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For people with criminal records

Category: News for employers

Criminal records charity launches website to help employers recruit people with convictions

Unlock, the country’s leading charity for people with convictions, today launches a unique website to encourage and support companies to recruit people with criminal records.

Over 10.5 million people in the UK have a criminal record and many face stigma and discrimination when applying for work, despite having put the past behind them. Unlock’s work with employers over many years has highlighted the significant business benefits of employing people with convictions. Yet recruiters often struggle to understand complex criminal record disclosure legislation and don’t know what they can and can’t do, with policies and processes that often discourage applicants. Although nine out of ten employers have said that they’re open to the idea of recruiting people with convictions, in practice less than 20% say they have knowingly done so.

The new website aims to deal with this by:

  1. Supporting employers in recruiting people with convictions
  2. Helping companies to deal with criminal records fairly
  3. Sharing good practice (such as Ban the Box)
  4. Providing free guidance and tools
  5. Showing what other employers are doing

Read the full press release.

News for employers has moved onto our website for employers

As the development of our website for employers continues, we’ll no longer be posting news specifically for employers on the main Unlock website. Instead, we’ll be posting directly onto the news section Recruit!, our website for employers.

You can continue to find the news about our Fair Access to Employment project on this site, and there will be occasions where similar posts will appear on both sites where the news relates to both employers and other groups.

As always, to receive any or all of our news updates direct to your email inbox just sign up to our mailing list.

Why employers need to change! Three short digital stories from people with convictions

As part of our employment project, we’ve produced some short stories based on the experiences of people with convictions finding work.

Each of the stories show something different, as we explain below. However, although every situation is unique, we think that the stories serve as a helpful way or showing the importance of supporting employers to recruit people with convictions and in challenging employment discrimination.

We’ve uploaded all three videos onto our YouTube account, but you should be able to watch each of them below. We’ll also be using them as part of our work to support and challenge employers.

We’re grateful to the three individuals who took part, as well as all of those who got in touch after we put a call out for volunteers. We’d also like to thank Carlotta Allum for her help us in producing the digital stories.

 

Steve’s story

Steve’s experience shows how, since a minor incident when he was 19, he forged a successful career in the City for the next 16 years, but then it caught up on him. When he applied for his ‘dream job’, he disclosed his minor conviction as the employer had suggested he needed to. Their response was that they could no longer offer him the job.

He believed honesty was the best policy and that he wouldn’t be judged on that one moment, instead that he would be credited for the last 14 years.

His experience shows the importance of employers being clear to applicants what they do and don’t need to disclose; Steve didn’t need to disclose because of his conviction is now legally ‘protected’. Legally, his employer had a legal duty to disregard it and they’ve left themselves open to potential legal issues.

Finally, it shows the importance of employers looking beyond what they see on paper. Steve’s minor conviction from 16 years ago was no longer relevant to his job role. His potential employer should have been able to work this out. Given they didn’t, they clearly have to work to do to improve their recruitment practice.

 

Ricky’s story

Ricky’s experience of applying for work with a criminal record shows the benefit of employers that ‘ban the box’ from application forms and deals with criminal records at the job offer stage, giving people a chance to be interviewed on their merits.

His story also shows the importance of looking behind what you might see on paper – the circumstances surrounding a particular drugs offence on his record causes him particular problems as employers rarely give him a chance to explain the circumstances.

 

Sean’s story

Sean’s experience shows how important it is for people with convictions to be supported by mainstream employment support agencies to help them into employment.

He was rejected from jobs because he was overqualified. He found it frustrating that probation didn’t have the means to help him back into work and didn’t have links with local employers and recruitment agencies.

He feels that employers should find out more from applicants – those that are willing to open up about their past will enable the employer to get a better understanding and take a more balanced approach.

 

Useful links

 

New employer guide to creating a fair recruitment process, marking two years of Ban the Box

Two years on since the launch of the Ban the Box campaign, Business in the Community (BITC), who lead the campaign, have marked the anniversary by launching a free step-by-step guide to creating a fair recruitment process in dealing with criminal records.

We’ve endorsed the campaign since it launched in October 2013 in response to widespread discrimination against people with convictions, and have helped to support the campaign alongside others. So far, 50 employers with a combined workforce of over 400,000 have banned the tick box from their job applications forms and now assess candidates based on their skills first, not their past mistakes.

Despite the fact that employment can dramatically reduce re-offending rates and contribute to a safer society, three-quarters of employers use criminal convictions to discriminate against applicants – meaning that millions of job seekers are blocked from employment and the opportunity to put their past behind them. Employers also miss out on a large and diverse talent pool, often as a result of exaggerated fear or misconceptions.

To mark the campaign’s second anniversary, BITC has launched a free step-by-step guide. Featuring case studies from companies that have banned the box, as well as guidance on legal and contractual requirements, this is a useful starting place for any employer looking to provide employment opportunities for people with criminal convictions.

