People who committed offences as children but have since turned their lives around could find it easier to access jobs, education and other opportunities under new Government proposals to reform the childhood criminal records system in England and Wales.
The Ministry of Justice has launched a public consultation on changes that could prevent some offences committed during childhood from following people into adulthood for the rest of their lives. The proposals recognise that children are still developing and that a mistake made during adolescence should not necessarily determine someone’s future decades later.
Under the current system, certain childhood convictions can continue to appear on standard and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks long after a person has completed their sentence and stopped offending. This can create barriers for people applying for jobs, professional opportunities, training or voluntary positions, even where they have demonstrated that they have moved on from their past.
The Government wants to make the disclosure rules more proportionate by taking greater account of the age at which an offence was committed, the seriousness of the offence and the sentence imposed. However, it says protecting the public, particularly children and vulnerable adults, will remain central to any changes.
The consultation, launched on Thursday 12 November 2026, follows a commitment in the Government’s Youth Justice White Paper, Cutting Youth Crime, Changing Young Lives. It is also part of wider efforts to reduce reoffending by helping young people build stable futures through employment, education and rehabilitation.
Why the Government wants to change childhood criminal record rules
The current criminal records system does not always make a clear enough distinction between offences committed by adults and those committed by children. As a result, a person who committed an offence at 16, served the sentence and remained crime-free for many years could still face difficulties when applying for certain jobs.
The Government has highlighted the example of someone convicted of robbery as a teenager who subsequently turned their life around but could still find the conviction affecting employment opportunities years later.
Ministers argue that this approach does not sufficiently recognise the capacity of young people to mature and change. They also point to evidence that many people who first offend during childhood do not continue committing crimes into adulthood.
A criminal record can make it harder to secure work, enter education or participate in community activities. This can become a significant obstacle for someone trying to rebuild their life, particularly when employment and financial stability could help reduce the likelihood of further offending.
Minister for Youth Justice, Sentencing and Technology Jake Richards said children who commit crimes must face consequences, but those who change their behaviour should not be condemned to carry their mistakes forever. He said childhood criminal records can close doors to employment, education and the opportunity to build a better future.
What changes is the Government proposing?
The consultation sets out five main areas where the Government believes childhood criminal record disclosure could be changed.
One proposal would create a separate, narrower list of specified offences for childhood convictions. Under the existing arrangements, certain offences cannot be filtered off standard and enhanced DBS checks, meaning they may remain disclosable for life. The Government wants to reconsider which offences should fall into this category when they were committed by children, particularly where the offence may not indicate an ongoing risk to the public.
Another proposal would end lifelong disclosure on standard and enhanced DBS checks for certain childhood convictions that resulted in custodial sentences of two years or less. Under the suggested approach, qualifying convictions for offences outside the specified list could become protected after a set period rather than remaining disclosable indefinitely. The consultation proposes an 11-year disclosure period for these cases.
The Government is also considering reducing the disclosure period for childhood convictions that resulted in a fine. At present, a fine imposed for a childhood conviction generally has a six-month rehabilitation period for basic disclosure. Ministers are asking whether this should be reduced to three months or whether the conviction should become spent immediately.
A further proposal would remove automatic disclosure of childhood out-of-court resolutions. These are measures used to deal with certain lower-level offences without taking a child through the full court process. The Government believes that requiring young people to disclose these resolutions could create unnecessary barriers, particularly when such interventions are intended to address offending behaviour and prevent further involvement in the criminal justice system.
The fifth proposal concerns the so-called ‘drag-on’ rule. Under the current system, when someone commits another offence before an earlier conviction becomes spent, the disclosure periods can be extended. The Government is considering removing this rule for convictions received while someone is still a child, so that one childhood offence does not unnecessarily prolong the disclosure period for another.
These proposals are intended to make the system more proportionate while recognising that rehabilitation is not always a straightforward process. The consultation is seeking views on how the changes should work and what safeguards may be needed.
Serious offences and public protection safeguards will remain
The Government has made clear that the proposed reforms are not intended to remove safeguards or prevent employers from accessing information relevant to protecting the public.
Convictions for the most serious offences, including serious violent, sexual and terrorism-related offences, would continue to be subject to lifelong disclosure where the existing rules require it. The Government says it wants to ensure that employers and organisations responsible for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults can still make informed decisions.
