Criminal Convictions
Criminal Records Bureau Disclosures
A number of our courses, including teacher training and some health profession programmes, involve regular access to children and/or vulnerable adults, also known as regulated activity. If you wish to study these courses, you will need to obtain a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Disclosure as a condition of your enrolment.
If you need a CRB Disclosure for a course you will be enrolled upon before 1 November 2010, you will need to apply to the CRB via the University.
Further information regarding the Criminal Records Bureau the Independent Safeguarding Authority is also available on their websites.
Criminal conviction disclosures for courses not covered by CRB Disclosures
For entry to courses which do not require CRB Disclosures, we need to know about any relevant, unspent criminal convictions that you hold. If you have such a conviction, please select ‘Yes’ on your application form. This does not automatically exclude you from being considered for a place at Birmingham City University.
What does ‘spent’ mean?
If a person does not re-offend during their rehabilitation period, their conviction becomes 'spent' (as defined by The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974). Convictions that are spent are not considered to be relevant and you should not reveal them. You should note that certain offences are never spent.
What is a relevant criminal conviction?
Relevant criminal offences include convictions, cautions, admonitions, reprimands, final warnings, bind-over orders or similar involving one or more of the following:
- Any kind of violence including (but not limited to) threatening behaviour, offences concerning the intention to harm or offences which resulted in actual bodily harm
- Offences listed in the Sex Offences Act 2003
- The unlawful supply of controlled drugs or substances where the conviction concerns commercial drug dealing or trafficking
- Offences involving firearms
- Offences involving arson
- Offences listed in the Terrorism Act 2006
If your conviction involved an offence similar to those set out above, but was made by a court outside of Great Britain, and that conviction would not be considered as spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, you should select ‘Yes’ on your application form.
Warnings, penalty notices for disorder (PNDs), anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) or violent offender orders (VOOs) are not classed as convictions for the purpose of your application, unless you have contested a PND or breached the terms of an ASBO or VOO and this has resulted in a criminal conviction.
How will the University handle my application if I declare a relevant criminal conviction?
The information concerning criminal convictions will be passed to appointed persons at the University who will consider your application separately from your academic and achievement merits. During this consideration, we may ask you to provide further information about your conviction. If we are satisfied, your application will proceed in the normal way, although we may add certain conditions to any offer we may make. Otherwise we will notify you of our decision.
Failure to declare a relevant criminal conviction may result in expulsion from the University. All information concerning criminal convictions will be treated sensitively, confidentially and managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
What if I receive a relevant criminal conviction after I have applied?
If you are convicted of a relevant criminal offence after you have applied, you must notify us in writing. Please email Nigel Clayton.