to court. If the conditions are broken the police have a power of arrest and detention.

The Community Caution is the lower-tier disposal, which will be used for less serious offences and cannot be given for “indictable only” offences, or offences that are “excluded” offences. It also requires the offender to accept responsibility for the offence and to comply with certain conditions attached to the caution. These conditions may include apologising to the victim, repairing the damage caused, or participating in an educational activity. If the offender fails to comply with the conditions, they can be issued with an increased financial penalty, up to £150, which can be enforced by the court. The main difference with the community resolution and the diversionary caution is that the community caution is a “case ending disposal”, as once it has been issued, there will be no subsequent prosecution at court for the original offence, even if the conditions are not complied with – the most the police can do is enforce the fine. There is no power of arrest for non-compliance with the conditions.

The government guidelines highlight that the key difference between the Diversionary and Community Caution is the consequences for breaching conditions. Generally if the police think that the person doesn’t merit the possibility of prosecution, due to the nature of the case, then a Community Caution will be issued, but where the case is more serious, a Diversionary Caution will be issued.

Although the stated aim of the Diversionary or Community Caution regime is to reduce the police’s OOCD options to two, the draft guidelines states that Community Resolutions will continue to exist.

Community Resolutions are issued for low level incidents, including neighbour disputes and low antisocial behaviour, and generally speaking, are not recorded on the PNC, meaning they will not automatically trigger a disclosure on a DBS check – although they can still be revealed on an enhanced DBS certificate.

The draft Diversionary and Community Caution guidelines states that the police should ask themselves the following questions to decide if a Community Resolution is more suitable than a Diversionary or Community Caution for a minor offence:

1.  Would a Community Resolution adequately address the behaviour?
2.  Is it in the public interest to enforce the matter with a Community Resolution?
3.  If applicable, does it meet the needs and wishes of the victim?
4. If the recipient does not comply with any or all conditions, is it acceptable that no enforceable action could be taken?

If the answer is yes, and the case is in line with the current Community Resolutions Guidelines, then a Community Resolution should be issued instead of a Diversionary or Community Caution.

Before a Diversionary or Community Caution can be issued, the police must first determine whether a suspect is eligible.

The key criteria are that:

• There is sufficient evidence to support a prosecution, and that the public interest would be better served via a Diversionary or Community Caution.
• That the individual admits the having committed the offence.
• The individual consents to being given a caution, and understands all the implications that accompany it (including the fact that it will be recorded on the PNC), and the fact that failure to comply with any of the conditions may, in the case of a Diversionary Caution, result in prosecution, or in the case of a Community Caution, subsequently result in a financial penalty.
• A form must be signed acknowledging guilt, and accepting the consequences and conditions of the caution.

Diversionary cautions can be issued for cases that are defined buy the police as including, domestic abuse.

The definition of “domestic abuse” is defined in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. In general terms it entails abuse of a person over the age of 16, where they are “personally connected”, and may consist of behaviour including:

• Physical or sexual abuse
• Violent or threatening behaviour
• Controlling or coercive behaviour
• Economic abuse
• Psychological, emotional, or other abuse

Specifically tailored conditions will be implemented for cases of domestic abuse that must include rehabilitative elements, including principles and processes of motivational interviewing, peer support, peer challenge, victim focus, offender focus, rapport, non-shaming, listening, and questioning.

Along with the need for there to be:

• Sufficient evidence to support a Diversionary or Community Caution.
• An admission to the offence.
• Consent to the caution.
• The caution must be in the public interest.

The suspect must also always be offered the opportunity to receive free and independent legal advice. This applies even if a person has not been arrested and detained, and covers people who have attended on a voluntary basis at a police station, or someone who has been questioned outside a police station, such as at a person’s home, or at a music concert or festival. Typically cautions should usually be issued at a police station, or some other official location. This is in contrast to a Community Resolution, which are often issued at a suspect’s home.

Before a caution can be issued, the views of the victim have to be considered by the police. The victim, or victims’, views have to be taken into account when assessing the public interest in issuing a caution. The victim’s views also have to be considered when the police come to impose the particular conditions attached to the caution.

Even though a victim’s input is important in the caution process, a caution can still be issued against the views of a victim. This is often the case in domestic incidents, where victims, after the initial call to the police is made, do not want any action to be taken against their partner. The police will often ignore pleas by victims for cases to be dropped, and issue cautions against the victim’s express wishes. Sometimes the police may play down the impact of the caution to a victim, so that they agree to provide a statement, and support the caution, only to subsequently realise that the caution will have a significant impact on their partner.

