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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Author: Debbie Sadler

Overcoming the problems of dealing with the Jobcentre

Our helpline often receives calls from people with convictions who are desperate to get back into work but run into difficulties when dealing with the Jobcentre.

Some examples of the types of problems we hear about are:

  • Jobcentre advisors who have little or no understanding of criminal records, criminal record checks, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and the impact of a criminal record when looking for work
  • Jobcentre advisors insisting that people who have restrictions on them apply for jobs which they would either be prevented from applying for or which they would stand little chance of getting
  • Individuals having sanctions placed on them as a result of having to attend mandatory probation programmes.

We’ve set out below some ways of dealing with these types of problems.

The whole subject of criminal records is extremely complex and Jobcentre advisors very often receive no specific training in getting people with convictions back into work. You may be lucky to have an advisor who has previously worked with people with convictions or who has an interest in working with this group and will have taken it upon themselves to have a better understanding of the issues that people with convictions face. Over the last couple of years, the Department of Work and Pensions has recognised that more support should be provided to ex-offenders but this does not necessarily mean extra training for Jobcentre staff. It’s best not to assume that your advisor will have a good knowledge of criminal records.

Some problems can be avoided by just being absolutely upfront and open with your advisor from the outset. We tend to advise individuals never to disclose details of their criminal record unless they are asked. However, your advisor will be in a much better position to help you if they are aware of any limitations on what jobs it is sensible (or legal) for you to apply for. It will usually be possible to get an agreement with your advisor on any ‘restrictions on work searches’ at the beginning and have these written into your Job Seekers Agreement to prevent any problems later on.

Many advisors can be quick to sanction individuals who they believe have ‘breached’ their Job Seekers Agreement. If you have to miss an appointment(s) because you are required to carry out an unpaid work requirement, meet with your probation officer or attend a mandatory programme, then your advisor will have very clear guidelines (the Decision Makers Guide) in how they should deal with this, which should not automatically involve sanctioning you.

It’s important that you inform your advisor in advance if you are unable to attend any Jobcentre meetings/interviews. The Probation Service and courts will always try not to place any requirements on you that would conflict with your benefit entitlement (including ‘signing on’). If the date/time of your unpaid work etc can’t be changed then you should ask your probation officer to put a request in writing to the Jobcentre asking for your ‘signing on’ day to be rearranged.

If you are required to attend mandatory programmes, for example anger management or drug/alcohol treatment programmes, these are likely to be quite intensive and the timings and length may vary depending on the nature and seriousness of your offence. You will need to provide your advisor with details of the programme in writing and they may then be able to add into your Job Seekers Agreement some restrictions on your availability for work.

For more information

  1. For practical self-help information – Find out more information on support getting into work
  2. To read personal stories – You can read stories about this posted on theRecord, our online magazine under the tag looking for (and keeping) employment
  3. To discuss this issue with others – Read and share your experiences on our online forum
  4. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

Monthly summary – August 2016

Welcome to our monthly summary for August 2016.

This provides a summary of:

  1. the latest updates to our self-help information site for people with convictions
  2. recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord
  3. other news and developments that might be of interest to people with a criminal record

Have you just stumbled across this? You can receive these updates direct to your inbox every month for free by signing up to our mailing list (make sure you choose to receive ‘news for people with convictions’)


Updates to our information site

Here’s a summary of the updates that we’ve made recently to the theInformationHub. There are links within each update to where you can find more information about the update. There are also links next to many of the updates, which link to threads on our online forum where you can discuss these with other people with convictions. 

Understanding your criminal record

  • Retention and deletion of police cautions and convictions – Our helpline receives many calls from individuals enquiring about the removal of cautions and convictions from the Police National Computer. We’ve updated our information, setting out the process which needs to be followed when applying to have cautions/convictions removed and the likely chances of success.

Work and volunteering

  • How to explain gaps in your CV as a result of a criminal record – We’ve produced some new information which looks at ways of dealing with gaps in your employment history which have come about as a result of a criminal record.
  • Answering the question ‘Have you ever been dismissed or subject to disciplinary action?’ – If you’ve ever been dismissed as a result of a criminal record you may worry that questions about your dismissal will flag up your conviction once it becomes spent. We’ve produced some advice which sets out ways in which the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act can help to overcome this.

Insurance

theRecord posts

Below are links to recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord. These are often linked to from the practical information that we have, to help give some personal experiences.

