Do you legally need to disclose a new conviction to your employer?
Whether you have to disclose a conviction obtained during employment is not always clear; a lot will depend on what your contract of employment states.
If your contract says that you have a duty to inform your employer of convictions received during your employment, then this is pretty clear cut and a failure to do so would be treated as a breach of your employment contract. If your employer were to discover your conviction, you may be dismissed if you had not informed them of it.
For employers who don’t make it clear whether you should disclose convictions received during employment, then there is no legal obligation on you to do so. If your conviction were to be discovered, then this, on its own, would not be a reason for your employers to dismiss you. However, some employers may feel justified in dismissing you on the basis that they can no longer trust you based on your keeping your conviction from them.
If you receive a disposal that becomes spent immediately (i.e. a caution), then you should be able to rely on the
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and not disclose (as long as the role/position isn’t
exempt from the ROA).
Is there anything else you should consider about disclosing your criminal record?
There are some situations where you would have no choice but to disclose to an employer. For example, if your job involved driving, then the loss of your driving licence would mean that if you were to say nothing, you may have to continue driving and would therefore be committing an offence every time you got behind the wheel of the car.
If your conviction leads to restrictions being put on you, e.g. a harassment conviction could come with conditions attached regarding locations you cannot go and/or people you cannot have contact with. This could affect your ability to do your job, and make it impractical to carry out your duties without committing a further offence.
If there is any chance (either through gossip, publicity or being subject to regular formal criminal record checks) that you will get found out, then you will have to weigh up the chances of dismissal against the likelihood of the employer finding out by themselves and holding both that fact and the conviction against you.