It is possible for someone to receive a caution even after they have been charged. Representations can be made to a prosecutor to refer the matter back to the police for a caution to be issued. If the caution that is issued is a Diversionary caution, if the conditions are broken, the matter can then be sent back to court for prosecution.

A financial penalty can be attached to both a Diversionary or Community Caution, and that can be the only condition attached.

Conditions attached need to be appropriate to the case and individual, and a needs assessment may be undertaken to ensure rehabilitative conditions are relevant to the particular person.

Examples of conditions that can be attached are:

• An unpaid work condition – To carry out specified work for a maximum period of 20 hours for a Diversionary Caution or 10 hours for a Community Caution.
• Attendance condition – Requiring the offender to attend a specified place for a specified purpose (e.g., attending a drug or alcohol service), and for a specified number of hours. Where an attendance condition requires attendance at education or training, or receive any other service, the individual can be required to pay for this service.
• Reparative conditions – To repair (either directly or indirectly) any damage caused including reparative activity within a community, compensatory payment to an individual victim, business, or community, or financial compensation to a charitable or community fund. Compensation can also be made in respect of personal injury.
• An Apology – either in person or writing.
• Restrictive condition – not to meet or communicate with specified individuals; not to be in, or go to, specified addresses, places, or areas in the United Kingdom; not to carry out or participate in specified activities; not to engage in specified conduct.

For Domestic Abuse Diversionary cautions, there are detailed guidelines about the conditions that should be imposed

The time period for conditions to be complied with is a maximum of 20 weeks, but most conditions should be completed within 16 weeks.

Different time limits may apply; namely time limits may be made shorter where the police may need to prosecute a summary only offence, in the case of a Diversionary Caution. The police will need to make sure that the 6-month time limit to issue court proceedings for summary only offences is not exceeded prior to the completion of the conditions, in order to preserve the police’s ability to prosecute, in the event of a breach.

The rules related to the disclosure and retention of Diversionary and Community Cautions are essentially identical to those that relate to Conditional and Simple Police Cautions.

Both Diversionary and Community Cautions will be recorded on the PNC, which will mean they will be retained, unless deleted, until a suspect is 100 years old.

A Diversionary caution will be spent three months after it is issued, or earlier of the conditions come to an end sooner. A Community Caution will be spent immediately. Once a caution is spent it will not show on a basic DBS check.

For Standard and Enhanced checks, a caution will typically be disclosed for 6 years, after which it becomes protected. If the caution is for a “specified offence”, such as child cruelty, ABH, or sexual assault, then it will be permanently disclosable. Also all cautions can continue to be disclosed on a discretionary basis after 6 years on an enhanced DBS certificate.

At present we do not know the final form Diversionary or Community Cautions will take, but it seems that the rules and procedures are similar to the rules and procedures related to conditional and simple cautions – including the disclosure and retention rules.

In practice Conditional cautions appear to be very similar to the new Diversionary Caution; conditional cautions were always subject to the possibility of prosecution if the conditions were not complied with, and cautions for serious offences, were only ever issued after consultation with a senior officer. Simple Cautions never formally required the payment of a fine, like the new Community Caution, so that is a new development, but we have had cases in the past (admittedly rarely) were the police have asked clients to pay a fine or compensation alongside a Simple Caution. Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) have always required the payment of a fine. Removing the option of a PND will actually mean that more people will end up with a disclosable record, as PNDs were never automatically disclosable on a standard or an enhanced DBS certificate, whereas Community Cautions will be disclosable.

For the time being simple and conditional cautions will continue to be issued, and we will continue to help our clients to have these cautions removed from the PNC. When the new Diversionary or Community Cautions come into effect, we will also help those clients to have their records deleted from the PNC.

A police caution is a formal warning that can be given by the police to anyone who has admitted that they are guilty of a crime. Anyone under 18 will be issued a youth caution, rather than an adult caution. The police can issue a simple caution with no additional requirements, or a conditional caution where the police can impose requirements, such as writing a letter of apology or paying a fine.

A police caution is not a criminal conviction, but it can have serious consequences for your future.