Success – I didn’t know the real sentence would start after leaving prison – ‘I’ll start this with the following statement; If someone had told me I’d have a criminal record and get a prison term three years ago, I’d have laughed …..’

Success – Celebrating the achievement of an outstanding learner – ‘The Festival of Learning which took place in June, is the biggest national celebration of lifelong learning in England. Each year, ahead of the Festival an awards ceremony is hosted (The Inspire Awards) to celebrate the achievements of outstanding learners who’ve shown exceptional passion, commitment and drive for learning, often in the face of difficult circumstances. This year the ‘Overall Learner of the Year Award’ and the ‘Into Work’ category was won by James Harris – what’s so outstanding about James is that he spent half of his adult life in prison …..’

Success – A lifetime of helping people – don’t hold this one mistake against me – ‘My life hasn’t always been easy. I’ve seen some real tragedy; not least my husband’s suicide which then led to my receiving a criminal record …..’

Other news and developments

Below are links to other news and developments that might be of interest to people with a criminal record. For more news, check out the news and media section of our main website.

Our response to the Charity Commission consultation on power to disqualify from acting as a trustee

In May 2016, the Charity Commission launched a consultation on power to disqualify from acting as a trustee. We’ve worked closely with the Prison Reform Trust and Clinks and this month we set out our concerns to the Commission about the Act and it’s potential impact on people with criminal records and the charities which work with or employ them. Download our submission here.

Appeal against High Court ruling on disproportionate criminal record disclosure scheme scheduled

Since the High Court ruling in January which found that the current criminal record disclosure scheme for standard/enhanced checks was disproportionate, we’ve been asked what would happen next. The Government has appealed the High Court ruling and the case is listed to be heard in February 2017. Find out further information here.

Online reporting of convictions and why some people with convictions change their name

Christopher Stacey took part in a BBC Three Counties Radio programme about the effect of the reporting of convictions online and why people with convictions change their name. Listen to the programme here.

Our updated forum is live – take a look!

Following work to update our forum which started in April last year, our updated forum has now gone live. Find out more about how it could benefit you.

Monthly update – August 2016

We’ve just published our update for August 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This months update includes:

  1. Some new information on how to explain gaps in your CV as a result of a criminal record
  2. Our updated information on the retention and deletion of police cautions and convictions
  3. A personal view on how DBS filtering does not go far enough and the problems this leads to with employers who have ‘zero tolerance’ policies towards people with convictions
  4. Details of our response to the Charity Commission consultation on power to disqualify from acting as a trustee
  5. A link to our updated forum which went live this month.

 

The full update provides a summary of:

  1. the latest updates to our self-help information site for people with convictions
  2. recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord
  3. other news and developments that might be of interest to individuals with a criminal record

 

Read the August 2016 update in full

 

Best wishes,

Unlock

 

Notes

  • All previous updates can be found in full in the ‘Latest updates‘ section of our Information Hub
  • For more self-help information, please visit unlock.devchd.com/information-and-advice/
  • If you have any questions about this information, please contact our helpline
  • If you’ve been forwarded this email, you can sign up to receive these updates directly by clicking here and selecting to receive ‘News/updates for people with convictions’
  • If you have found this information useful, please leave us your feedback and/or consider making a donation.

 

What’s the best way to explain gaps in your CV?

It can be your worst nightmare when you’re sat in an interview and asked this question:

Can you explain this gap in your CV

People have gaps in their CV’s for a number of reasons, but for people with a criminal record, this often comes about because of time spent in prison or having lost a previous job due to getting conviction. There can be a tendency amongst employers to overlook a candidate who has periods of time without work, and sometimes the gap in your CV is what can introduce the employer to knowing about your criminal record.

This is something we get asked a lot about by people with convictions applying for jobs, so we’ve published some new information, explaining gaps in your CV as a result of a criminal conviction  which aims to set out the best ways of dealing with this issue either on a CV, on an application form or at an interview.

It’s important to remember that employers do worry about gaps in CV’s as they often think  it casts doubt over an applicant’s commitment to employment. If you can successfully dispel this doubt, by explaining the gap in a positive way, showing that you have the initiative and drive for the role, then you’ve gone a long way towards dealing with this element of the problem.

For more information

Our updated forum is now live – take a look!

Last April, we started work on updating our forum and we’re delighted to say that this in now available at forum.unlock.org.uk.

