As part of our support for Ban the Box, we spoke on Radio 5 Live about the campaign.
You can listen to the interview below.
Category: Employment
‘How to employ with conviction’ – An Unlock Webcast for EFFRR (the Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending)
Today we delivered a training session to the Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending (EFFRR), covering a range of common questions that employers have when they are looking to recruit people with convictions.
Download a factsheet that was produced after the session.
Find out more information about our support for employers here.
Scottish Government consult on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
This week, the Scottish Government has (finally) launched its consultation on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
England & Wales has passed its own reforms on this (although they’re still waiting to come into force), but these will not change the situation in Scotland.
The Scottish Government hasn’t put forward a specific proposal at this stage, which suggests a genuine openness to look at different ways of improving it.
Not only is this is a great opportunity to influence potential changes in Scotland, but it’s also a way of setting out arguments for why broader changes in approach may be needed, and how this may relate in the future to changes in England and Wales.
For information, when the UK Government published a consultation on amendments to England & Wales, Unlock submitted a response, which can be downloaded here.
We want to encourage anybody who has a view on the ROA in Scotland to respond to the consultation. All the details can be found on the Scottish Government website.
For anybody who wishes to their share contributions more broadly, we’re happy to circulate responses via this site – just send them through to therecord@outlook.com.
DBS Update Service and One Certificate
This is an update taken from our Information Hub
Today, we’ve published a brief guide which explains some of the changes that the DBS has introduced this week.
The Update Service is a new subscription service lets you keep your DBS certificate up-to-date so you can take it with you when you move jobs or roles. The employer can then carry out free, online, instant checks to see if any new information has come to light since the certificate’s issue – this is called a ‘status check’.
To coincide with launching the Update Service, the DBS will now only issue certificates to you; they’ll no longer send a copy to the Registered Body. This change is being referred to as ‘One Certificate’. Employers will now need to ask you for sight of your DBS Certificate.
The guide we’ve put together discusses some of the issues and questions that people with convictions are likely to be interested in, including some of the benefits and potential downsides to these changes.
Read the guide we’ve published here.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this information, please contact us.
If you’d like to discuss this information with others, there is a specific thread on our online forum.
What can’t you do with a criminal record? A life sentence?
We’ve contributed to an article in Prospect Magazine, which used the recent cases of Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce as a way of looking at some of the longer-term effects of a criminal record.
You can read the article here. There is also a list of interesting comments at the bottom of the article.
Discrimination of young offenders from poor backgrounds
A new study published by the University of Portsmouth looks at the discrimination faced by young offenders from poor backgrounds.
We discuss this in an interview on BBC London, which you can listen to below.
Should former offenders be employed to mentor ex-prisoners?
We’ve given an interview on BBC Radio Wales to discuss Government plans to have former offenders as mentors.
You can listen to the interview below.
The effects of the ROA on people with convictions
We’ve given an interview to BBC West Midlands, talking about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
You can listen to the interview below.
Court of Appeal rules on CRB checks
Linked to our press release on the recent Court of Appeal decision around CRB checks, we’ve given radio interviews to Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Wales.
Both are these can be listened to below.
CRB’s and second chances
As part of of the ongoing Court of Appeal case about CRB checks, we’ve written an article for thejusticegap.com.
You can read the article here.