Alongside the guide, they’ve published interesting research which shows that prisoners consider the criminal record tick box to be a major barrier to employment, despite having a qualifications and a strong desire to work. The research shows that while 9 in 10 prisoners surveyed want to find work after leaving prison, only a third of prisoners said they would definitely apply to a job with a tick box. Prisoners surveyed expressed concern and confusion over the tick box on application forms – some unaware of the legal obligation to disclose and many convinced they would not be given a chance to compete for jobs if they ticked the box.

The research shows that the criminal record tick box serves no purpose and it adds more weight behind why employers need to put an end to their archaic recruitment practices, taking steps to ensure they are clear and upfront about how they assess criminal convictions.

This anniversary gives fresh impetus to the campaign, which we’re promoting as part of our project to challenge employment discrimination. I urge you to take the time to read this guide and consider joining the growing number of responsible businesses that are opening up opportunities for people with convictions.

Useful links

You can find out more about our project to challenge employment discrimination here or get in touch with us.

You can find out more about Ban the Box here.

Check out our LinkedIn page

At Unlock, we like to think of ourselves as making good use of social media as an effective way of communicating with a range of groups of people.

Yet, if we’re being honest, although we try and make regular use of Twitter and Facebook, we’ve probably neglected the role of LinkedIn, and how it might help us to reach out and engage with others.

So that’s what’s new – we’re going to start.

Given LinkedIn is a business-orientated social networking site, to us that means it’s potentially a great way to engage with other organisations and practitioners.

Although we’ve had a page on LinkedIn for a while, we haven’t really used it. So, from now on, we plan to use it to share updates, particularly those that we think might of interest to other organisations, including those that help people with convictions, employers, insurers and others that use criminal records.

So please help us raise awareness of our page – if you have a LinkedIn page, please visit our page and hit ‘Follow’ in the top right-hand corner, or click the ‘Follow’ button below.


Our approach to employers

As our employment project has begun to gather momentum, we thought it was important to explain our approach to employers as part of this work.

We recently published a specific page which sets this out in more detail, available here.

We’ve also provided more details about how we support employers – this is available here.

Help us to challenge employment discrimination

Work is progressing well to lay the foundations for our project to challenge employment discrimination. We’re now at the stage where we want to start opening out the conversation, to help to shape the project.

This update is the first of what we hope will be an ongoing conversation – with employers, with people with convictions, and with others who have an interest in ensuring that employers have fair and inclusive policies and procedures that support the recruitment of people with convictions.

There’s a number of things we’re working on, and we’re keen to get your input.

 

  1. Help us develop good practice and resources for employers
  2. Send us evidence of bad practice
  3. How would you like to be treated when applying for work?

Help us develop good practice and resources for employers

One of the key focuses of the project is to support employers in developing good policies and practices. One way we’re going about this by developing a resource centre specifically for employers.

So, we’re going back to basics. We want to make sure that we support employers who choose to consider criminal records by helping them to do so in a way that is fair, inclusive and lawful. However, we also want to challenge the inappropriate use of criminal records and to question the assumption amongst some employers that criminal records checks should always form part of their recruitment process in all circumstances.

To help us do this, we want to know what you think ‘good practice’ looks like.

We’re keen to get the thoughts of a range of people. We’re particularly keen to hear from employers about what you would find useful in helping you in this process. We’re keen to highlight the different ways that employers have tried to make themselves more open and inclusive towards people with convictions. We’re also looking for suggestions of existing resources that you’ve found useful.

We’ve put together a short set of questions, and we’d be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to share your thoughts (you can stay anonymous if you wish).

Complete the online survey here.

Alternatively, you can read the questions here and email your answers and other thoughts on this topic to employer@unlock.org.uk.

Send us evidence of bad practice

Alongside our work to support employers to develop good practice, we’re also on the look-out for evidence of bad practice by employers with regards to the policies and processes that they have in place for job applicants with criminal records.

This could include employers that:

  1. Have a blanket policy of not recruiting anybody with unspent convictions
  2. Carry out DBS checks for roles not eligible for them
  3. Request applicants to provide a copy of their ‘police record’ (also known as ‘enforced subject access’)
  4. Don’t give applicants an opportunity to explain their criminal record

Find out more details here about how to send us examples and evidence of bad practice.

How would you like to be treated when applying for work?

Alongside our survey of employers, we’re also keen to hear from people with convictions about how they’d like to be treated when applying for work.

In particular, we’d like to know what you think is a ‘fair’ way of dealing with criminal records as part of the recruitment process.

To do this we’ve put together a short survey for people with convictions.

You can complete the survey online survey here (you can stay anonymous if you wish).

Alternatively, you can read the questions here and email your answers to employer@unlock.org.uk.

 

Interesting in keeping updated about this work?

You can subscribe to receive these types of updates by email by signing up to our email updates and choosing to receive ‘News on our work challenging employment discrimination’.

New project – Fair Access to Employment

We are delighted to report that Unlock has been awarded a three-year grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation that will enable us to deliver a programme of work that will challenge the discrimination faced by people with convictions in getting employment.

This marks the beginning of a significant area of work for Unlock, enabling us to focus on addressing a number of key issues that combine to unfairly exclude so many people from moving on in their lives.

