There is a lot of confusion about driving offences and DBS check, and in most cases issues such as speeding or getting a parking ticket are not criminal matters and will never appear on your DBS check as long as you pay the fine when it is issued. However, as drink driving is a criminal offence, it will appear on your DBS certificate as any other criminal matter will. However, whether a conviction for drink driving will appear on a DBS certificate depends on your age at which the offence was committed and how long ago it occurred. Over time, the importance of any conviction lessens, and it becomes less likely to appear on a DBS certificate.
Spent Convictions & Cautions
If a conviction is spent, it won’t be disclosed on Basic DBS certificates, whatever the matter involved might be. Some of the most serious offences which resulted in a lengthy period of jail time will never be considered spent. Convictions which are spent may be disclosed on Standard and Enhanced DBS certificates, but employers will be able to see that it is classed as spent. In most situations, employers are not allowed to ask about any spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
Employers are only permitted to ask about spent convictions or cautions when the role requires a Standard or Enhanced DBS check. They are allowed to consider spent convictions during the recruitment process in these cases. However, unless the conviction is directly related to the role, many employers will not let spent convictions affect their hiring decisions.
Filtered Convictions & Cautions
If a conviction or caution is filtered, it won’t appear on any DBS certificates. Filtering is the process by which the police look at someone’s entire criminal record and decide what to reveal about someone’s past. It is not automatic that the DBS will reveal all criminal convictions and cautions on someone’s record, there is a process of deciding what to include, and what to disregard. The further in the past the conviction or caution happened, the less likely that the Police will decide that the matter is relevant.
For example, if you were convicted of drink driving under the age of 18, the conviction will be filtered (no longer appear on your DBS certificate) 5.5 years from the date of sentencing. On Enhanced DBS checks, police can choose to disclose additional information even if it has been filtered out. A filtered drink-driving conviction could, for example, still appear on Enhanced DBS checks if the role involves driving as this would be deemed relevant.
Driving Licence Checks and Driving Convictions
People who drive professionally for a living, or who have access to a company car often also have regular driving licence checks to make sure they are fit to drive and to comply with insurance. Any sort of driving matter, such as getting points on your licence for speeding, has to be reported to your employer to keep insurance correct.
