Author: Unlock Admin

Looking back at some key moments in 2016

With the Christmas break almost here and 2016 coming to an end, I wanted to write a short blog to reflect month-by-month on our work over the last 12 months.

Overall, it’s yet again been an incredibly busy year for Unlock with lots of positive news and progress to report. We’ve had an addition to the staff team. We’ve also continued to expand the information, advice and support we provide to help people overcome the stigma of their convictions:

We have continued to see an increase in the numbers of people accessing our helpline and websites. Building on last years’ unprecedented rise, our helpline will have dealt with over 6,000 enquiries, a 10% increase on last year.
The number of visitors to our information site has also continued to grow, with over one million visits (yes, MILLION!) accessing the site in 2016.
Our disclosure calculator will have helped over 50,000 people work out when their convictions become spent.

We’ve also strengthened our advocacy role by challenging discriminatory practices, encouraging employers and influencing government policy. We’re delighted that this range of work has been recognised through a number of awards, including the coveted Longford Prize in November.

That said, there continues to be new and extended policies and practices that treat people with convictions unfairly and effectively punish people long after they’ve served their sentence. That makes our work more important now than it ever has been, so we look forward to yet another strong year in 2017.

In the meantime, on behalf of all the staff and the board of trustees, I would like to wish the people we help, our volunteers, supporters and funders a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

Here’s a quick round-up of some of the key moments for Unlock during the year:

In January, the High Court ruled the criminal record disclosure scheme unlawful in a case that Unlock supported

In February, the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, committed the civil service to banning the box about criminal records from their application forms

In March, our co-director, Christopher Stacey, won the High Sheriff award. We also published the first ever independent evaluation of our helpline

In April, we supported the launch of research and a campaign to reform the disclosure of childhood criminal records. Our criminal record disclosure training was also endorsed by the Probation Institute.

In May, we submitted a response to Charlie Taylor’s review of youth justice and submitted evidence to the Work and Pensions Inquiry into “support for ex-offenders”

In June, we collected case studies of people affected by childcare disqualification by association regulations, and then worked on our response to the government consultation where we called for the regulations to be scrapped

In July, we published a number of case studies of bad practices by employers that we’d successfully challenged

In August, we launched an updated version of our online forum for people with convictions

In September, we launched a new website to help employers to recruit people with criminal records

In October, after joint efforts by Unlock and the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ), the Justice Committee announced an inquiry into youth criminal records

November was a big month for awards. We won the coveted Longford Prize, our helpline won two national awards, and our co-director was highly commended in the Social CEOs awards.

Also in November, we announced our new Chair of Trustees and we successfully lobbied for a delay to implementation of the Charities Act

In December, we welcomed Nick Hardwick as a Patron and Charlie Taylor’s review into youth justice was published, with recommendations made on childhood criminal records. Our evidence to the Justice Committee’s inquiry into youth criminal records was published and we took a small group of people with convictions to a private session with the Committee so they could hear first-hand experiences of the obstacles people have faced.

Government should consider a statutory “ban the box” for all employers and improve the support to people released from prison

The leading charity for people with convictions has welcomed a report published today by the Work and Pensions Committee which calls on government to drastically improve the support provided to people released from prison and do more to encourage employers to recruit people with convictions.

Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock, said:

“Today’s report shows that current government policy is failing people with convictions. There is no one person in government with responsibility for helping prison leavers into work and no clear strategy for how different agencies should work together to get people with convictions into employment.

“We are delighted that the Work and Pensions Committee has listened to the evidence that we submitted and has made a number of recommendations which, if implemented by government, would vastly improve the chances of people with convictions to become positive members of society rather than burdens of the state. Only a quarter on people leaving prison have a job to go to, yet stable employment significantly reduces the likelihood of people re-offending in the future.”

“Employers need to be encouraged to change their recruitment practices, and piloting a reduction in National Insurance contributions for those who actively employ people with convictions is a welcome step forward. Unlock supports the Committee’s recommendation of taking the “ban the box” campaign further by considering putting it on a statutory footing for all employers. We know that this practical change in recruitment practice, alongside other ‘fair chance recruitment’ measures, increases the chances that employers will recruit people with convictions.”

