Criminal conviction process guide

What happens when you declare an Unspent Criminal Conviction

First and foremost your offer is based on your academic profile.

Subsequently, if a criminal conviction/caution is declared, after your offer, we will write to you via email requesting further information. Further information could be in the form of a written personal statement from you explaining the details of the offence(s) and the circumstances around them, consent from you to contact your Probation or Support Officer (if applicable) for a detailed report or risk assessment and a relevant character reference.

What happens when we receive your information

The information you provide on your criminal record will be received by the appointed Admissions Officer for independent review.

If the information provide is not sufficient you will be contacted by the officer, directly, for further information.

If you declare any spent criminal conviction(s)/caution(s), under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, no further action will be required and your application will progress as normal.

If you declare any unspent criminal conviction(s)/caution(s), under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, an initial assessment will be made by the Officer to determine the seriousness of the offence. Taking into account the nature of the offence, the context of the circumstances, when it occurred, type of sentence and course applied for. If it is not deemed as serious the officer will use their discretion to allow the application to progress as normal, with no further action needed.

If you declare any unspent criminal conviction(s)/caution(s), under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, an initial assessment will be made by the Officer deems it to be serious your case will be referred to the University’s Criminal Conviction Panel.

University Criminal Conviction Panel Process

The Admissions Officer will take your case forward on your behalf to the University’s Criminal Conviction Panel. All cases forwarded to the panel for consideration are anonymised and therefore all documents received by the Admissions Officer will be redacted to remove any personal detail so that you cannot be identified. After each panel, all documentation is permanently destroyed by panel members and only relevant information is kept securely within the admissions office in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

The panel is made up of senior representatives of the university from the Executive (Chair), Accommodation, Estates, Student Well-Being Services as well as a university academic, further education representative and Admissions for secretarial support.

Using the information provided the panel will assess your non-academic suitability for a place on the course, taking into account:

In making a decision the panel will assess the risk to other students, staff and University property. The panel may decide that:

Following the panel decision you will be contacted by the Admissions Officer with the outcome.