Three claimants appealed against refusal of declarations that the response of the police to requests for Criminal Records Bureau enhanced checks, were a disproportionate interference in their right to private and family life, and in particular that the disclosure of old convictions infringed their human rights.
Held: The appeals succeeded. The statutory system which required undicriminaig disclosure of all convictions and all cautions for recordable offences was disproportionate both to (i) the general aim of protecting employers and, in particular, children and vulnerable adults in their care, and (ii) the particular aim of enabling employers to make an assessment as to whether the individual was suitable for a particular kind of work.
Lord Dyson MR, Richards, Davis LJJ
[2013] EWCA Civ 25, [2013] WLR(D) 33, [2013] 1 WLR 2515, [2013] HRLR 14, [2013] 1 Cr App R 27, [2013] 2 All ER 813
Bailii, Judiciary, WLRD
Police Act 1997, Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, European Convention on Human Rights 8, Human Rights Act 1998 4
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Sidabras and Dziautas v Lithuania ECHR 27-Jul-2004
Former KGB officers had been banned from employment in a range of public and private sector jobs, including as lawyers, notaries, bank employees and in the teaching profession. They complained of infringement of Article 8 taken alone and also in . .
Cited – Chief Constable of Humberside Police and Others v The Information Commissioner and Another CA 19-Oct-2009
Complaints had been made that the police were not deleting from their criminal records very old records of minor convictions. The police appealed against a finding that they should do so under Data Protection Principles. The Police had used a policy . .
Cited – JF and Another, Regina (On the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 23-Jul-2009
The claimants complained of the system under which they had been placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely with no ability to have the registration reviewed. They said that this interfered with their right to respect for their private and . .
Cited – Animal Defenders International, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport HL 12-Mar-2008
The applicant, a non-profit company who campaigned against animal cruelty, sought a declaration of incompatibility for section 321(2) of the 2003 Act, which prevented adverts with political purposes, as an unjustified restraint on the right of . .
Cited – Meakin v British Broadcasting Corporation and Others ChD 27-Jul-2010
The claimant alleged that the proposal for a game show submitted by him had been used by the various defendants. He alleged breaches of copyright and of confidence. Application was now made to strike out the claim. . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – T and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department and Another SC 18-Jun-2014
T and JB, asserted that the reference in certificates issued by the state to cautions given to them violated their right to respect for their private life under article 8 of the Convention. T further claims that the obligation cast upon him to . .
Cited – Gallagher for Judicial Review (NI) SC 30-Jan-2019
Each appellant complained of the disclosure by the respondent of very old and minor offences to potential employers, destroying prospects of finding work. Two statutory schemes were challenged, raising two separate questions, namely whether any . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Police, Human Rights
Updated: 09 January 2022; Ref: scu.470622