“We are pleased that the Ministry of Justice is working on a new employment strategy. This needs to be done jointly with the Department for Work and Pensions and place significant focus on people with convictions in the community. Crucially, it must recognise that no level of training or education in prison will overcome the negative approaches taken by employers, so supporting and challenging employers in their recruitment practices needs to be a fundamental part of this strategy. More broadly, government needs to fundamentally reform the law around criminal records disclosure to prevent the unnecessary and disproportionate barriers that people face long after they’ve served their sentence.”

The Committee encouraged employers to change their recruitment process and made a number of recommendations to both government and companies, including:

Extending Ban the Box to all public bodies, with exclusions for the minority of roles where it would not be appropriate for security reasons
Piloting the reduction of National Insurance contributions for those employers who actively employ people with convictions
Consider making banning the box a statutory requirement for all employers and develop practical guidance to help employers recruit people with a criminal record
All prisons should be required to demonstrate strong links with employers, including local businesses
Government clearly state who has ultimate responsibility for helping prison leavers into work
All Jobcentres should have a specified person who specialises in helping ex-offenders into employment with expertise on matters such as disclosure of convictions
Recognising employers that actively employ people with convictions by factoring it into procurement and commissioning decisions

Notes

The Work and Pensions Committee held an inquiry into support for ex-offenders. The report published today is available on their website here and a summary of the inquiry is available here.
Unlock submitted written evidence to the Committee – available here.
Unlock gave oral evidence to the Committee, which can be watched online here.
Unlock also carried out a survey on people released from prison – available here.
More details on Unlock’s policy work to improve support for people with convictions into employment is available here.
More details on Unlock’s policy work to support and challenge employers in employing people with convictions is available here.

Unlock welcomes Nick Hardwick as its new Patron

Unlock is extremely fortunate in enjoying the support of some incredible Patrons, so when our President Lord Ramsbotham suggested Nick Hardwick would be a valuable addition having stepped down as Chief Inspector of HM Prisons earlier this year, well, we were only too pleased to take his advice and invite Nick to join us. We were even more pleased when Nick accepted our invitation to become a Patron.

Whilst in post at the Inspectorate, Nick was notoriously outspoken in his criticism of the prison system, which didn’t always go down well with some government officials. Impervious to any interference in carrying out his duties, he railed against disgusting conditions, the shocking level of violence and suicide, and the dysfunction of YOIs. Perhaps it is little wonder then that after six years of witnessing such a system that stubbornly refused to change, he wasn’t sad to leave the job.

On doing so, he is reported as saying “I’m surprised by how much I don’t like being in prison. Although I have keys and can get out at any time, and I regard myself as pretty resilient, it’s the noise, the echo, the clanging, the claustrophobia, the sense that even if you’ve got keys you’re shut in, and the unhappiness.”

“I didn’t understand the degree to which, once you lock someone up, even in the best prisons for a short period of time; that is a very severe punishment indeed. It’s as bad as you could possibly imagine and possibly more so, and don’t think a little flat-screen television in the corner is going to alleviate it, because it doesn’t.”

Unlock’s helpline is contacted daily by people with convictions who struggle to move on in their lives – some have been to prison, others not. It’s the conviction that causes problems not the sentence, though undoubtedly imprisonment brings its own barriers to overcome. One of the problems of prisons, pronounces Nick, is that they don’t prepare you to return to society. “What a good prison does is teach you to be a good prisoner, so it teaches you to be compliant, not to use your initiative, to do what you’re told, to rein in your emotions, and that isn’t necessarily what you need to do to be a good citizen, or a good parent.”

Now Chair of the Parole Board, and part-time Professor in Criminal Justice at the School of Law, Royal Holloway University of London, Nick brings to Unlock a wealth of experience and knowledge, not only of prisons but also of his years in working for the voluntary sector beforehand.

He declares, “I am really pleased to have this opportunity to support Unlock whose work I have admired for a long time. We all sometimes need a chance to make a new start – and this is particularly true of former prisoners. It is in no-one’s interest to put unnecessary obstacles in the way of building a new productive and law-abiding life – it harms not just former prisoners themselves but their families and the communities of which they are part. Unlock has won praise for the work they have done to help prisoners make the transition through the prison gates and I am pleased to be able to support them.”

Welcome on-board Nick.

Julie Harmsworth, Co-director

December 2016

Justice Committee hears first-hand experiences of people with convictions

Today we took a small group of people with convictions to a private session with the Justice Committee as part of their short inquiry into the disclosure of youth criminal records.

