If you have received a police caution, we are experts in police caution removal.

If you have received a police caution, we are experts in police caution removal.

We are a dedicated legal practice focusing on the deletion of police records held on the Police National Computer (PNC). We are also expert in challenging DBS certificates and barring applications, disciplinary proceedings, and associated Data Protection issues; such as applying for the deletion of local police records, and resisting police disclosures to regulatory bodies under their common law disclosure powers.

Can a caution ever be removed?

If you have received a police caution, and it is causing you issues, it is possible to apply to the police for police caution removal.

If you have applied for police caution removal and the police have refused to delete your caution you can appeal your police caution removal case to the High Court.

It is preferable in any police caution removal case to persuade the police to remove your police caution, rather than resorting to the Court for removal of your police caution.

Will a caution show on a basic disclosure?

A simple police caution will not show up on a basic DBS certificate, and so if you only ever need a basic DBS certificate, a police caution may not cause you any issues, and you may not need to apply for police caution removal. The only exception to this is if you have received a conditional police caution, in which case your police caution will be revealed on a Basic DBS check for the length of the conditions, up to a maximum of three months.

How does a police caution affect you?

A police caution, both simple and conditional, can cause some difficulties in a number of ways.

A police caution can impact employment, foreign travel, volunteering, and also adopting/fostering.

When a police caution causes a problem, you can apply for police caution removal.

How long until a caution is spent UK?

There is a lot of confusion over when a police caution is spent, filtered or protected.

A caution is “spent” immediately for the purposes of a basic DBS check, save for a conditional caution (as detailed above).

A caution is “protected” after 6 years, unless the offence appears on the DBS’s list of non-filterable offences. Once it is protected, it will become “filtered” from a standard and enhanced DBS certificate.

If your caution is not protected, and it is causing you an issue, you can apply to the police for police caution removal – if the police refused to delete your caution, you can appeal your case to the High Court.

How do you know if you have a police caution?

If you have received a police caution, this will usually be fairly obvious, the police would have formally explained this to you, and asked you to sign a police caution form which explains all the implications of accepting a police caution.

If however you are unsure if you have a police caution, you can check the Police National Computer (PNC), which has a complete record of someone’s cautions, convictions and arrests. The PNC is the database where the police pull the information from to disclose on a DBS certificate.

If your PNC check is clear, then you do not have a caution. We have, very rarely, had clients where cautions have been issued, but the police have not inputted the cautions onto the PNC – this meant the cautions did not show up on the clients’ DBS checks. Usually the police do correctly record cautions onto the PNC. Once a caution is recorded onto the PNC it will remain there until a data subject reaches 100 years of age; you can however apply for police caution removal.

How to challenge a police caution

Challenging a police caution will depend on the facts of the case, in some cases the evidence may very clearly show that the police have made a mistake.

If the mistake is very obvious, it will be a matter of presenting the facts to the police for removal of a police caution.

In other cases, where the grounds for deletion are less clear, you may still be able to persuade the police to delete your police caution.

If the police review your police caution removal application and they refuse to delete it, you can appeal their decision. Often this will mean a more senior officer reviewing your case. If they refuse to accept your appeal, or reject the basis of your appeal, you can then appeal your police caution removal case to the High Court via judicial review proceedings.

Police Caution Removal Solicitor

If you have received a police caution, then please get in touch.

We have successfully applied for the deletion of hundreds of police records, and we are the leading legal practice specialising in all matters related to criminal records, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and disciplinary proceedings.

If you feel you were unfairly pressed into accepting a police caution, perhaps being told it was a “slap on the wrists”, or were misled about its implications, or simply you feel that the police caution is unfair and disproportionate, you may have grounds to successfully argue for police caution removal.

Please get in touch to arrange a consultation with our expert police caution removal solicitor.

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