Although theForum may look different, it still delivers on the reasons why we set it up 8 years ago. It’s offers people with convictions the chance to:

  • Engage in a positive, peer-to-peer community
  • Provide and receive information, advice and support in overcoming the stigma of a criminal record
  • Share positive experiences and inspirational stories.

How might you benefit from updated theForum?

The members/supporters who responded to our survey wanted an updated forum to have a more modern look and be more user-friendly. Many felt that there should be no restrictions on the types of offences which could be discussed. We have taken all of these points on-board and incorporated them into the update.

theForum can:

  • Provide a supportive community which brings people together who have shared experiences to reduce social isolation
  • Offer you new ways of dealing with particular problems from people who’ve had similar personal experiences
  • Give you the opportunity to become better aware of new and hidden problems that people with convictions face and suggestions for overcoming them.

One of the key requirements of the updated forum was to open up discussion about sexual offences. There’s more about how we’ve done that here.

Starting to use updated forum

Resetting your password

As theForum has been migrated to a new platform, existing users who created an account prior to the 11th July 2016 will need to reset their password to login and use it.

To reset your password:

  1. Visit http://forum.unlock.org.uk/ResetPassword.aspx
  2. Enter your account email address. This will generate a reset password email to the email address you have supplied
  3. Click the unique link within the email you’ve been sent
  4. Submit a new password and save.

You’ll then be able to login using your existing email account address and your new password.

Frequently asked questions

It could be that the email has gone into your junk or spam folder, so have a look there.

If it hasn’t, then it’s more than likely that the email address you’ve provided is not the one which your forum account is registered to. Follow the instructions again using a different email address. If you continue to have difficulties, please email forum@unlock.org.uk.

 

Let us know what you think

So visit to check it out – we’re keen for feedback, so let us know what you think by emailing forum@unlock.org.uk.

 

We’ve updated our forum and opened up discussions

We’re delighted to be at the stage where we’ve got our updated forum up and live. There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes to update the platform that the forum runs on to try and make it visually more engaging and easier to use.

Another motivation behind this work was changes that we’d reluctantly made to the forum back in 2013 to restrict discussions relating to sexual offences. Ever since that point, we’d always recognised the importance of the forum in helping people of all conviction types to be aware of their rights and responsibilities and to have the knowledge to enable them to comply with any requirement placed upon them and to seek this information, advice and support in a safe environment.

It’s taken us a lot longer than we’d hoped (mainly because this work coincided with a huge increase in enquiries to our helpline, so we’ve been very stretched for resources) but we think we’re finally there.

As part of the forum update, it was important that we not only address the needs of people with sexual offences but, when considering an update of theForum, we were keen to get as much input from people with convictions as possible. We did this by way of a survey.

Key responses to the survey were:

  • 62% of responders felt that there was a need for an updated, dedicated Unlock forum
  • 76% believed that there should be no restrictions on the type of offences which were discussed on theForum

To  respond to these results, we’ve taken the decision to give theForum a more modern, user-friendly look and, once again, open up discussion around sexual offences.

A specific section has been set up to deal with the issues affecting people convicted of sexual offences (for example notification requirements, SOPO’s, travelling abroad and the sharing of information). This is a private section and only members who’ve been added to it will be able to access or contribute to it.

New members joining theForum will be asked to provide details of the type of offence they were convicted of. Those with a sexual offence will automatically be joined to this section. If you’d prefer not to have access to it and wish to unsubscribe, please email forum@unlock.org.uk.

If you’re an existing member with a conviction for a sexual offence who’s interested in joining this specific section, please email forum@unlock.org.uk.

If you have any questions about any of the above, you can email forum@unlock.org.uk.

How do you answer this – “Have you ever been dismissed or subject to disciplinary action?’”

We recently heard from someone who, about 5 years ago, was dismissed from his job for gross misconduct following a criminal conviction, even though the offence was committed outside of work.

Fortunately, he found another job almost immediately and has worked there ever since. Although he enjoys the work and has been promoted a couple of times, he believes that there are few further opportunities for progression added to which, the pay is relatively low.

Now that his conviction is spent, he’d like to apply for a new job. However, although he doesn’t have to disclose his spent conviction for most jobs, he’s found that many application forms ask the following question:

Have you ever been dismissed or subject to disciplinary action?’

He didn’t feel that he would be able to explain his dismissal without going into detail about his conviction which, legally, he isn’t required to do.