We’re grateful to everybody who took part, and we have no doubt it will have helped committee members better understand the issues as they look into this issue and make recommendations in 2017.

Court makes it clear – spent convictions shouldn’t be taken into account for housing applications

Youth justice review recommends reformed criminal records system for children

“A reformed criminal records system for children”

That’s the recommendation of Charlie Taylor, whose review into youth justice was published today.

In a wide-ranging review, there’s a specific section on criminal records (pages 25 and 26).

He proposes that the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office should:

“Develop a distinct approach to how childhood offending is treated by the criminal records system. (Paragraph 85)
This should include:

consideration of distinguishing between under-15s and 15-17 year olds in terms of the retention and disclosure implications of offending; (Paragraph 86)
further reductions in the periods before which childhood convictions become spent; (Paragraph 87)
all childhood offending (with the exception of the most serious offences)
becoming non-disclosable after a period of time; (Paragraph 88) and
the circumstances in which police intelligence on childhood conduct can be disclosed being further restricted. The Home Office should consider the introduction of a presumption that police intelligence dating from childhood should not be disclosed except in exceptional circumstances. (Paragraph 89)”

In its response, the government said:

“We recognise that criminal records in childhood can impact on future life chances. However, there are a number of cases before the courts in relation to disclosure policy as it currently stands. We also look forward to the findings of the current inquiry being carried out by the Justice Select Committee in this area. We intend to work with the Home Office to consider these and the Taylor Review’s recommendations more fully following the Court’s judgement.”

Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock, said:

“We very much welcome the proposals for reform to childhood criminal records that Charlie Taylor has set out in his report. We encourage the government to undertake proactive work in making these recommendations a reality. The ongoing legal cases challenge a narrow aspect of the system and could be settled if the government withdrew its appeal against the January 2016 ruling in the High Court. Regardless of this, there is a pressing need for work to be undertaken in the meantime, ready for when the Court of Appeal makes it judgement in 2017, and we stand ready to work positively with government on this important issue.”

Useful links

We submitted evidence to the review in May 2016
The review, alongside the government’s response, can be downloaded from Gov.uk.

Our evidence to the Justice Committee inquiry into Youth Criminal Records published

Our written evidence to the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the disclosure of youth criminal records has been published on the Parliament website.

Alongside a number of recommendations, we’ve included five anonymous personal experiences. Next week, we’re taking a small group of people to Westminster to share their personal stories with MP’s on the Committee.

The specific details of the inquiry are here

There are more general details about the work of the Justice Committee here

Delay to introduction of rules on charity staff and trustees with criminal convictions

Today Civil Society has published a piece on the extensions to rules disqualifying trustees and senior managers as a result of criminal convictions.

A Charity Commission spokesperson is quoted in the article, stating that:

“these changes will have significant impact on some individuals and we have always been clear that charities and affected individuals must have enough time to prepare for these changes properly. In order to do so fully, we are working with the Office for Civil Society to set a commencement date later in 2017.

“We consider that this should not before September and are hopeful that this will be agreed. We continue to work with a number of umbrella bodies and rehabilitation charities as we further develop these plans to ensure that charities, trustees and senior staff members have all the relevant information and enough time to take the appropriate steps.”

The original plan of government was to introduce these changes in April 2017.

We are pleased that the government and Charity Commission have listened to the concerns that we’ve raised by delaying implementation. We continue to have principled objections to a number of aspects of the new legislation, in particular the extension of the framework to senior managers and the inclusion of certain spent convictions and people on the sex offenders register. These changes are unnecessary and will be an ineffective way of protecting charities.

A delay to implementation will enable the government to carry out the proper impact assessment of these proposed changes that it has committed to do, so that this can be considered as part of the implementation process. It will also give the commission the time it needs to produce clear guidance on the new framework and establish a sensible waiver process. The retrospective impact of these changes means that the commission needs time to support both charities and individuals affected and ensure that individuals are able to obtain waivers ahead of these changes coming into force.

We understand that the commission remain committed to raising awareness and publishing guidance at least 6 months in advance of any changes coming into force. We’ll be keeping our policy section updated as this progresses.

