Business insurance with criminal convictions: what you must declare
Spent and unspent: the line that decides everything
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 exists so that a conviction does not follow a person forever. After a rehabilitation period — a length of time set by the sentence, not the offence — most convictions become spent. The Act’s general position for insurance is straightforward: a question about convictions is treated as not extending to spent ones, you are not obliged to disclose a spent conviction, and an insurer cannot refuse cover or otherwise prejudice you because of one, or because you did not disclose it.
Until that period has run, the conviction is unspent — and an unspent conviction is a material fact for insurers. This page deals with the general position; rehabilitation periods have changed over the years and depend on the sentence received, and some sentences never become spent at all. If you are not certain whether a conviction is spent, confirm it before you complete any proposal — gov.uk’s guidance on the Act and criminal records advice charities can help you check.
Why unspent convictions must be declared
Under the Insurance Act 2015, a business proposing for insurance owes the insurer a fair presentation of the risk — disclosure of what a prudent insurer would want to know, answered honestly. Unspent convictions of the people behind a business sit squarely inside that duty, and commercial proposals ask about them directly. This is not really about the offence; it is about honesty as the foundation of the contract. An insurer that discovers an undisclosed unspent conviction has not learned that you once broke the law — it has learned that the presentation it priced was not true.
Answer the question that is actually asked
Insurers do not all ask the same question, and the differences matter. Some ask about convictions of directors and partners; some extend to other managers or anyone with an interest in the insurance. Some ask about “any unspent convictions”; others frame the question around particular kinds of offence. Some ask about prosecutions pending as well as convictions past.
The rule is the same in every case: read the exact wording, and answer what is asked — fully, honestly, for every person the question covers. If the wording is ambiguous, or you are unsure whether a caution, a fixed penalty or an old offence is caught by it, raise it with your broker before the form goes in. “I wasn’t sure, so I said nothing” is the one answer that never ends well.
Specialist markets exist
A declared unspent conviction will take you outside the rules of many automated quote systems — which, as with any declined risk, says little about the wider market. There are insurers prepared to consider convicted risks on their individual merits: what the offence was, how long ago, what the sentence was, its relevance to the cover being sought, and what has happened since. We can approach those markets on your behalf. As always, no honest broker promises an outcome — but a conviction presented with context and evidence of a changed position is a risk underwriters can actually assess, rather than a tick in a box they can only refuse.
How a broker presents a convicted risk
The presentation states the conviction plainly — offence, date, sentence, when it becomes or became spent — then surrounds it with the context an underwriter needs: the business as it runs today, the person’s role in it, references or evidence of rehabilitation where they exist, and the rest of the risk on its ordinary merits. It goes to insurers selected because they consider this kind of history, the way we describe in how brokers place hard risks. The conviction is one fact about the risk; the job is to stop it being treated as the only fact.
The cost of non-disclosure
It needs saying once, without softening: we will never advise anyone to withhold an unspent conviction, and you should walk away from anyone who does. The downside is not a loaded premium — it is voidance: the policy treated as if it never existed, claims unpaid, premiums potentially retained, and a voidance now sitting on your record that must itself be declared on every future proposal that asks. Businesses recover from declared convictions. Recovering from a voidance is a far longer road. Declare, present it properly, and let the market do its job.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to declare a spent conviction to insurers?
As a general position under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, no. Once a conviction is spent, questions about convictions are treated as not extending to it, and an insurer cannot refuse cover or prejudice you for not disclosing it. Check that the conviction genuinely is spent before relying on this — rehabilitation periods depend on the sentence, and some sentences never become spent. Gov.uk’s guidance on the Act, or a criminal records advice charity, can help you confirm the position.
What happens if I don’t declare an unspent conviction?
An unspent conviction is a material fact. If the insurer asked and the answer was untrue or incomplete, the policy can be voided — treated as never having existed — claims can go unpaid, and the voidance itself becomes a fact you must declare on future proposals. Non-disclosure converts a placeable problem into a much worse one. Whatever the conviction is, declaring it honestly is the only route we will ever advise.
Whose convictions count for a business policy?
It depends on the question wording, which differs between insurers. Proposals commonly ask about directors and partners; some extend to other officers, members of the household for home-based risks, or anyone with an interest in the policy. Read the exact wording, answer it for exactly the people it names, and if you are unsure whether someone is caught by it, ask — guessing in either direction creates risk.
Can I actually get business insurance with an unspent conviction?
Cover is not automatically out of reach. A declared unspent conviction takes you outside many automated quote systems, but the market is wider than its quote engines, and there are insurers who will consider convicted risks on their merits — looking at the offence, how long ago it was, the sentence, and what has changed since. We can approach those markets on your behalf; no broker can promise terms, but a properly presented risk gets a genuine hearing.
Does a conviction against the company itself need declaring?
If a proposal asks about prosecutions or convictions of the business — and many commercial proposals ask about matters such as health and safety or environmental prosecutions — answer what is asked, fully and honestly. The same fair-presentation duty applies to the company’s own history as to its directors’. If you are unsure how a past prosecution fits a question’s wording, tell your broker before the form is submitted, not after.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This page is general information, not advice on a specific policy.