Childhood Criminal Records: What Ending Lifelong Disclosure Would Mean

On 12 November 2026 the Ministry of Justice opened a consultation on reforming childhood criminal records disclosure in England and Wales. If the proposals become law, some convictions received before the age of 18 would stop appearing on standard and enhanced DBS checks after a fixed period, instead of being disclosed for life.

The proposals change what appears on a certificate, not what the police keep. They would not reach the most serious offences, and none of them is law yet. This guide explains what is proposed, what would stay the same, when it might happen, and what can be done about a childhood record in the meantime.

How Childhood Records Are Disclosed Now

A basic DBS check shows only unspent convictions and cautions. Standard and enhanced checks are required for work such as teaching, healthcare, social work and taxi driving. They also show spent convictions, unless the filtering rules remove them. Our guide on what can show on an Enhanced DBS check explains the system in full.

A conviction received under 18 is filtered from a standard or enhanced certificate after 5.5 years, with two exceptions. A conviction that led to a custodial sentence is never filtered. Nor is a conviction for an offence on the specified offences list, which contains more than 900 offences and applies to adults and children alike.

A single conviction at 15 or 16 can therefore be disclosed for the rest of a person’s life. According to the consultation, 43,767 standard and enhanced certificates issued between November 2023 and April 2026 disclosed an offence from childhood. Most of them, 31,856, included an offence on the specified list. Around three quarters of the offences disclosed were more than 20 years old, and the oldest dated from 1947.

Youth cautions, reprimands and warnings are already treated differently. Since 2020 they have not been disclosed automatically on standard or enhanced checks.

What the Government Is Proposing

The consultation sets out five proposals, all limited to records received under the age of 18. The two most significant apply to standard and enhanced DBS checks. The other three mainly affect basic checks.

Changes to Standard and Enhanced Checks

These two proposals would change what appears on a standard or enhanced certificate. Those are the checks used for work with children and vulnerable adults and for many regulated professions.

• A shorter list of offences that are always disclosed. Five offences would come off the specified list for childhood convictions: robbery, affray, violent disorder, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and supplying a controlled drug to a child under 16. A childhood conviction for one of these that did not lead to custody would be filtered from standard and enhanced checks after 5.5 years, like any other.
• An end to lifelong disclosure for shorter custodial sentences. A childhood conviction that led to a custodial sentence of two years or less would be filtered from standard and enhanced checks after 11 years, provided the offence is not on the specified list. Two years is the longest sentence a youth court can pass.

The consultation gives the example of a 17-year-old convicted of robbery. With a community sentence, the conviction would come off standard and enhanced checks after 5.5 years. With an 18-month custodial sentence, it would come off after 11 years. At present both are disclosed on those checks for life.

Changes to Basic Checks

The remaining three proposals mainly affect basic checks, which show only records that are not yet spent.

• Shorter disclosure of fines. A fine imposed on a child currently appears on a basic check for six months. That would fall to three months, or the fine would be treated as spent immediately. The consultation does not say that the 5.5-year period on standard and enhanced checks would change.
• No automatic disclosure of out-of-court resolutions. At present a youth conditional caution is disclosed on basic, standard and enhanced checks until it is spent, which is usually three months. Under the proposal, no childhood out-of-court resolution would be disclosed automatically on any type of check.
• A change to the rule on further convictions. Under the current law, a second conviction before the first is spent keeps both unspent, and so on a basic check, until the longer period ends. That rule would no longer apply where the second conviction is also received as a child. A further conviction as an adult would still extend the period.

What Would Not Change

The record itself. The proposals deal with disclosure, not retention. A conviction or caution received as a child stays on the Police National Computer until the person reaches 100 years of age, and the consultation does not propose to change that. Filtering takes an entry off a certificate without removing it from police systems.

Police information on enhanced checks. On an enhanced check, the police can add information from their own records where they consider it relevant to the role. The consultation describes that power and leaves it as it is. Our guide to relevant police information on an Enhanced DBS check explains how it works.

