Contractor employment prospects following potential criminal conviction

[WTFH]

Can I just check:
1. You currently have a contract
2. You are not currently convicted of anything.
3. You’re trying to work out how a future work offer (that currently doesn’t exist) might be influenced by a future conviction (that currently doesn’t exist)
Is that right?

My suggestion would be to keep working at your contract and do your best not to get convicted (or get the charge reduced). No point on stressing about a load of “what if” scenarios that do not currently exist and may not exist in the future.

[ChadGates]

Can I just check:
1. You currently have a contract
2. You are not currently convicted of anything.
3. You’re trying to work out how a future work offer (that currently doesn’t exist) might be influenced by a future conviction (that currently doesn’t exist)
Is that right?

My suggestion would be to keep working at your contract and do your best not to get convicted (or get the charge reduced). No point on stressing about a load of “what if” scenarios that do not currently exist and may not exist in the future.

I think he is trying his best not to get convicted. Ie if he can show the court his career would be catastrophically affected, maybe the court would consider that. Hence the question on any knowledge of an FS or umbrella's likely actions.

[WTFH]

I think he is trying his best not to get convicted. Ie if he can show the court his career would be catastrophically affected, maybe the court would consider that. Hence the question on any knowledge of an FS or umbrella's likely actions.

He says that he is a data analyst who uses the normal tools. That doesn’t say he must work in FS, or that he needs any kind of security clearance.
It’s his choice to limit where he works as a contractor.

If he could prove that he had qualifications/skills that meant there was nowhere else he could work, then that might be different, but he’s not telling us that. What he’s said is that he only wants to apply for contracts that require clearance.
He’s a contractor, so there’s no career progression he’s missing out on.

[northernladuk]

I think he is trying his best not to get convicted. Ie if he can show the court his career would be catastrophically affected, maybe the court would consider that. Hence the question on any knowledge of an FS or umbrella's likely actions.

If that is the case then answer is, and answers his original question, it may limit him but I should't think it will generally be an issue.

He will only have to declare it if asked, which for many standard roles they don't. So SC, anything with DBS and maybe an adhoc question for clients that need NDAs and a bit extra diligence will need to ask but it's still not a stopper. Even if he does declare it it's not likely to be a limiting factor. We really don't know but I don't think breach of the peace will affect an SC application for example. They will be looking at things that make him open to blackmail or any other type of manipulation as well has honesty type convictions. Breach of the peace doesn't mean he can't be trusted with sensitive data so doesn't necessarily mean he couldn't still get SC.

On the point of catastrophically affecting his career it will only be for a short period. The Rehabilitation of Offenders act says they can be considered spent and not (in most cases) declared after a period. For a non custodial sentence the timer will start when convicted and I believe is currently 1 year. So he might have a bumpy 12 months if I'm not right above and after that he doesn't need to declare it. So hardly catastrophic. Need to check those details though as I'm no expert in this area.

So for his day in court, unless he's willing to bend the truth this won't impact his career (and I'm sure they will know that) and won't limit his ability to get work too much in general IMO.

I'd be willing to bet that his lack of understanding of contracting will be more of an issue than his conviction.

[TheDude]

If you work in financial services you will have a background check for new roles.

Anything unspent that is dishonesty related will exclude you. I know people who have still been offered jobs despite cautions for fighting. Public disturbance/harassment is probably more of a grey area.