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The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019
This instrument amends the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979 (“the 1979 Order”) to give effect to changes to a criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ that allows some old and minor spent convictions to be ‘filtered, so that they are no longer disclosed and cannot be taken into account in employment decisions in certain circumstances. The 1978 Order makes it possible for certain convictions to become “spent”, which means that after a specified period a person can be treated for certain purposes as if the conviction had never happened and they need not, for example, tell an employer about the conviction when applying for a job.
To ensure that the public is adequately protected, however, certain exceptions to the 1978 Order are set out in the 1979 Order so that, for specified professions and occupations that typically involve a high degree of trust and often involve vulnerable persons, applicants must declare all past convictions when asked. The 1979 Order is amended periodically to ensure that the access to the criminal record disclosure regime keeps pace with changes in public risk; to ensure that disclosure regimes remain consistent across jurisdictions where appropriate; and to maintain the public trust and protection process.
This Order, the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2019 (“the 2019 Order”), stems from a Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that elements of the criminal record ‘filtering scheme’ operated by the Department of Justice were disproportionate. The ‘filtering scheme’ was established in 2014 following a review of the criminal records regime in Northern Ireland that was carried out by Sunita Mason during 2011, which recommended that the Department of Justice should filter old and minor convictions from standard and enhanced criminal record certificates; and to take account of the findings of two court cases concerning the disclosure of criminal record material at that time.
The terms of the scheme are that a conviction can be filtered after a period of 11 years (or 5.5 years for those under 18 at the time of the conviction), so long as the conviction was not for a specified offence as listed in the 1979 Order (e.g. serious violent and sexual offences; or offences of specific relevance for posts concerned with safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; etc.); did not attract a custodial sentence; and if there is no other conviction on the individual’s record.
The Supreme Court found that limiting the filtering scheme to a single offence, with the result that more than one old and minor conviction would be disclosed automatically, was disproportionate. The Department has, therefore, adjusted the terms of the scheme to allow more than one offence to be filtered in order to comply with the judgment.
The 2019 Order gives effect to this change by amending the 1979 Order to remove Article 1A(2)(c), which restricted the terms of the filtering scheme to a single conviction. The Department is satisfied that public protection is maintained, however, as the remaining elements of the filtering scheme will continue to ensure that there is no increased risk to the public as a result of this change.
No. 183 Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2002
This Order makes amendments to the Act of the same name (2000) by including NI public authorities to Schedule 1 and the impact on officers of such authorities.
The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023
These Regulations revoke and re-enact the provisions of the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023. These Regulations make amendments to secondary legislation which make provision for entitlements to bereavement leave and pay for parents following the death of a child. More here:
No 42 The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2020
This Order increases, from 6th April 2020, the limits applying to certain awards of industrial tribunals, the Fair Employment Tribunal or Labour Relations Agency statutory arbitration. Examples of these rates include the maximum amount of “a week’s pay” for the purpose of calculating a redundancy payment or various awards, including the basic or additional award of compensation for unfair dismissal is now £560. The limit on amount of guarantee payment payable to an employee in respect of any day is now £30.00. The other rates can be found in the Schedule to the Order.
No 88 The Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (Application of Parts 12ZA and 12ZB to Adoptions from Overseas) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations amend the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (Application of Parts 12ZA and 12ZB to Adoptions from Overseas) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.
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No.47 The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2008
This Order, increases as of 2/3/08, the limits applying to certain awards of Industrial Tribunals, and other amounts payable under employment legislation.
421 The Disability Discrimination (Meaning of Disability) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations provide for the established definition of a disability for the purposes of the 1995 Act, that is, a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on the person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
No 90 The Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (Application of Parts 12ZA, 12ZB and 12ZC to Parental Order Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations modify requirements in the 1992 Act to provide that an employee who has a baby with the help of a surrogate and is a parental order parent may be entitled to statutory adoption pay, statutory paternity pay or statutory shared parental pay if they meet the eligibility requirements.
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