The most serious offences. Convictions for sexual, terrorism-related and serious violent offences would stay on the specified list and would still be disclosed for life. So would any childhood conviction that led to more than two years in custody.

Convictions at 18 or over. The dividing line is the person’s age on the date of conviction, not the date of the offence. Someone who offended at 17 but was convicted after turning 18 is treated as an adult, and the adult rules are not part of this consultation. The government says it is reviewing whether more can be done on this point.

The barring lists. The consultation makes no change to the DBS barring scheme.

Checks outside the DBS system. Visa applications, police certificates for emigration and security vetting have their own rules, and many of them ask about matters that would never appear on a DBS certificate.

When Would the Changes Take Effect?

No date has been set. The consultation closes on 24 December 2026, after which the government has to publish its response and bring forward legislation. The consultation says only that this will happen “when parliamentary time allows”.

The consultation also does not say in terms whether the new rules would apply to convictions that already exist. The figures it relies on are about adults whose certificates still show offences from decades ago, and earlier changes to the filtering rules, in 2013 and 2020, applied to existing records. That point will need to be confirmed when the legislation is published.

Until the law changes, every DBS check is carried out under the current rules. A job offer, a university placement or a professional registration that depends on a check this year or next will be decided on the law as it stands.

What You Can Do About a Childhood Record Now

A conviction imposed by a court cannot normally be removed from the Police National Computer. For a childhood conviction, the questions that matter now are whether it is disclosed under the current rules, whether it has to be declared when an employer asks, and how to respond if it is. The rules are detailed and easy to get wrong.

Youth cautions, reprimands and warnings are in a different position. They are no longer disclosed automatically on DBS certificates, but they remain on the Police National Computer and can still matter for travel, vetting and police disclosure. In some circumstances they can be deleted altogether, as in a case where we removed a youth caution before it affected the client’s plans overseas. The same is true of arrests and investigations from childhood that never led to a conviction, and of the local police records behind them.

Where the police have disclosed information about a childhood matter on an enhanced certificate, or have said that they intend to, that decision can be challenged.

How Legisia Can Help

We advise people with childhood records on what will appear on a check under the rules as they stand, and on what can be done about it. We prepare applications to delete youth cautions, reprimands, warnings and arrest records, and we challenge the disclosure of police information on enhanced certificates. Our Police Caution Removal and Enhanced DBS Certificate Appeals services cover that work.

If you are waiting for the law to change, it is worth finding out first whether your record is one the proposals would reach, and whether there is a route open to you already.

We offer a fixed-fee initial consultation where we will assess your position in detail and provide clear written advice on your options.

To discuss your situation, contact us or call 020 8099 9051.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will childhood convictions be wiped from my record under the proposals?

No. The proposals are about what is disclosed on DBS certificates, not what the police keep. A conviction or caution received as a child stays on the Police National Computer until the person reaches 100 years of age, and the consultation does not propose to change that.

Which childhood convictions would stop being disclosed for life?

Childhood convictions for robbery, affray, violent disorder, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and supplying a controlled drug to a child under 16 would be filtered from standard and enhanced checks after 5.5 years where there was no custodial sentence. Childhood convictions that led to custody of two years or less would be filtered after 11 years, provided the offence is not on the specified list. Sexual, terrorism-related and serious violent offences would still be disclosed for life.

When will the changes to childhood criminal records come into force?

No date has been set. The consultation closes on 24 December 2026. The government then has to publish its response and bring forward legislation, which it says will happen when parliamentary time allows. Until the law changes, every DBS check is carried out under the current rules.

Do the proposals apply if I offended at 17 but was convicted as an adult?

No. The rules turn on your age on the date of conviction, not the date of the offence. A person who offended at 17 but was convicted after turning 18 is treated as an adult, and the adult rules are not part of this consultation. The government says it is reviewing whether more can be done on this point.

Can a youth caution, reprimand or warning be deleted?

In some circumstances, yes. Youth cautions, reprimands and warnings are no longer disclosed automatically on DBS certificates, but they remain on the Police National Computer and can still matter for travel, vetting and police disclosure. Whether deletion is possible depends on the facts of the individual case.