• Criminal Record: A caution will be retained on the Police National Computer (PNC) until you reach 100 years of age (unless you get it deleted). The PNC is the database that stores all criminal records in the UK, including police cautions and arrest records.
• Bad Character Evidence: A police caution can be used as evidence of bad character if you are prosecuted for another crime in the future.
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS): A caution can prevent you from working. A simple caution will not show on a Basic DBS check, but a conditional caution will show for 3 months on a Basic DBS Certificate. Most cautions will automatically show for 6 years on a Standard or Enhanced DBS check, and then will become “protected” – even after 6 years, the police still retain a discretionary power to disclose facts related to the caution on an Enhanced DBS Certificate. Cautions for specified offences, such as ABH, sexual assault, or child neglect, will show forever on a Standard and an Enhanced DBS check.  For further details on when a police caution will be disclosed, please see our police caution calculator.
• Visas: A police caution may mean that certain countries will deny you a visa, residency or citizenship. As all cautions remain on the PNC until you reach 100 years of age, they can impact travel for the rest of a person’s life. A police caution may cause issues travelling to the United States of America , Canada, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Singapore, China, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.

The process of removing a police caution from the PNC is also known as applying for expungement or deletion. This means that your caution will be erased from the PNC, and you will no longer have to disclose it on job or immigration applications. However, not every caution will be eligible for deletion. You need to meet certain criteria and provide evidence that your caution was given unlawfully or unfairly.

If you have received a police caution, you may want to know how to remove it from the PNC, the database that stores all criminal records in the UK.

For the police to agree to remove a caution there must be compelling reasons. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) set out in their Deletion Guidelines ten general grounds for deletion. These grounds are:

1. Unlawfully Taken – If DNA samples or fingerprints were obtained in violation of legal procedures.
2. Mistaken Identity or Unlawful arrest – If the record was created due to incorrect identification, such as where someone has been cleared after participating in an ID parade.
3. No Crime – If an individual was arrested but no offence occurred. This is not the same as proving your innocence, but is where no crime happened in the first place.
4. Malicious or False Allegation – If credible evidence confirms that the allegation was fabricated, deletion may be granted.
5. Proven Alibi – If an individual can provide corroborative evidence of an alibi which excludes them from the case.
6. Incorrect Disposal – If a caution was issued in error, for example where there was no clear and reliable admission to the allegation, then it should be deleted.
7. Suspect status not clear at the time of the arrest – if the police wrongly classified someone as a suspect, where they are in fact the victim or witness.
8. Judicial Outcome – If a court orders record removal.
9. Another person convicted of the offence – If there is no possibility of there being more than one offender, and someone else is convicted, then the record can be deleted.
10. Public Interest – If retaining the record is contrary to the wider public interest. This can include looking at the seriousness of the allegation, the level of culpability, the person’s age, and their personal circumstances, including mental health factors.

One of the most common grounds for removing a police caution is “incorrect disposal”. To establish that the caution was incorrectly given, you must show that the Ministry of Justice Guidance on police cautions was breached. Before a caution can be issued the police must ensure that:

• There is sufficient evidence to prosecute the accused for the offence.
• The accused must admit that they are guilty of the offence.
• The accused understands the significance of the caution and they must also give their informed consent to being cautioned.
• The police must also respect the law and rules related to detention and custody; significant breaches of these rules may make a caution unlawful.

If any of these conditions were not met, then you may be able to argue that your caution was incorrectly issued. Common examples where a caution might be eligible for deletion are listed below.

• You were under 18 years old when you received your caution and you did not have an appropriate adult present.
• You were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when you received your caution, and you did not understand what you were agreeing to.
• You were coerced or pressured into admitting the allegation or accepting your caution by the police or someone else.
• You were seriously mentally unwell at the time of the incident, or when the caution was issued.
• You were not given adequate legal advice before accepting your caution.
• You were not informed of the consequences of accepting your caution, such as how it would affect your future prospects.
• You were wrongly accused of the offence or there was insufficient evidence against you.
• You received your caution for an offence that is no longer considered a crime.

This list is not comprehensive, and your caution may still be eligible for deletion even if your case does not fit into the listed scenarios. For a comprehensive advice on the particular facts of your case, please contact us to arrange a consultation.