Importantly, the consultation does not propose changes to the Disclosure and Barring Service barring scheme. This system helps prevent people who pose a risk from working with children or vulnerable adults. The proposals focus on what information about childhood convictions and cautions is disclosed through criminal record checks, rather than removing the wider safeguarding framework.
The distinction matters because a conviction becoming spent or being filtered from a DBS certificate does not mean that every record of the offence disappears. Police records may still be retained, and separate safeguarding arrangements will continue to apply.
The Government says the aim is to remove unnecessary barriers for people who have demonstrated rehabilitation without weakening protections for those who may be at risk.
Employers urged to recognise rehabilitation
To mark the consultation’s launch, Jake Richards convened a roundtable involving major employers, including KPMG, Timpson and Greene King. The discussion focused on how childhood criminal records can affect people’s ability to secure employment and how changes to disclosure rules could help more people access opportunities.
The Government says employment can play an important role in rehabilitation by providing financial stability, routine, responsibility and a sense of purpose. It also cited figures showing that more than 90% of businesses employing prison leavers describe them as motivated, dependable and having strong attendance records.
Satvir Kaur, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said that people who have made mistakes as children should have the opportunity to rebuild their lives. However, she stressed that protecting communities and vulnerable people must remain central to the Government’s decisions.
Penelope Gibbs, Director of Transform Justice, also welcomed the proposals. She said criminal record checks were important for safeguarding, but argued that a childhood offence should not prevent someone from finding work or volunteering decades later, particularly if they have lived without further offending.
The Government’s wider youth employment plans include a £2.5 billion package intended to support almost one million young people and create 500,000 opportunities. The childhood criminal records consultation comes ahead of the conclusion of Alan Milburn’s review, which is expected later in November.
The proposals are not yet law
Although the announcement has been welcomed by organisations supporting rehabilitation, people with childhood convictions should not assume that their records will automatically be cleared or that the rules have already changed.
The Government is currently seeking views on the proposals, and any reforms taken forward will require legislative changes when parliamentary time allows. The consultation applies to England and Wales, so it should not be interpreted as an immediate change to criminal record disclosure arrangements across the whole of the UK.
The consultation closes on 24 December 2026. The Ministry of Justice is inviting responses from people affected by childhood criminal records, employers, safeguarding organisations, youth justice professionals and members of the public.
The outcome will help determine whether the proposed changes are adopted and how the balance between rehabilitation and public protection should be maintained.
What the proposed changes could mean for Nigerians and Black communities in the UK
The consultation has particular relevance for Nigerians and other Black communities living in England and Wales, including families whose children are growing up and navigating the British education, employment and justice systems. A childhood conviction can have consequences long after a young person has completed a sentence, and the impact may be especially difficult for someone trying to enter a profession that requires a standard or enhanced DBS check.
The Government’s own equality statement acknowledges that children from ethnic minority backgrounds, particularly Black children, are overrepresented in the youth justice system. This means the way childhood convictions are disclosed can have a wider impact on equality of opportunity, employment prospects and social mobility. For Nigerian parents, guardians and community organisations, the proposals raise an important question about how young people who have made mistakes can be supported to rebuild their lives without being permanently excluded from opportunities.
For young adults from diaspora families who want to pursue careers in teaching, healthcare, social care, finance, security or other regulated professions, it is important to understand that different roles require different levels of criminal record checks. The proposed reforms could change what some applicants need to disclose in future, but they would not remove all disclosure requirements or guarantee access to every profession. Serious offences and safeguarding restrictions would remain subject to separate rules.
The debate also matters to employers and business owners within the Nigerian community. Fair recruitment means considering a person’s qualifications, conduct, experience and evidence of rehabilitation, while still meeting legal safeguarding responsibilities. A system that allows people to move forward after less serious childhood offending could help widen access to work and reduce the risk of young adults being pushed away from legitimate opportunities.
At Chijos News, we will continue to follow this consultation because its outcome could affect how young people from Nigerian and wider African diaspora families rebuild their futures in Britain. For parents, young adults and employers, the central issue is understanding the difference between accountability for childhood offending and a lifetime of exclusion. The Government is now asking the public to help decide where that balance should lie, with responses due by 24 December 2026.
