Instructions for employers concerning criminal records

In certain cases, employers have the right or obligation to request an employee or a private social or health care service provider to present a criminal records extract. This page contains instructions for employers and the authorities.

Criminal record data are confidential and may only be disclosed for the purposes laid down in the Criminal Records Act (770/1993, section 3) . Employers only have lawful grounds for checking their employee’s criminal records extract in tasks related to working with children, the elderly or disabled.

The criminal records extract is ordered by applicant himself or herself, and the employer does not have the right to order the extract on his or her behalf. When applying for an extract from the criminal record, the employee must report to the Legal Register Centre accurate and truthful information on the application. Incomplete information will delay the processing of the application.

Employer! Remember these things

You can check an employee's criminal record if they work with children or the elderly and disabled. Extracts from the criminal records are not disclosed for the purposes of invitations to tender, procurement contracts, service purchase agreements or service vouchers. These situations do not involve an employment relationship.
You may only request an extract from the criminal records from an employee at the start of the job, i.e. at the time of recruitment, or if the nature of the job changes for a particular client group. For example, if the employee used to look after children but now works with older people.
The extract from the criminal records is valid for six months. An employer cannot require the employee to get a new extract every six months when the extract expires. The extract presented at the beginning of the employment relationship is sufficient.

The employer must mention in the job advertisement that the person selected for the position must present a criminal record extract. This applies only to the selected candidate, as the criminal record extract is not provided for job applications. The extract is also not intended for repeated background checks.

The criminal record extract presented to the employer must not be older than six months and must be promptly returned to the employee.

The employer may not copy or otherwise store the employee's criminal record extract, but may only make a note of the date of the extract and that it has been presented.

A conviction in the criminal record does not mean a prohibition on employment, appointment, or activity. The suitability of the job applicant is always at the discretion of the employer.

A criminal records extract may be requested from a person who is selected for the first time for an employment or public service relationship, which materially and permanently involves working with children. The work may involve raising, teaching, care or other care of a minor without the guardian's presence or other work in personal interaction with the minor. The extract may also be required when a person is given these tasks for the first time (Act on Checking the Criminal Background of Persons Working With Children 504/2002, sections 2 and 3 )

Grounds for disclosing the extract for working with children

In order for the extract to be disclosed, the conditions on the permanent nature and materiality of the work must be met.
The personnel groups to which the criminal background check procedure applies are:

day care and education staff,
care and upbringing staff in institutional child welfare care and the care and upbringing staff in private family-type homes,
teaching staff in pre-school education, primary education, general upper secondary education and upper secondary vocational education,
guidance personnel in the youth work sector
parts of the guidance staff of sports services,
nursing staff in the paediatric wards, child psychiatric wards and adolescent psychiatric wards in hospitals,
technical or administrative staff of a child welfare institution or boarding school; and
social workers and psychologists in schools and child welfare institutions.

In addition, a criminal records extract of a person working with children may also be disclosed for the following purposes:

morning and afternoon activities (service organiser/service procurement),
family care in accordance with the Family Care Act,
service position for a person performing their non-military service duty,
work try-out,
provision of private social services and
provision of private health services.

In which cases will the extract not be disclosed for working with children?

The extract will not be disclosed if the conditions for the permanent nature and materiality of the work are not met and contact with a minor is occasional or has the nature of reception activities.

Such cases include:

physician's appointments,
work of a social worker working in an agency
work in a child guidance clinic and family guidance centre,
child health clinic activities and
work in libraries.

In these situations, the child is also often accompanied with their parents when meeting the employee.

A criminal records extract may be requested from a person who is selected for an employment or public service relationship, which materially and permanently involves working with an elderly or a disabled person. The work may involve assistance, support, care or other work in personal interaction with an elderly or a disabled person. The extract may also be required when a person is given these tasks for the first time (Act on the Supervision of Social Welfare and Health Care Services 741/2023, section 28 ).

Grounds for disclosing the extract for working with the elderly and disabled

In order for the extract to be disclosed, the conditions on the permanent nature and essentiality of the work must be met.

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the regulation applicable to working with the elderly and disabled and checking their criminal background is similar to that which applies to investigating the criminal background of people working children. For more information, see the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health website .