When applying for deletion of a police caution some of the things that should be included are:

• Your full name, date of birth, address and ID.
• The date and location of your caution and the offence for which it was given.
• The ground, or grounds, for deletion.
• The reasons why you believe your caution was unlawful or unfair, with supporting evidence such as witness statements, character references, exhibits, medical records and expert reports if appropriate, relevant previous legal judgments, statutory law, and regulations etc.
• An analysis of interview transcripts if you are disputing your admission.
• An analysis of custody CCTV and/or police body worn footage to see if PACE Guidelines have been breached.
• The impact the caution has had on your life, such as how it has affected your career, your family, education, travel, or personal relationships.

If you are unsure what to include in your police caution deletion application, then as experienced and dedicated solicitors, we will be happy to assist you. We know that receiving a police caution can be a very traumatic and emotional experience. Reliving the event can be difficult, and it may be hard for you to gain a genuine perspective on what happened. We will help you take the stress out of the process, and we will give you a fair and well-informed advice, based on our decades of experience, and hundreds of cases.

Once a caution removal application is submitted, how long it takes to receive a decision will depend on the police force concerned. The process can take months and there is no guarantee that your request will be granted.

Typically the application will be sent to ACRO, who will forward the application to the relevant police force. ACRO themselves do not decide cases; they simply facilitate the process.

Some police forces will take 1 or 2 months to decide, but others will take much longer, sometimes up to 18 months.

If the initial decision is negative, you can appeal the decision within the same police force. The appeal decision may take 1 or 2 months, but it can take a further 12 months, and sometimes longer.

Dependant on the facts, an application can be prioritised, but pushing for a decision is not always appropriate. We will be able to advise you whether it is in your best interests to press the police for a quick decision.

If your request is granted, your caution will be deleted from the PNC. If your request is denied, you will receive a letter from the police explaining why they have rejected your application. If you appeal this decision, and your request is again denied, you have the option of taking your case to judicial review before the Administrative Court, or you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

We have successfully had 100s of cautions removed over the years, and we believe we are the leading legal practice in this field. Most often we are able to persuade the police to remove a caution, but if this is not possible, we have the experience to take your case to court. We would only ever advise a client to take a case to court if there are very strong grounds to do so.

The simple answer to this is no. Each police force has their own particular way of reviewing deletion applications, with some police forces being much stricter than others, depending on the facts and circumstances.

There is no official fee for applying for expungement of a police caution; please see here for our detailed article on the costs involved in deleting a police caution.

You may be eligible for legal aid if you cannot afford to pay for legal advice or representation. Legal aid is a government-funded scheme that helps people who have a low income, or who are on benefits, to access legal services. You can find out if you qualify for legal aid here.

Unfortunately, we do not offer legal aid.

If your police caution is successfully removed from the PNC you will have the many benefits of having a clean criminal record. For example having a clean record can:

• Restore your reputation and confidence, as you will no longer have to worry about being judged or discriminated against because of your past mistake.
• Improve your employment prospects, as you will no longer have to disclose your caution to potential employers or face rejection because of it. You will be able to apply for jobs that require a clean criminal record, such as working with children or vulnerable adults, becoming a health care worker, emergency worker, lawyer or a teacher.
• Enhance your educational opportunities, as you will no longer have to disclose your caution to universities or colleges or face rejection because of it. You will be able to apply for courses that require a clean criminal record, such as medicine, nursing, or social work.
• Expand your travel options, as you will no longer have to disclose your caution to immigration authorities or face refusal because of it. You will be able to work and live in countries that have strict visa requirements or criminal record checks, such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, China, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
• Protect your privacy and security, as you will no longer have to worry about your caution being accessed or leaked by unauthorised parties, such as hackers or identity thieves.

We believe that given our extensive experience and knowledge in this field, acquired over many years, we can give our clients the edge in their deletion application. We have had hundreds of police cautions removed over the years; please see here to read our many positive reviews.

If you would like to arrange a consultation, then please contact us. We know that discussing a police caution can be stressful; you will find all of us at Legisia are friendly and approachable, and we will provide you with a sympathetic, confidential, and understanding ear.

DBS Caution Removal is possible, depending on the facts of your case.
If you have received a police caution, then it will show up on a standard and enhanced DBS Certificate.
Your police caution will show up on your DBS certificate for 6 years in most cases. If you received a youth caution, due to recent changes in the law, it will not show up on your DBS Certificate, unless it is an enhanced DBS Certificate. Youth police cautions can still show up on enhanced DBS Certificates on a discretionary basis, dependant on the facts of your case.

Some adult police cautions can show up indefinitely on both a Standard and Enhanced DBS Certificate, and will not become protected after 6 years.