What would you do?

  1. Tick the ‘no’ box on the application form which might seem like lying
  2. Be honest and feel like you’re having to disclose your spent conviction

Is there a third option?

This isn’t the first time we’ve come across this.

Having successfully secured a job, individuals will often worry that if they apply for other jobs, their previous conviction may come to light or, they will need to disclose it to a new employer and risk being judged all over again. It’s often easier to ‘stay put’.

In this case, however, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA) would be able to offer him some protection, especially as his conviction is spent and the jobs that he’s applying for are covered by the Act. Section 4(2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act states:-

The person questioned shall not be subjected to any liability or otherwise prejudiced in law by reason of any failure to acknowledge or disclose a spent conviction or any circumstances ancillary to a spent conviction in his answer to the question’.

The key phrase here is “circumstances ancillary to a spent conviction”.

This essentially means that if an application form asks a question about being dismissed or being subject to disciplinary action, which came about as a result of conviction that is now spent, the ROA allows you to say “no” to that question and not be penalised.

In practice, if you find yourself in similar circumstances to the one explained above, you should think about whether, if you don’t tell them, whether the employer might find out about your dismissal or disciplinary action in some other way. If you think they might, although you don’t legally need to, you may choose to still tell them but then explain it relates to a conviction that is spent now.

For more information

We’ve voted to leave the EU – what are the consequences for people with a criminal record

The votes have been counted and we now know that we’ll be leaving the EU. The consequences could be huge, and the coming years may initially be economically and socially disruptive. But, how will it affect you if you have a criminal record?

This is a question that’s come up quite a bit over the last month or so. It’s still very unclear, but we’ve tried to answer some of the questions that we’ve had.

Travel

There has been talk that in the event of the UK leaving the single market, we’ll need a visa to travel to other EU countries.

The UK is second only to Germany in terms of tourists visiting other countries in the EU. We think it’s unlikely that the governments of Spain and Greece would single us out for tougher treatment at borders and we doubt there will be a need for visas to travel to the EU on holiday. If this were the case, there’d be no need to worry about disclosing your criminal record to get a visa like you do if you want to travel to the US.

If Brexit were to lead to a more radical split of the EU, then the Schengen arrangements (which controls border crossing between most of the member states) would presumably end and border checks may be re-introduced. We don’t feel this will happen any time soon.

Studying

Undergraduates in England pay the highest tuition fees in the world, leading to some students looking to go to cheaper European universities. The National Union of Students have said that the effect of Brexit may lead to student visas being required and international fees being charged for courses. The introduction of student visas may mean there would be a requirement to disclose a criminal record, irrespective of the course that you’ll be studying.

Work

The ability to work in the EU without a work permit is down to our EU membership. One of the key arguments of the leave campaign was that we operate a quota system for migrant workers. If this is imposed, British citizens may face similar restrictions. As in the case of student visas, applying for a work permit (and perhaps a Police Certificate) may require you to disclose your criminal record in a way you don’t need to at the moment.

Exchange of criminal record data

Through the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), an electronic exchange mechanism is in place for the sharing of information between EU members. ECRIS is not extended to any non-EU countries, however countries that are fully part of Schengen (i.e. Norway and Switzerland) do exchange information.

Broadly speaking, the EU court has rules that personal data can only be transferred to non-EU countries that have data protection laws ‘essentially equivalent’ to EU law. The UK would therefore have to commit to continuing to apply a law similar to EU law or risk disruptions in the flow of personal data. It’s likely that our data protection law will be ‘essentially equivalent’ to EU law.

European Convention on Human Rights

Currently the UK is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a code of conduct enforced by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It exists separately from membership of the EU but it does have a fundamental impact on EU law decisions.

It’s worth noting that withdrawal from the EU will not automatically affect the UK’s status as a signatory to the ECHR.

Are our rehabilitation laws at risk?

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 is a piece of legislation that the UK Government reformed in 2014. It should not be impacted by the UK leaving the EU.

The filtering mechanism brought into force in 2013 was off the back of a successful legal challenge which used ECHR arguments. However, the way it was introduced was through amendments to UK legislation, the Police Act 1997. Again, it should not be impacted by the UK leaving the EU.

For more information

  1. To discuss this issue with others – Read and share your experiences on Brexit on our online forum
  2. Questions – If you have any questions about this, you can contact our helpline.

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