Remove a historical conviction for sexual activity between men

What happens next

If your application is not eligible to be disregarded you will receive a letter to that effect.

In all other cases you will receive an acknowledgement that your application has been received and is being processed.

In order to process your application, we may contact relevant record keepers (for example, Police Scotland; the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service; and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service) and request them to review their records and provide us with copies of any relevant documents to enable a decision to be made.

Where an application raises complex issues, or where the available evidence is unclear or contradictory, it may be passed to specially appointed adviser(s) who will consider the application carefully and advise or assist the us on the determination of your application. 

Once the Scottish Ministers have made a decision, you will be informed of the outcome.

If your application is successful, we will write to the relevant record keepers, for example Police Scotland or the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, and require them to delete, or where appropriate, redact (block out so they cannot be read) or annotate their records containing reference to the disregarded conviction.

Where records are annotated, this means recording with the details of the conviction the fact that it is a disregarded conviction (i.e. that it should never be disclosed), and the effect of it being a disregarded conviction Each record keeper will write to you to confirm that this has been done.

Effect of a disregard

Once the Scottish Ministers have given notice that a conviction has been disregarded and when a period of 14 days from issue of the notice has passed, a successful applicant will be treated in all circumstances as though the offence had never occurred and need not disclose it for any purpose, for example, job applications or during any court or tribunal proceedings.

If you disagree with the decision of the Scottish Ministers

If you disagree with the decision reached by the Scottish Ministers you should contact us to have your application reviewed.

You can:

• email: section5applications@gov.scot or
• write to: Criminal law and practice team, Area GW.14, St Andrews House, Regent Road, Edinbugh, EH1 3DG

It would be helpful if you could make clear the grounds on which you think an error has been made in deciding your application.  If you have additional information about the case that you did not submit with your application, please provide this when requesting that your application is reviewed.

If, having done so, you consider that the decision reached in relation to your application is wrong on the basis of the information you have provided, you have the right to seek permission from the Sheriff to appeal to the Sheriff Court.