A police caution will show indefinitely on a DBS Certificate if the caution was issued for a specified offence. Examples of specified offences are ABH, affray, sexual assault, child neglect/cruelty, and possession of indecent images.

For full details on how and when a police caution will show up on a DBS Certificate, please see our Police Caution Calculator.

If you have received a caution and it is showing up on your DBS Certificate, we can help you with DBS caution removal.

We have specialised in DBS caution removal for many years, and we have had hundreds of successful cases. Please see here for our Client Reviews.

You may feel that your caution was unfairly issued, or was issued a long time ago and so is no longer relevant to the person you are. If so we can help.

We always aim to persuade the police, without the need for court proceedings, to remove unwanted police cautions.

We will carefully construct your application to ensure you stand the best possible chance of successfully having your police caution removed from your DBS certificate.

Along with challenging unfairly issued and retained police cautions, we have also helped many clients with challenging disclosures on DBS certificates, and also barring proceedings.

Often when someone has been issued with a police caution, the DBS will consider them for barring. This is especially so if the case relates to violence or sexual offending.

We have successfully had many clients removed from the DBS’s barred lists, and also challenged barring decisions before they are made.

If you have been issued with a police caution, and you have now been referred for barring by the DBS, then we can help.

You may have lived with your caution for years, and it has held you back in terms of employment, or work and travel overseas. We have helped hundreds of people get their lives back on track, and put a minor incident behind them forever.

Please get in touch today to discuss DBS caution removal.

We offer reasonable fixed fees, and will always give you an honest and frank assessment of any case.

If you have received a police caution you may be wondering: what is a protected caution?

The best way to explain the difference between when a criminal record becomes “spent”, and when it becomes “protected”, is to look at the different types of background check.

There are three types of DBS certificate, basic, standard, and enhanced.

All employers can ask for a Basic DBS check. It is in relation to a Basic DBS check that it matters whether your record is “spent” or “unspent” according to the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders Act 1974.

All cautions are immediately “spent” for the purposes of a basic DBS check as soon as they are issued, no matter the type of offence, or when the caution was issued.

The only exception to this is in relation to a conditional caution. For a conditional caution it will become spent as soon as the conditions expire, up to a maximum of three months.

If your employer is asking you to apply for a standard or enhanced DBS certificate, this means they are allowed to ask an “exempted question”. This basically means that they are allowed to ask you about spent criminal records, but only to the extent that they are not “protected”.

The typical question you will be asked is the following:

An adult caution will become “protected” if it was issued six or more years ago, unless it is for an offence that is on the specified offences list.

All youth cautions (both simple and conditional) will be protected immediately.

If an adult caution is for an offence that appears on the specified offences list, your caution will be indefinitely disclosable on both a standard and an enhanced DBS certificate. Typical examples of specified offences cautions are ABH, affray, child cruelty/neglect, possession of indecent images of children or sexual assault.

For further details on when a caution will be disclosed, you can use our: police caution calculator.

Once a caution is protected the police will still retain it on the Police National Computer (PNC) until you reach 100 years of age.

For youth cautions they will not be automatically disclosable on any level of DBS certificate, but may be revealed as “relevant information” on an enhanced DBS certificate.

For adult cautions, after six years, a caution will be “protected” and will not be revealed on a standard DBS check, but might continue to be revealed on an enhanced DBS check as “relevant information”.

In order for the police to reveal a protected caution, they would have to justify that it was necessary, reasonable, and proportionate to disclose the information. If you are arrested a second time, or receive a second caution, then it will make it much more likely that a protected caution will be revealed on an enhanced DBS certificate.

A protected caution can also continue to cause problems with respect to visas and citizenship overseas. A caution will be revealed directly on an ACRO Police Certificate for either 5  or 10 years depending on the offence. Once the time period has elapsed, the caution will become “stepped down”. Once it is stepped down it will be indirectly revealed via a “no live trace” disclosure.

For anyone who has never been cautioned or convicted, their Police Certificate will simply state “no trace”. If you provide a “no live trace” certificate to a foreign embassy, most often they will then enquire into the details of your criminal record. Certain countries, notably the United States and China, may block a Visa or citizenship application based on a police caution, depending on the offence, and when the caution was issued.

So if you have now answered the question, what is a protected caution, and you realise your caution is not protected, then please get in touch.

We have years of experience in applying for the removal of police records, including hundreds of successful police caution removal cases.

