Check if you need to tell someone about your criminal record
Cautions
A caution is an official warning from the police.
It could be a:
- simple caution if you’re 18 or over
- youth caution if you’re under 18
- conditional caution
Whether a caution is ‘spent’ affects what information you need to give a potential employer, university or college.
When simple and youth cautions become spent
They become spent straight away.
When a conditional caution becomes spent
It becomes spent either:
- on the date the conditions end
- 3 months after you got it, if the conditions have no end date