From 21 January 2026, England and Wales bring four new areas into the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) Exceptions Order: self‑employed or “personal employees” doing regulated work with children or vulnerable adults; staff delivering electronic monitoring and field services under Ministry of Justice contracts; registered health care professionals engaged by the Department for Work and Pensions and its contractors; and London pedicab driver licences. The instrument took effect following approval in both Houses. (hansard.parliament.uk)

For employers in the DWP health assessment supply chain, this means registered healthcare professionals-such as doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists as defined in section 39(1) of the Social Security Act 1998-can now be asked about relevant spent convictions as part of lawful pre‑employment checks. DWP’s assessment service is delivered by contracted providers across regions, and around two million assessments are carried out each year, so standardised vetting at scale matters. (legislation.gov.uk)

Electronic monitoring contractors are also in scope. These teams install and remove tags, run monitoring centres and report breaches; the caseload has grown from 20,084 in March 2024 to 26,647 by September 2025. With Serco taking over the MoJ’s national electronic monitoring service from May 2024, the Order allows providers to consider certain spent convictions to reduce corruption risk in sensitive roles. (data.justice.gov.uk)

The Order closes a long‑criticised gap for families and individuals who directly hire care or support workers. If a role counts as “regulated activity” with children or vulnerable adults-categories already set out in the 1975 Exceptions Order at paragraphs 12A, 14A and 14AA-private hirers can now lawfully ask about some spent convictions when deciding who to engage. Ministers described a “personal employee” as someone hired by a private individual to provide domestic or personal services in the home. (legislation.gov.uk)

Transport for London’s forthcoming pedicab licensing regime under the Pedicabs (London) Act 2024 also gets an explicit disclosure route. By adding pedicab driver licences to the list of excepted licences, authorities can take certain spent cautions and convictions into account when deciding if someone is fit to hold a licence, reflecting the push for tighter standards on London’s roads. (legislation.gov.uk)

What you can ask now is still bounded by DBS law. For eligible roles, employers should update application forms to DBS wording so candidates only declare unspent records and any spent records not protected by filtering, and then commission the correct level of check. Filtering rules were last updated in October 2023 and remain in force. (gov.uk)

Processing criminal‑record information engages UK GDPR Article 10. If you do not have official authority, you must meet a Data Protection Act 2018 Schedule 1 condition-commonly ‘employment, social security and social protection’ or ‘safeguarding’-and keep an appropriate policy document. A fresh DPIA is sensible where checks expand into new roles. (ico.org.uk)

Eligibility sits in two places: the ROA Exceptions Order allows certain spent records to be considered, while Police Act regulations govern who can obtain Standard or Enhanced DBS checks. The Home Office updated those regulations from 21 January 2026, including confirming the meaning of “registered health care professional” for DBS purposes-HR teams should align internal matrices accordingly. (legislation.gov.uk)

For DWP assessment providers, the operational tasks are practical: refresh role profiles for registered healthcare professionals, decide when you need a Standard or Enhanced check under the Police Act framework, retrain recruiters on filtering, and document fair, job‑related decision‑making. The department’s own guidance confirms assessments are delivered by regionally contracted providers, so consistent vetting across subcontractors will matter. (gov.uk)

For households hiring a self‑employed carer or support worker, the practical test is whether the duties fall into regulated activity. If they do, you can ask about relevant spent convictions and, via an umbrella body, request the appropriate DBS check. If they do not, you should not seek disclosure beyond unspent convictions. Either way, keep questions narrowly job‑related and handle any data carefully. (legislation.gov.uk)

Electronic monitoring providers should pair tighter vetting with supervision and audit. Parliament’s scrutiny committees have flagged the need for stronger controls on tagging programmes; robust recruitment is one part of that picture. The Order gives providers legal cover to ask the questions-governance will decide the quality of the answers. (committees.parliament.uk)