Job hunting with a criminal record: police vetting and the Clean Slate scheme

The Clean Slate scheme: who qualifies and what it hides

The Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004 limits the effect of old convictions. According to the Act and the Ministry of Justice, your convictions are concealed if all of these are true:

• you have not been convicted of anything for at least seven years, counted from when you were last sentenced
• you have never had a custodial sentence, such as prison
• you have never been convicted of a "specified offence" listed in section 4 of the Act, which are mostly sexual offences, many of them against children
• any fine, reparation, compensation or costs a court ordered in a criminal case are paid in full
• you have never been indefinitely disqualified from driving under section 65 of the Land Transport Act 1998
• you have never been held in hospital by a court, instead of being sentenced, because of your mental condition.

The scheme covers traffic convictions too. There is nothing to apply for. If you qualify, you are treated as having no criminal record for any question asked about it, and you can answer "no" to "Do you have any convictions?". The record is not deleted: you can still see it yourself, and a new conviction brings every earlier one back until you qualify again.

It is an offence, with a fine of up to $10,000, for anyone without lawful authority to ask you to disregard the scheme. To check where you stand, request your own criminal record from the Ministry of Justice. It is free, the Ministry checks the Clean Slate rules for you, and it says around 90% of requests are answered in less than a week.

When you must still disclose

Section 19 of the Act lists the cases where even an eligible person must give their full record. For job hunting, the ones that matter are applications for:

• a position involving New Zealand's national security
• a Judge, Justice of the Peace or Community Magistrate
• a Police employee, or a prison officer, probation officer or security officer within the corrections system
• a role mainly caring for and protecting children or young people, rather than teaching them, such as a foster parent or caregiver
• registration as a social worker, where the Social Workers Registration Board considers whether you are fit and proper.

A firearms licence application is also an exception. The Children's Act 2014 says the Clean Slate Act does not hide a conviction for one of that Act's specified offences in the safety check required for a "core worker": a children's worker who may be the only one present, or who has primary responsibility for the children. The scheme also stops at the border: a visa form from another country needs your full record.

If you do not qualify for a clean slate, the Human Rights Commission says you do not have to disclose convictions unless you are asked. An employer does have the right to ask, and can require a criminal record check before offering you a job. When you are asked, answer truthfully.

Police vetting: who can ask and what it shows

A Police vet is different from a Ministry of Justice record check, which only covers convictions. Only authorised agencies can ask for a vet, not individuals, and only for roles relating to the care and safety of children, young people or other vulnerable people, the education of children and young people, law enforcement, national security, and citizenship or visas. You have to sign a request and consent form first, and your signed consent is valid for three months.

A vet includes your criminal record, unless the Clean Slate scheme applies and no exception above does. It can also include other information that is relevant to the role and considered accurate, such as pending charges, charges without a conviction, youth court charges, involvement in family violence, overseas convictions and police investigations without charges. A diversion does not appear on your criminal record, but Police say its details may be released in a vet if they are relevant.

The agency decides whether you get the job, not Police. You are entitled to ask the agency for a copy of your vetting report, and it must give you one. On 24 September 2026, Police said the vetting service was processing most requests within 30 working days, so allow for the wait.

Talking about a conviction in an application or interview

Answer the question that is asked, and no more. If you are eligible for a clean slate, "no" is a lawful answer. If you are not, a short, factual answer works better than a long explanation: what happened, when, and what is different now.

Where you know a vet or record check is coming, raising a conviction yourself usually goes down better than letting the report break the news. The Human Rights Act 1993 does not list a criminal record among its prohibited grounds of discrimination, so an employer can weigh a conviction it is entitled to know about. What you can control is the context: a referee who knows your work now is often the strongest answer, and our guide to references and referees covers choosing and briefing them. In jobtracker.co.nz, the notes on each saved job are a private place to keep the answer you gave that employer, so your story stays the same at every stage.

Where to get help

• Community Law centres around the country give free initial legal advice, including on whether the Clean Slate scheme applies to you.
• The Ministry of Justice sends you your own record for free.
• PARS, the Prisoners' Aid and Rehabilitation societies, work with people who have been in the criminal justice system, including on finding work.
• Work and Income has support for people leaving or who have left prison.
• A lawyer, if you think a conviction could be disregarded, for example because the offence has since been abolished.

Otherwise the search works like anyone else's. Our guide to getting a job in New Zealand covers where to look and how to apply. You can see how applications, dates and notes sit together in the demo, which needs no account.

Keep the whole search in one place