Category: For specific groups

Westminster Hall debate about DBS performance

Yesterday there was a Westminster Hall debate, brought by Helen Hayes MP, about the performance of the Disclosure and Barring Service.

In particular, Ms Hayes highlights:

There are harder cases, including my constituent who is an ex-offender and has found it very difficult to find work. In May 2016, he was offered a job that he was keen to take up. He contacted me about the delay in processing his enhanced DBS check. Despite my office contacting the DBS a number of times and receiving assurances on three occasions that the case had been escalated, my constituent is still waiting for his DBS check more than five months later and the rare offer of employment has been withdrawn. When people are doing their very best to do the right thing and to turn a corner in their lives and move on, it cannot be right that the Government are placing an unnecessary barrier in their way.

You can read the debate in full.

Justice Committee inquiry into youth criminal records – have your say!

We’re pleased that, after joint efforts by Unlock and the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ), the Justice Committee has launched a short inquiry into the system governing the disclosure of criminal records in relation to offences committed by people when under 18 years old. Given the Committee’s recent inquiry into young adults in the criminal justice system, the Committee also welcomes views on whether the regime governing disclosure of such criminal records should be extended to apply to records of offences committed by older people, for example up to the ages of 21 or 25.

The inquiry is an opportunity to build on the work we’ve been doing with the SCYJ as part of the ‘Growing up, moving on’ campaign, which was launched in April 2016.

It’s also a good opportunity to explain the disproportionate impact that criminal records have on people that obtain them in early adulthood, and to make the case for this to be reflected in the way disclosure laws operate.

In particular, the Committee welcomes written submissions on:

The appropriateness and effectiveness of the statutory framework applying to the disclosure to employers and others of criminal records relating to offences committed by people when under 18 years old
whether that framework and the way in which it is operated in practice strike an appropriate balance between protection of employers and the public, on the one hand, and the rehabilitation of people committing offences when young, on the other hand
the effects in respect of the disclosure of such records of changes made in 2013 to the filtering of offences from criminal records checks and in 2014 to rehabilitation periods.

The deadline is Friday 11th November 2016.

What can you do?

It’s important that as many individuals and organisations put forward their evidence, comments and experiences on the disclosure of youth criminal records. This is the best way to help the Committee to understand the extent of the issue.

In particular, we think it’s extremely important that the inquiry receives evidence from those people with personal experience of having a criminal record from when they were young. For those who find that it continues to hold them back, or created a significant barrier to them moving on, these personal stories can help MP’s on the Committee to understand the problem and identify what needs to change.

We’re in the process of putting together a response, so if you’re planning to submit evidence to the Committee, please let us know and send us copies of the evidence you submit. Email policy@unlock.org.uk.

Further information

Details about the Justice Committee inquiry are on the Parliament website.

Details about our policy work on rehabilitation periods.

Details about our policy work on filtering.

Trial for November – the helpline will be open until 7pm each Wednesday

Our helpline is the forefront of the direct support that we provide, and since we launched it in 2008 it’s only ever been open during normal office working hours.

As part of providing information, advice and support for people with convictions, we’re always looking at ways to improve and make it more accessible.

We have decided to run a trial of extending the opening hours of the helpline.

So for November, we’re going to keep the helpline open until 7pm each Wednesday. Given the way the days fall in November, it means for 5 weeks we’ll be open on Wednesday until 7pm. The dates n November this will apply to are the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th.

As a team, we’re going to split the extra working hours between us and crucially, we’ll keep a track on the number of calls we receive and try and find out why people have called us at that time. That should give us a good sense of whether there’s any demand in the future and what benefits it brings to those that call during those times.

Help us raise awareness

It’s now important for us to raise awareness of this trial so that people know they can call us on these dates after our normal 4pm closing time. That’s why we’ve written this post, and we’ll be tweeting using the hastag #unlockhelpline – help us spread awareness as best as you can.

After the trial, we’ll reflect and post an update on here to let you know how it went and what we plan to do next.

Some examples of people we’ve helped

Looking back over the last couple of months, we’ve written up a few examples of the people we’ve helped.

We hope they give a good idea of how we help people.

However, more importantly than our role, we think that these examples show how people with convictions are able to overcome some of the barriers that have been put in their way due to their criminal record.

We’ve posted the examples below as case studies in the support section of our website:

Evan – If you’re finding it difficult to get paid employment, think about becoming self-employed

Jeremy – Make sure you’re clear about what type of conviction you’ve received and whether you legally need to disclose it before you do

Kevin – It’s always worth applying to Google to have search links removed even if source sites refuse to remove the story

Monthly update – September 2016

We’ve just published our update for September 2016.

This months update includes:

Some new information on applying for work through a recruitment agency
Updated information on the long list of sentences/disposals and how long it takes for them to become spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
A personal view on starting a relationship with somebody with a conviction for a sexual offence
A link to Recruit, our new website which supports employers to recruit people with convictions.

The full update provides a summary of:

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

Read the September 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.

Official launch of updated forum to support people with convictions

Unlock, the country’s leading charity for people with convictions, today officially launches its updated forum which supports people to overcome the stigma of their criminal record.

theForum 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.

Read our full news post.

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:

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

Read the full press release.

We give evidence to Parliament Committee on support for ex-offenders

Today Unlock, alongside Working Chance, Clinks and Revolving Doors Agency, gave oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry into the support for ex-offenders. We were invited to give evidence following our written response to the inquiry.

At the session, Christopher Stacey, Unlock’s co-director, responded to questions focused on employment support, job centre staff and the approach of employers towards people with criminal records.

Watch the evidence session on Parliament TV.

We also supported the Committee by producing and circulating a survey amongst people with convictions. This received 82 responses, all of which were shared with the Committee.

We carried out an analysis of the survey results and submitted it to the Committee.

Download: Results and analysis of our survey

We submit evidence to House of Lords Select Committee on Financial Exclusion

As part of the House of Lords Select Committee on Financial Exclusion, we have submitted written evidence, focusing on financial exclusion issues where a criminal record per se causes a problem.

Download: Unlock’s written evidence to House of Lords Select Committee on Financial Exclusion

You can find out more about the Select Committee on the Parliament website

Monthly update – August 2016

We’ve just published our update for August 2016.