Unlock winner of the Longford Prize 2016

Unlock, the leading independent charity for people with convictions, was last night awarded the prestigious Longford Prize 2016 for its work in countering the sometimes life-long disadvantage that can result from having a criminal record.

The Longford Prize is an annual award from the Longford Trust which ‘recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform in showing outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence, originality and commitment to diversity’. The award was presented by the late Lord Longford’s daughter, Rachel Billington, as part of the 15^th Longford Lecture, held in the Assembly Hall at Church House, Westminster. Unlock was joint-winner alongside The Shakespeare Trilogy and Juliet Lyon received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her commitment to those on the margins of society. This year’s lecture was given by Michael Gove MP, former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.

In reaching its decision to award the prize to Unlock, the judging panel stated:

“This charity, founded in 1999, is run by people with convictions for the estimated 10.5 million people living with convictions in the UK. It has the invaluable aim of countering the sometimes life-long disadvantage that can result from having a criminal record. From persuading employers to adopt fairer recruitment practices to challenging the insurance industry to reduce inflated premiums for those with convictions, Unlock’s sustained, practical and highly effective work means that those it supports can successfully navigate the many obstacles on the path to rehabilitation and positive re-engagement with society.”

The award was presented to the charity’s co-directors, Julie Harmsworth and Christopher Stacey. Commenting on the award, Julie and Christopher said:

“In the last few years, we’ve seen a huge rise in the number of people that we help. Every day, we learn more and more about the barriers that people face because of their past criminal record. There remains significant stigma and discrimination towards people with convictions. Unlock has established itself as a respected, independent voice that speaks up and makes the case for change. Our success in changing people’s lives and the way they are treated by others, comes from steady determination and just getting on with the job of continually pushing at doors until they open. Winning the Longford Prize tells us we must be doing it right.”

– Ends –

Notes to editors

Unlock is an independent, award-winning charity for people with convictions which exists for two simple reasons. Firstly, Unlock assists people to move on positively with their lives by empowering them with information, advice and support to overcome the stigma of their previous convictions. Secondly, Unlock seeks to promote a fairer and more inclusive society by challenging discriminatory practices and promoting socially just alternatives.
There are over 10.5 million people in the UK that have a criminal record.
Unlock’s website is unlock.devchd.com.
The Longford Prize is an award which recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform in showing outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence, originality and commitment to diversity’
Details about the Longford Prize can be found at http://www.longfordtrust.org/longford_prize.php
A video of the award ceremony is available here (the awards starts at about 6 minutes in)
Read Co-director, Julie Harmsworth’s blog about the event.

The Longford Prize 2016

What a night!

Attending the annual Longford Lecture at Church House, Westminster last night, it was a huge privilege to receive the Longford Prize 2016 on behalf of Unlock together with my Co-director Christopher Stacey.

The Longford Prize ‘recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform in showing outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence, originality and commitment to diversity’. Unlock was joint winner with The Shakespeare Trilogy.

Presenting the award Lord Longford’s daughter Rachel Billington was joined on stage by Kevin McGrath of the McGrath Charitable Trust who generously donated prize money of £5,000, shared between the winners. The award itself had been commissioned by the Trust from one of is former Longford Scholars, Ben Levings, now forging a successful career as a carver and stonemason, who designed the award. Rachel commented, “Made of stainless steel, glass and Yew, the detail on the statuette represents the lock indicator found on UK prison doors. The award represents, Ben says, the door unlocked, transparency and reflection – some of the things that he felt are celebrated by the Longford Prize and the work of those who receive it.”

It has pride of place in our office today.

What further added to the joy of the occasion was the first person to come and offer his congratulations. None other than Bob Turney, who was one of Unlock’s founders back in 1999 and a patron of the Longford Trust. Bob beamed as he shook our hands saying “I am so proud! It’s fantastic to see Unlock win this prize. You’re doing a brilliant job!” Having re-established contact with him he’s keen to be kept up-to-date with our work.

A good friend to Unlock over the years, former Director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon was also honoured when she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her commitment to those on the margins of society. A well-deserved recognition.

PRT’s new Director, Peter Dawson, too offered his congratulations saying that one of the things he really admired about Unlock was that we were willing to do “the boring stuff” – “stuff that nobody else wants to do but what is SO important”. He summed it up pretty well!

By Julie Harmsworth, Co-director