I'm applying for a job. How serious does a conviction have to be before I declare it on my application form?

I'm applying for a job. How serious does a conviction have to be before I declare it on my application form?

Whether you indicate you have had convictions on an application form depends on whether you are eligible to be “clean slated” under the Criminal Records (Clean Slate ) Act 2004. This Act allows you to conceal your convictions if you meet all of the following conditions:

  • No convictions within the last seven years
  • Never been sentenced to a custodial sentence e.g. imprisonment
  • Corrective Training, borstal
  • Never been ordered by a Court following a criminal case to be detained in a hospital due to your mental condition, instead of being sentenced
  • Not been convicted of a “specified offence” (e.g. sexual offending against children and young people or the mentally impaired)
  • Paid in full any fine, reparation, or costs ordered by the Court in a criminal case
  • Never been indefinitely disqualified from driving.

For more information visit the Ministry of Justice website’s section about criminal records.