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A charity has called for the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to monitor the types of requests it is receiving following concern that some organisations are making illegal criminal record checks.
BBC Radio 4's Face the Facts programme found CRB checks have been requested for a variety of jobs, including bricklaying and gardening.
Nacro, a crime reduction charity, told the BBC that such checks are at odds with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Acts 1974 and could potentially lead to some employees losing their jobs.
Under the terms of the act, non-custodial offences and prison sentences shorter than 30 months are considered spent after a specified length of time, meaning when this period has lapsed offenders no longer have to disclose such details when applying for jobs.
Anthony Scrivener QC, formally a chair of the Bar, told the news provider the law needed to be placed under review.
"You really can't rely on the goodwill of an employer if he's given this information," he remarked.
The CRB was established by the Home Office to enable organisations to make "safer recruitment decisions".
It was formed under Part 5 of the Police Act 1997.
