To help those with lesser offences, Rehabilitation of
Offenders Act 1974 enables criminal convictions to become spent or
ignored after a specific period of time. Prison sentences exceeding
2.5 years (30 months) never become spent convictions. We are
legally barred from including a spent conviction as reason for
refusal of a WOWGR registration. The various periods, where a
conviction can be considered ‘spent’, are listed
below:
| Sentence | Rehabilitation period for people aged 17 or under when convicted | Rehabilitation period for people aged 18 or over when convicted |
| Prison sentences of 6 months or less | 3.5 Years | 7 Years |
| Prison sentences of 6 months to 2.5 years | 5 Years | 10 Years |
| Borstal | 7 Years | 7 Years |
| Fines, compensation, probation, community service, combination, action plan, drug treatment and testing and preparation orders | 2.5 Years | 5 Years |
| Absolute discharge | 6 months | 6 months |