Building on our track-record of working with Government, employers and other sectors, our approach will aim to ‘support and challenge’. It will also play to Unlock’s strengths as an independent advocacy charity in holding organisations to account and speaking truth to power.

Commenting on the news, Christopher Stacey, Co-Director at Unlock, said “We know from people with convictions that finding and keeping employment is the biggest problem they face as a result of having a criminal record – often many years after they were convicted. This project will enable us to actively challeng some of the unfair treatment that people with convictions face, as well as supporting employers and others involved in recruitment processes, to make sure that people with convictions are treated fairly.”

“Our focus will be to make sure that employers understand that the people we’re encouraging them to open their doors to are those that could be potentially fantastic employees, yet at the moment they’re missing out on these people because of the policies and practices that they have in place. We’ll also be doing a lot of work to improve and challenge processes used by employers to carry out criminal record checks, such as the Disclosure & Barring Service and Disclosure Scotland.”

More details about the project are available at unlock.devchd.com/policy-issues/employment-discrimination

Sign up to receive project updates here (selecting to receive ‘news on our Project – Fair Access to Employment’)

 

END

Notes to editors

  1. Press/media 
  2. Unlock is an independent award-winning charity, providing trusted information, advice and support for people with criminal convictions. Our staff and volunteers combine professional training with personal experience to help others overcome the long-term problems that having a conviction can bring. Our knowledge and insight helps us to work with government, employers and others, to change policies and practices to create a fairer and more inclusive society so that people with convictions can move on in their lives. Our website is unlock.devchd.com.
  3. Esmée Fairbairn Foundation aims to improve the quality of life for people and communities throughout the UK both now and in the future. They do this by funding the charitable work of organisations with the ideas and ability to achieve positive change. The Foundation is one of the largest independent grant-makers in the UK. They make grants of £30 – £35 million annually towards a wide range of work within the arts, education and learning, the environment and social change. They also operate a £26 million Finance Fund which invests in organisations that aim to deliver both a financial return and a social benefit. Their website is www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk.

Employers – New criminal offence; make sure you check your recruitment processes!

Tomorrow, the 10th March 2015, a new criminal offence of ‘enforced subject access’ comes into force, which employers and organisations need to be aware of.

This news has implications on the recruitment processes of employers and organisations. In particular, it has an impact on those that ask individuals to obtain a copy of their police record, for example as part of the recruitment process.

To help to understand the practical implications of this news, and what employers should do, we’ve produced a simple guidance leaflet which explains this in more detail.

We have also produced guidance for individuals with convictions. A link to this, and more background information, can be found in our main news piece.

If you have any questions about this as an employer, you can contact us for advice.

One year into the Ban the Box campaign; pioneering employers change their practice, but more must follow their lead

Business in the Community’s Ban the Box campaign, which Unlock actively supports, has reached its one year anniversary. It was launched in October 2013 in response to widespread and costly discrimination against people with convictions who are seeking work.

So far 24 employers, with a combined UK workforce of over 200,000, have committed to support the campaign. They assess jobseekers on their skills and abilities first, taking criminal convictions into account later in the recruitment process. This gives candidates equal opportunity to get to interview based on their competency for a role rather than excluding them because of an unrelated conviction. And employers benefit from a wider pool of diverse talent and contribute towards reducing the estimated £11 billion annual cost of re-offending.

But when 1 in 5 unemployed jobseekers has a criminal conviction, much more must be done to ensure that a tick box approach is not blocking them from work. Ban the Box isn’t about positive discrimination, or removing disclosure altogether. It is the first step that all responsible employers can take to level the playing field for people with convictions whilst still protecting themselves from risk.

“In the last year, we’ve seen real benefits to individuals who are simply trying to do the right thing by getting a job and becoming taxpayers. The employers who have signed up give people with convictions the confidence to apply” said Christopher Stacey, Co-Director of Unlock. “People with convictions simply want a fair chance to provide they’re the best person for the job, and that’s what Ban the Box is all about. And the end result is that employers have the best possible opportunity to recruit the best people. But people with convictions continue to face widespread blanket attitudes by many employers. That’s why, in the year ahead, we’ll be doing to more to encourage employers to support this campaign. We’ll also be doing more to work alongside employers to help them to develop and implement positive recruitment practices.”

“Business has a huge opportunity and responsibility to make the workplace more accessible to ex-offenders that simply want to contribute their skills to society” said Catherine Sermon, Employment Director, Business in the Community. “24 pioneering firms have banned the box and ask about convictions later in the recruitment process – sending the message that they value applicants’ skills and potential over past mistakes. If just 5% of UK private sector employers followed their lead, over a million roles would be more accessible to ex-offenders. Now is the time to dramatically improve the life chances for the huge numbers of people with convictions and make fair consideration of criminal convictions the norm.”

You can find out more information about Unlock’s support for employers here.

Visit www.bitc.org.uk/banthebox for more information about Ban the Box. Follow the campaign at #BantheBoxUK

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