Anne Fox has been announced as Unlock’s new Chair of Trustees. Anne succeeds Faye Goldman who served as Chair and eight years as a trustee at Unlock and leaves with our heartfelt thanks for eight years of service. Anne brings a wealth of experience of leadership in the voluntary sector, having led Clinks, the national infrastructure charity supporting voluntary organisations working with people in the criminal justice system in England and Wales for the past ten years.

Anne is passionate about the power and potential of the voluntary sector and enabling it to be an effective source of essential support for people who deserve every chance of a bright future. She is committed to the full inclusion of people with criminal records and anti-racism.

On Anne’s appointment, Unlock’s CEO Paula Harriott said:

“Anne Fox’s appointment as Chair of Unlock marks an exciting new chapter for the organisation. With over a decade of leadership as CEO of Clinks, she brings deep expertise, credibility, and a strong commitment to strengthening the voluntary sector and amplifying lived experience. Her track record of championing collaboration and influencing system change positions Unlock well to grow its impact and continue driving forward fairer opportunities for people with criminal records.”

Speaking following the recent board meeting, Anne Fox said:

“I am absolutely delighted to be stepping into the Chair role at Unlock, a charity I’ve admired for over 10 years, a charity that’s as vital and needed as it was 25 years ago. I’m excited to work with Paula Harriott, the board, staff team and the people at the heart of everything Unlock does, people with criminal records.”

As part of the government’s inquiry into the causes of youth unemployment, FairChecks have submitted evidence showing the link between criminal records and youth unemployment.

The review, for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, will look into the drivers behind the increase of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET).

A significant barrier that many young people face is the long shadow of a criminal record. Our submission to the inquiry highlights evidence that shows:

• The number of DBS checks is increasing (7.2 million in 2024-25) at a time when more employers (30%) are saying that they would automatically exclude a candidate who declared an unspent conviction.
• This disproportionality affects young people, with more checks being undertaken on young people (18-25) than other age groups.
• The majority of checks which revealed some form of childhood offence only revealed childhood offences. So in most of these cases, those who had offended as a child had not offended as an adult. Again this affects young people more as they are closer to the age of any childhood offence, and are there more likely to have an offence revealed on a DBS check.

We have therefore made recommendations to the inquiry to give more young people the opportunity to fulfill their potential. These include:

• Wiping the slate clean for childhood offences at a specific interval.
• No automatic disclosure of cautions.
• Short and suspended sentences be removed from Enhanced checks after a set number of years.

You can read our full submission here.

FairChecks is a movement led by Unlock and Transform Justice. Read more about FairChecks here.

As part of Unlock the Vote, our campaign to extend the right to vote to more people in prison, we have published our report “Why Prisoner Voting Matters”.

The current system for prisoner voting in the UK damages democracy, harms rehabilitation, and is not consistent across the UK.

Our report explores which prisoners currently have the right to vote and how they are supposed to be able to access this right.

Academic studies and our own research has found that:

• In England and Wales it is estimated that over 21,000 people in prison, and around 15% of the prison population are eligible to vote.
• In practice, very few are able to access this right with many local authorities being unfamiliar with the current rules.
• Maintaining the right to voting aids rehabilitation and gives an increased sense of civic responsibility.
• Widening participation strengthens our democracy, with the healthiest democracies across the world extending the right to vote to all prisoners. Among western democracies, the UK has some of the most restrictive laws around prisoner voting.

You can read our report in full here.