Personal interaction includes, for example, various services provided at home as well as care provided in a resident’s room in a housing unit or in intensive service housing with 24-hour assistance.

In which cases will the extract not be disclosed for working with the elderly and disabled?

The extract will not be disclosed if the conditions for the permanent nature and materiality of the work are not met and contact with an elderly or disabled person is occasional or has the nature of reception activities.

A criminal records extract is only disclosed for an employment or public service relationship. In other words, the extract is not disclosed for a work try-out, for example, or work rehabilitation.

On-the-job training with children

The educational institution may, at its discretion, require a student to present a criminal records extract when the studies materially involve on-the-job learning or on-the-job training with children (Criminal Records Act 770/1993, section 6 ). The extract for studies is free of charge. The assessment of whether the on-the-job learning assignment meets the scope limits is carried out at the educational institution.

On request, the student presents the extract to the educational institution, i.e. the education provider. A student’s criminal records extract can be disclosed for studies in accordance with the Act on Vocational Education and Training (531/2017) , the Universities of Applied Sciences Act (351/2003) or the Universities Act (558/2009) .

Therefore, the extract is only disclosed for the purpose of completing training leading to a degree. Criminal records extracts are not disclosed for integration training, for example.

Note! Only an educational institution may request to see the criminal records extract; the organisation where the training takes place does not have the right to request to see the extract.

On-the-job training with the elderly and disabled

Criminal records extracts will not be disclosed for on-the-job-training with the elderly and disabled since the applicable legislation is not available yet.

Entrepreneurs

The possible criminal background of those working with children, the elderly or disabled is not investigated in situations where the work takes place outside a public-service or contractual employment relationship. In this case, the work may take place, for example, as a private entrepreneur under the freedom of occupation.

The extract is not disclosed for the purposes of a tendering process or signing a contract for the purchase of services. The criminal background of a person acting as a private entrepreneur is checked in connection with the permit or notification procedure by the Regional State Administrative Agency, the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) or the wellbeing services county. For service purchase agreements, the client is not entitled to check the criminal records.

Taxi entrepreneurs and vehicle drivers

If the duties of an employed driver include work of permanent and essential nature with children, the entrepreneur acting as an employer is also obliged to check the employee's criminal records extract. In other words, a driver in an employment relationship can obtain criminal records extracts of those working with children only when performing regular school transport.

A criminal records extract is not disclosed for ordinary bus transports where the same children are not repeatedly met without the presence of their guardians. The criminal records extract of those working with the elderly or disabled is not granted to taxi drivers, since the employer, i.e. the transport entrepreneur, is not a service provider in the healthcare and social welfare sector.

Note! Taxi entrepreneurs cannot order a criminal records extract concerning themselves. The taxi driver’s register data is checked by the licensing authority issuing the transport licence, i.e. the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom.

Gig work

A criminal records extract of persons working with children, the elderly or disabled may be disclosed for gig work if a new employment contract is drawn up for each gig agreed upon. Otherwise, the criminal records extract is checked on a one-off basis when the person is first admitted or appointed to an employment or public service relationship, or when the person is first given tasks that are permanently and essentially related to children, the elderly or disabled.

A procurement procedure means a public procurement procedure in which, before the procurement contract is concluded, the contracting entity must require the selected tenderer to submit up-to-date certificates and reports in order for the procurement unit to determine whether the tenderer is subject to a mandatory exclusion criterion referred to in the public procurement legislation.

The employer must not request a criminal records extract in accordance with the procurement procedure for the purposes of a security clearance. The employer does not have a legal ground for checking their employee's criminal records extract, except in tasks related to working with children, the elderly or disabled.

For more information on a criminal records extract for a procurement procedure, see the extract-specific page .

A security clearance by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service commissioned by the employer about an employee can be carried out, if the criteria for commissioning a security clearance are met and the jobseeker has already been informed in the job advertisement that a security clearance will be commissioned. Criminal and fine register data are checked as part of the security clearance. In this case, the Legal Register Centre will disclose information from the registers to the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) for the purpose of conducting security clearances.

For more information on security clearances, see the SUPO website .