We understand the significant impact a low-level criminal allegation can have on someone’s career, and we deal with every case sensitively and compassionately.

We charge reasonable fixed fees for our services. Please contact us to arrange a fixed fee initial consultation where we will be able to provide you an honest and frank opinion on your prospects of successfully having your police caution removed.

If you have ever wondered, can you get rid of a police caution? The simple answer to this question is, yes.

Whether you can get rid of your caution in your circumstances, will depend on a number of factors.

Getting rid of certain police cautions can be more challenging than others.

Where the caution is for a more serious offence, and where the evidence is very compelling, it may make getting rid of your police caution more difficult, but it may not be impossible.

It is possible to apply to the police yourself to have a police caution removed, however this is the case with any criminal matter. You can represent yourself in any allegation, from the most serious to the most minor. If you do not want to represent yourself, you can instruct a lawyer to assist you. We are dedicated expert police caution removal lawyers, with years of experience with success in hundreds of cases.

If you have received a police caution it will be retained on the Police National Computer (PNC) until you reach 100 years of age.

Your caution will be disclosed according to different time periods, the type of offence, and the type of background check you are applying for. Please see our police caution calculator for details of how and when your caution will be revealed.

People often wrongly believe (due to faulty advice given to them by their duty solicitor/the police) that their police caution will be removed after five years, for discussion on this topic please visit here: Can a caution be removed after 5 years?

Getting rid of a police caution will mean that it will be removed from the Police National Computer. This will mean that your caution will be completely removed from the PNC, and will know longer automatically be revealed on a DBS certificate, or an ACRO police certificate. The police do also separately retain local/PND records. For information on local/PND records, please visit here:

Clients often instruct us to get rid of their police caution from the PNC, as it is having a significant impact on their employment, or ability to move overseas.

If you have a police caution, you may find that it is causing you difficulties obtaining a visa, or overseas citizenship. Countries such as the United States and China are very strict with respect to any previous criminal record. Cautions for certain offences, such as possession of drugs or violent/sexual offences, will make it particularly difficult for you to obtain a Visa or citizenship.

Whilst you have a police caution, it will be revealed directly on an ACRO Police Certificate for between five or 10 years, depending on the offence. After the time period has elapsed, your caution will become “stepped down”, but it will continue to be indirectly revealed via a “no live trace” disclosure. For someone who has never received a caution or conviction, there police certificate will simply state “no trace”.

Many countries once they see a “no live trace disclosure” on an ACRO Police Certificate, will then enquire into the full details of that person’s criminal record.

If your caution is deleted, your police certificate will state “no trace”.

We are a legal practice dedicated to helping people with previous criminal records, and have successfully challenged the retention of police cautions in hundreds of cases.

The majority of our clients are highly qualified, and often leading professionals, where the impact of a police caution is often devastating to their career. We have successfully helped many clients put minor incidents behind them, and move on successfully with the rest of their lives.

Many of our clients may also have had minor difficulties in their youth/younger years, but have gone on to lead successful and highly productive lives. Often these clients feel unfairly chained to their past by their previous record.

We know that minor police records can have a major impact on people’s lives, we therefore do all we can to ensure you get the clear record that you deserve.

If you would like expert advice on getting rid of your police caution, from the leading lawyer in this field, then please get in touch.

We are the leading legal practice specialising in police caution, arrest record, and local records expungement (deletion). We have years of experience of successfully applying for the removal of police cautions, arrest records and local police records.

Our director, Matthew Elkins, set up the police caution removal and DBS appeals practice at a national firm of solicitors, before setting up Legisia Legal Services and dedicating his legal practice to caution and arrest record removal, DBS appeals and disciplinary proceedings.

We do not believe any solicitor has as much dedicated experience in:

• Police caution removal
• Arrest record removal
• Local police records deletion 
• DBS appeals (both DBS certificates and barring)
• Challenging community resolution orders
• Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND) deletion
• Harassment PIN Deletion
• Deletion of locally held police information

We have had hundreds of successful police caution and arrest record removals, for a wide variety of cases and police forces.

Through our dedicated experience, obtained over many years, we have a unique insight into the police caution and arrest record deletion process. We have come to see that each different police force has a different attitude towards record deletion. From our years of experience, we will know the best approach to take in the particular circumstances of your case.

