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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.
The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022
Additional legislation amending subordinate legislation for the provision of parental bereavement leave and pay in Northern Ireland
No 92 The Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (Parental Orders and Prospective Adopters) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations modify and amend the Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (“the 2002 Pay Regulations”) so that those regulations extend coverage to groups of people.
159 The Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Maternity Pay (Decisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999
These Regulations provide for the determination of issues, such as submission to Board of Inland Revenue, in the context of Statutory Sick and Statutory Maternity Pay.
No 65 The Statutory Sick Pay (Maintenance of Records)(Revocation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014
These Regulations come into effect from 6/4/14 and effectively they revoke Regulation 13 of the old 1982 Regulations regarding the keeping of records concerning the payment of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) to be retained by employers.
No 146 The Shared Parental Leave and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015
This Order makes consequential amendments arising from Part 2 of the Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015. Part 2 makes provision for new entitlements to shared parental leave and statutory shared parental pay and abolishes additional paternity leave and additional statutory paternity pay.
206 The Statutory Maternity Pay (General) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996
These Regulations amend the 1987 Regulations of the same name and address issues such as: calculation of normal weekly sum to incorporate backdated pay increases received after that date, employer liability to pay amounts in excess of rate of maternity allowance received and so on.
No 54 The Statutory Sick Pay (Coronavirus) (Suspension of Waiting Days and General Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020
These Regulations suspend the limitation, set out in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act (Northern Ireland) 1992, that Statutory Sick Pay is not payable for the first three qualifying days in a period of entitlement. They also amend the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982 to specify when a person is isolating by reason of coronavirus is deemed to be incapable of work.
No 133 The Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016
These Regulations amend the Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 and the Statutory Shared Parental Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015.
No 150 The Statutory Maternity Pay (Curtailment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015
These Regulations, from the operational date of 15/3/15, allow eligible women to curtail their statutory maternity pay in accordance with section 161(3A) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 in order to enable them to take statutory shared parental pay in accordance with section 167ZU of the 1992 Act.