Disclosing Criminal Convictions
Students are required to report to the University any relevant criminal conviction received whilst a Registered Student. Rule 1(c) of the Rules of Behaviour requires students to notify the University within five calendar days of the conviction. This allows the University to consider whether any further actions need to be taken, in line with section 7 of the Student Disciplinary Procedure.
A ‘relevant’ unspent criminal conviction includes a conviction for the following:
- Any kind of violence including (but not limited to) threatening behaviour, offences concerning the intention to harm, or offences which resulted in at least actual bodily harm;
- Sexual offences, including those listed in the Sexual Offences Act 2003;
- The unlawful supply of controlled drugs or substances where the conviction concerns commercial drug dealing or trafficking (drug offences only involving possession are not relevant offences);
- Offences involving firearms;
- Offences involving arson;
- Offences involving terrorism.
Convictions received outside the United Kingdom for offences of a type listed above are also considered relevant convictions.
If you have received a relevant criminal conviction, please complete the Disclosure of Convictions form.
The form will take you around 5-10 minutes to complete. The form will ask for documentation regarding the conviction. If you do not currently have some or all of the required documents, please proceed to submit the form. A member of the Office of Student Conduct, Complaints and Appeals (OSCCA) will contact you to request any outstanding documents.
Required documentation
As part of this process you are required to provide the following documents:
- Certificate of Conviction
- Pre-Sentence Report
- Sexual Harm Prevention Order / any other Court Order
- Any other relevant documentation
You would have been issued with all of this documents at your court appearance.
Obtaining documentation
If you do not have a copy of these documents, you can obtain them from your legal team (if you had one), or directly from the courts.
You are also able to obtain these documents by completing a SAR (Subject Access Request) from the probation team that handled your case. It is strongly recommended that when you complete a SAR to ask for these documents; you also ask for your full probation records to make sure that no items are missed.
A SAR can also be completed for other organisations (Police, Court Service etc) if it is required.
Please take into consideration that organisations should provide the documents within a calendar month once your identification has been verified.
When submitting a SAR, you can usually find the relevant team to send the request to via an internet search of the relevant county, probation, SAR.
Please notify OSCCA via OSCCA@admin.cam.ac.uk if you have submitted a SAR to obtain your records.
Spent/unspent convictions
You can find details about whether your conviction is considered spent here. If you are still unsure, please contact OSCCA via OSCCA@admin.cam.ac.uk for clarification.
If you have any questions, please contact the OSCCA team OSCCA@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Once you have submitted the form, an Investigator from the Office of Student Conduct, Complaints and Appeals (OSCCA) will review the information you have provided and may contact you if any additional documentation is required. You will also be given the opportunity to provide a written statement setting out any further information about the conviction, including any relevant mitigating circumstances. The Investigator will also gather any relevant information about your University studies.
The Student Discipline Officer will then consider all of the information available to determine whether any further action is required under the Student Disciplinary Procedure. If there has been a delay in reporting the conviction, the Student Discipline Officer will also consider if there has been a breach of Rule 1(c) of the Rules of Behaviour.
The Student Discipline Officer will reach one of the following decisions:
a) the criminal conviction does not require the University to take any further action; or
b) the criminal conviction or the non-reporting of the criminal conviction requires the University to take further action.
If the Student Discipline Officer determines that the criminal conviction or the non-reporting of the criminal conviction requires further action, your case will be referred to the Discipline Committee for further consideration. You will receive further information about the Discipline Committee stage of the process when you are notified of the Student Discipline Officer’s decision.
You are encouraged to speak to your College Tutor or Senior Tutor, who can offer support throughout the process. OSCCA will share the information you provide with your College Senior Tutor, to enable the Senior Tutor to offer you support and review whether any College measures are required.
Please submit the form with the information you have. If you do not have the information that you were issued with at court, please contact your legal team (if you had one), or the courts at the earliest opportunity to obtain this information. A member of the OSCCA team will then liaise with you to obtain any outstanding documents.
Please submit the Disclosure of Convictions form, and a member of the OSCCA team will contact you to confirm whether the conviction is a relevant conviction under the Student Disciplinary Procedure.
You can also contact the OSCCA team via OSCCA@admin.cam.ac.uk for advice.
Please complete the Disclosure of Convictions form as soon as possible. You can include additional information about the delay in reporting the conviction in question 9 of the form.
If you are applying for undergraduate admission, please see the guidance here: Unspent criminal convictions | Undergraduate Study.
If you are applying for postgraduate admission, please see the guidance here: Declaring previous criminal convictions | Postgraduate Study.
There are a number of places where you can receive independent support and advice regarding the University’s consideration of a conviction and the impact it may have on your University experience. Your College Tutor and Senior Tutor can provide support throughout the process.
The Student Advice Service is a team of professional independent advisors, who are familiar with the procedure and can offer guidance.
The University’s Student Support Service can offer mental health and wellbeing support.