Yes, you can get a police caution deleted from the PNC – we have removed hundreds of police cautions and arrest records for our clients. In order to have a police caution removed, the police will need to be convinced that something has gone wrong with the police caution procedure, or that it is no longer in the public interest to retain your police caution. If the police do not agree to delete your caution from the PNC, you can challenge them by either appealing to the Information Commissioners office (ICO) or via judicial review before the High Court.

A police caution will stay on your record depending on the type of police caution and what type of background check you are undertaking.

Generally for Basic DBS certificates, police cautions will be “spent” immediately, and will not show up (save for a conditional caution which will show up for a maximum of 3 months).

For standard and enhanced DBS certificates, an adult police caution (both conditional and simple) will show up for six years, unless it is for a “specified offence”, in which case it will show up forever.

All youth cautions will not automatically show up on either a standard or enhanced DBS check, due to a 2017 Supreme court case (youth cautions can still be revealed as “relevant information” on an enhanced DBS certificate).

A police caution will be retained on the Police National Computer (PNC) for 100 years (unless deleted). Along with possibly causing issues on a DBS certificate, a police caution can cause long term issues when it comes to immigration. See here for more details: What is an ACRO Police Certificate?

For a detailed article on this topic, please visit here: Can you appeal a DBS Check? Alternatively please see our Police Caution Calculator to see if your caution will show up on a background check.

In order to get a police caution deleted from the PNC, you need to apply to the police. If the police refuse to remove your caution, you can appeal to either the ICO or the High Court. If you are unsure how to go about applying for the deletion of your police caution, we have extensive experience in applying for the removal of police cautions and arrest records, and we will be happy to help you.

A police caution can impact travel overseas. Certain countries are particularly strict when it comes to any form of criminal record. Also certain types of offences may be seen in a worse light than others. For example, if you have a police caution for possession of cocaine, then you will not be allowed a US Green Card, and there is no basis to appeal against this. Further, a police caution for ABH would be considered an offence of “moral turpitude” by US immigration authorities. An ABH caution is likely to cause issues for both migrant and non-migrant visas to the USA. Similarly, a caution for a sexual offence is likely to cause long term immigration problems to the US. For more details on police cautions and travel to the US, please see here: United States Waiver of Ineligibility & Criminal Records

Other countries are also very strict when it comes to obtaining long term visas or citizenship. We have dealt with clients looking to move to the US, China, Singapore, Australia, the Cayman Islands, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates  and Canada. More recently, since Brexit, we have started to receive enquiries from UK citizens looking to move to countries within the EU.

A police caution can also impact your good character determination when it comes to a UK citizenship application. Once a caution has been issued you are barred from applying for citizenship for three years, thereafter the caution will need to be disclosed. After three years a police caution may continue to impact your citizenship application depending on the nature of the offence, and number of cautions/arrests.

We have extensive experience in applying for the deletion of police cautions in relation to many different police forces.

Please see here some of our successful cases: Police Caution Removal Example Cases.

Also click here to see reviews from our satisfied customers: Police Caution Removal Reviews.

Along with applying for the deletion of police cautions, we are also able to assist with:

• The deletion of PNC arrest records
• Deletion of Community Resolutions
• Deletion of local police records
• Harassment PIN deletion
• Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND) deletion
• Biometric data (including custody images) deletion
• Deletion of local police records held on the Police National Database (PND).

We can also assist with challenging DBS disclosures on both standard and enhanced DBS certificates. We have extensive experience in challenging DBS barring decisions; both appealing existing barring, or resisting a new barring application.

We are also able to help if you are being investigated by a regulator, typically were the case is associated with a police caution, or arrest record.

In most cases we offer fixed fees, unfortunately we do not offer legal aid.

Please get in touch to arrange an initial consultation

If you have a police caution and you are wondering how long does it stay on your DBS, you can use our police caution calculator below.

Our police caution calculator has been created by an expert DBS solicitor and is up to date with the current DBS disclosure rules.

You may have looked elsewhere online and seen a confusing amount of contradictory, or incomplete, information about how long a police caution will stay on your DBS certificate.

Our calculator will tell you the correct rules that apply to your circumstances whether you have a youth or adult caution, or whether it is conditional or simple.

The calculator will provide you the rules related to each level of DBS certificate, and also details the rules related to ACRO police certificates (which are used for overseas travel/immigration).

If you don’t want to use the police caution calculator, you can read our article about how long a police caution stays on your record. You can see our article here: Can you appeal a DBS check?

