RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) have published an article in their ‘Outside In’ magazine, which explains the work that Unlock did with RBS to open up access to basic bank accounts for people in prison before release.
You can read the article here.
Category: For specific groups
Latest updates to our self-help information site – May 2015
We’ve published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub in May.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
The Justice priorities of Unlock
Christopher Stacey has written a piece for Russell Webster’s blog, which has been published today. We have provided a copy of the text below. The original is available here.
Christopher Stacey, Co-Director at Unlock – for people with convictions, is the latest to set out his top three priorities for the new Justice Secretary Michael Gove. You can follow @unlockcharity
1 MAKE FURTHER CHANGES TO WHEN CONVICTIONS BECOME SPENT
Reforms in 2014 to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act made a huge difference to thousands of people with convictions. However, they don’t go far enough. I would establish a system that involves an individual case assessment, which enables people sentenced to more than 4 years in prison to demonstrate how they’ve rehabilitated in the community, allowing their convictions to become spent.
A similar system would be open to those who have not yet reached the time-limit required by law. I’d also clean up the many technical anomalies with the current law which came about as a result of the reforms, such as how motoring convictions have a default 5 year rehabilitation period, and the ridiculous way that ‘ancillary’ court orders often lengthen the rehabilitation period for a particular conviction.
2 ESTABLISH A ‘WIPE THE SLATE CLEAN’ POLICY
As things stand, a criminal record is for life, no matter how old or minor. This is despite knowing that, in particular, young people make mistakes when they’re young. In essence, young people should be allowed to fail. Ways to properly and fully ‘wipe the slate clean’ for minor offending should be established.
Recent measures to ‘filter’ minor disposals for certain types of employment checks are limited and only came about due to legal challenges. I would establish a system that makes sure old and minor convictions and cautions are not disclosed on criminal record checks. This would apply to multiple convictions, more offence categories than currently covered by filtering, and would apply to prison sentences too.
3 LEAD FROM THE FRONT BY ‘BANNING THE BOX’ ACROSS GOVERNMENT
Alongside changes in government policy, there’s a role for more proactive and positive business practice when dealing with the recruitment of people with a criminal record. For example, the ‘Ban the Box’ initiative aims to deal with a common problem amongst mainstream employers – the use of ‘tick boxes’ about convictions on application forms as a way of determining an applicants’ suitability.
The approach of this initiative enables people with convictions to put themselves forward first and foremost on an equal playing field and competing for jobs on their skills and merit. Early indications show the potential for such positive practice to be adopted as a matter of routine, and I would work to embed this into recruitment practice across all Government departments and agencies. I would also look to follow the US example by looking to write this kind of practice into employment law.
‘Right to be forgotten’ – One year on
The Telegraph has published an article which looks at the impact of the ‘right to be forgotten’ 12 months on from the original court decision. Interesting extracts can be found below, but the full article is available here.
Since then, Google claims to have processed 253,617 requests to remove 920,258 links, and approved just over 40 per cent of those requests. In the UK alone, the company has received 32,076 requests to remove 126,571 links, and approved 37.5 per cent.
Examples of removal requests include:
A man requesting the removal of a link to a news summary of a local magistrate’s decisions that included the man’s guilty verdict. Under the UK Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, his conviction has been spent (approved)
In Britain, 183 people have reportedly complained to the UK’s data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), after Google denied their requests to remove links.
The ICO has agreed with Google’s conclusions in around three quarters of these cases, but there are 48 cases where the ICO believes Google “hasn’t got it quite right”.
Google has been asked to review these cases, and in many cases has reversed its decision, according to the ICO. However, the search company faces possible legal action from the ICO if the remaining cases are not resolved.
“We’ll be looking to resolve the remaining cases through discussion and negotiation with Google, though we have enforcement powers available to us if required,” said ICO deputy commissioner and director of data protection, David Smith.
“The European ruling is about providing individuals with a suitable mechanism for getting information which is no longer accurate or relevant to be removed from a search engine’s results page. If there is a clear public interest in the information remaining available then it will stay there as many complainants to our office have discovered.”
Latest updates to our self-help information site – April 2015
We’ve published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub in April.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
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’)
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Notes to editors
- Press/media
- 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.
- 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.
Latest updates to our self-help information site – March 2015
We’ve published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub in March.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
Read the latest posts and stories on theRecord – January to March 2015
We’ve published a roundup of recent articles that have been posted on theRec0rd, our online magazine for and by people with convictions.
Government response to disqualification of trustees
Today the Government has responded to the Joint Committee report on changes to the disqualification of trustee – their response can be downloaded here.
Looking beyond re-offending: criminal records and poverty
Christopher Stacey argues that rehabilitation for the convicted must mean proper access to opportunities.
To read his recently published article for Criminal Justice Matters , please continue