We have extensive experience in applying for the deletion of police cautions in relation to many different police forces.

Please see here some of successful cases: Police Caution Removal Example Cases.

Also see here the reviews from our satisfied customers: Police Caution Removal Reviews.

In most cases we offer fixed fees, unfortunately we do not offer legal aid.

Please get in touch to arrange an initial consultation

If you have come into contact with the police, you may be wondering whether you received a police caution.

A police caution is a formal police disposal that is recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC). Adult simple cautions and conditional cautions will be revealed on Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) certificates.

Police Cautions will be disclosed for 6 years, unless it is for a more serious offence, in which case it will be revealed forever.

Even after 6 years police cautions issued for less serious offences can still be disclosed on an enhanced DBS check as “relevant information”, depending on the circumstances. Any caution (whether adult or youth) will be retained on the PNC until the person is 100 years of age, unless it is deleted.

All cautions, including youth cautions, can also cause issues when it comes to immigration checks via an ACRO Police Certificate.

So how do you know if you have received a police caution?

Usually this would be fairly obvious. The police would have clearly explained this to you, and got you to sign a caution warning form.

Prior to receiving a caution most suspects are interviewed at a police station in a formally recorded environment. A lawyer would be offered to you, and it would be quiet apparent that an official process was being conducted. So it is not simply a matter of the police saying that they have cautioned you, an official police caution follows a formal process that is clear and distinct.

It is however possible for a police caution to be issued outside of a police station, but you would still need to be offered all your formal legal guarantees, and you would need to admit the allegation. Your admission needs to be recorded somewhere, usually in an officer’s notebook. It is quite uncommon for a police caution to be issued outside of a police station, and most police officers will formally interview a suspect before issuing a police caution.

Sometimes police officers do break or bend or break the rules, and issue police cautions in informal settings, but this is quite rare.

This is where some confusion can come in.

“The” police caution is the warning he police will give you when they suspect you of being involved in a crime. The police caution is not the same as “a” police caution, which is a formal police disposal that is recorded on the PNC.

The police caution can be given to you when you are not under arrest, and the police may take no action after cautioning you. The words of the police caution are as follows:

Sometimes people might confuse being read this caution, with actually receiving a  formal police caution.

If the police simply cautioned you using these words, and nothing further happened to you after the police spoke with you, then you will not have a record on the PNC.

The police can also sometimes give informal warnings, which effectively amount to a verbal ticking off. The officers may take a note of your name, which can be stored on their local records, but it will not create a record on the PNC.

Along with formal records that are recorded in the PNC, such as cautions, convictions, and arrest records, the police do also keep local records of allegations that have been made, and their investigations.

These records can be held “locally” by the police force concerned, and also may be added onto the PND as “intelligence” information.

This “soft intelligence” can sometimes cause issues for people when applying for enhanced DBS certificates. The police have broad powers to disclose information on enhanced DBS checks as “relevant” information.

Even where someone has been found not guilty in court, the allegation can still be disclosed. Where people are simply questioned about an allegation, but no further action (NFA) has been taken, these details can also be disclosed on an enhanced DBS check as relevant information.

The disclosure of relevant information can be appealed, and not all police enquiries will be disclosed on an enhanced DBS certificate. The police will need to justify the disclosure as being relevant to the job being applied for. They don’t need to prove that the allegation is true, just that there is some evidence of an allegation/misconduct. They will then need to show that the disclosure is reasonable, necessary and proportionate.

If you are still unsure if you have a police caution or not, you can run a check against the PNC. You can apply to the police for this, and they will provide you with a copy of your PNC print out. If you have no record on the PNC the police will tell you that you are “no trace” on the PNC.

Also you can apply for any local records held by the police. You can apply to the police under the Data Protection Act, as a data subject, to have access to any records they hold locally. Some of these records may be redacted to remove third party information, but you should get, at the very least, a general idea of what local records the police are holding about you.

If you don’t want to run these checks yourself, we can apply to the police for your records on your behalf. Alternately if you have run the checks and are unsure what they mean, or would like the data expunged (deleted), then we can help.

We have successfully applied for the deletion of hundreds of police records including arrest records, police cautions, community resolutions, PNDs, and locally held information.

If local record information, or PNC records, have been disclosed on an enhanced DBS certificate, we can also assist you with making representations to the DBS or the Police Chief Constable.

Please get in touch to arrange a consultation regarding any police records enquiry you may have.