We’ve just published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
Category: For specific groups
Primary school teachers/staff ‘disqualified by association’ – does this affect you?
In October 2014, the Department for Education (DoE) published supplementary advice to schools on what are called the ‘childcare disqualification requirements’.
The requirements have been around for a number of years, and apply to registered childcare provision outside of schools, but it’s only since October 2014 that the DoE has made it clear that these also apply to primary schools, and one aspect that’s received the most attention has been the ‘disqualification by association’ part, as it includes the cautions/convictions of those that you live with.
According to the DoE, these requirements relate to people who are working in early years and later years’ childcare – essentially, childcare up to the age of 8. The requirements apply on top of what schools do in relation to enhanced DBS checks and checks against the barred lists.
This has led to primary schools asking their staff about the criminal records of those that they live with – and those that declare are often being suspended and their case being referred to Ofsted. Although there are rules around which offences this covers, there is a lot of confusion about what this means in practice, as well as what the justification is for such a system.
What we’re doing
As this is fairly new, there are a lot of unanswered questions. We’re still building a picture of how this is working in practice, and how it might be challenged. In the meantime:
- Practical self-help information – We’ve published a brief guide which summarises how we understand this system to work
- Policy work – We’ve put a call out for individuals who this has affected. If you’ve been directly affected by the ‘disqualification by association’ element, please let us know what’s happened to you. More details can be found in the policy section of our main website.
- Discuss this issue – There’s an interesting discussion on our online forum about this – read and share your thoughts.
Latest updates to our self-help information site – December 2014
We’ve just published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
Read the new posts and stories on theRecord – December 2014
We’ve just published a roundup of recent articles that have been posted on theRec0rd, our online magazine for and by people with convictions.
Unlock give evidence to Parliamentary Committee on rules regarding becoming a trustee with convictions
Yesterday our Director of Services, Christopher Stacey, gave evidence to the Joint Committee on the Protection of Charities Bill.
You can watch the evidence below (the session Unlock takes part in starts from 15.15), or you can follow this link to watch it on the Parliament TV site.
Update (January 2015) – Following the oral evidence, we followed this with written evidence which can be downloaded here – it is also available on the Parliament website.
For more information about the policy work around becoming a trustee, click here.
New ‘Disclosing to employers’ information series and structure on the Hub
Today we’ve made two important updates to our self-help information site, unlock.devchd.com/information-and-advice/:
Please let us know what you think by completing a feedback form or providing some comments on our online forum.
Latest updates to our self-help information site – November 2014
We’ve just published a summary of the recent updates we’ve made to our Information Hub.
You can read the summary on our Hub here.
Charity Commission respond to our concerns about governing documents
We recently met with the Charity Commission, where we discussed a number of areas of concern as part of work to enable people with unspent convictions to become trustees of charities.
In particular, we discussed an issue that we raised in our report of February this year relating to a charities’ governing documents, and how the way that the Commission were interpreting these were causing problems for charities like Unlock to recruit people with convictions.
We’re pleased to report that the Commission have, following our meeting, provided us with the response below.
Turning to one of the specific issues we discussed, I referred the governing document point to one of our lawyers I can confirm that we seem to have been mistaken in 2011. The Articles as they were then did not mean a waiver would have been ineffective. If one had been granted it would have meant, as we thought at the meeting, that the individual was no longer disqualified and so could have been appointed as a trustee.
Charity Commission representative
We’re pleased that the Commission has taken a more common-sense approach to this. It removes what was otherwise a cumbersome bureaucratic hurdle that many charities would have had to go through (amending their governing documents) and now makes it somewhat easier for a charity to recruit somebody with unspent convictions.
You can find out more about our work on enabling people with convictions to become trustees of charities here.
Unlock wins an award
We are delighted to announce that Unlock has been awarded 1st prize in the 2014 Helpline Awards for the category “Best innovative use of technology”.
The Awards were held last Friday at the Annual Conference of the Helplines Partnership, who coordinated the awards as it reached its 25th anniversary of supporting helplines.
Explaining the reasons for why we were given the award, the judges’ commented;
- “Excellent presentation of the impact user developments have had for the users/callers of the service. The combination of offline and online technology brings together an accessible and impressive support package.”
- “Very sensitive area and this helpline has gone to extra lengths to ensure that callers can access information and advice. The disclosure calculator is particularly impressive and the fact that it achieves all of this with only 4 staff is particularly commendable.”
On hearing the news, Christopher Stacey, Co-Director of Unlock, said “As a small charity, we work hard to find the right balance in delivering our charitably-funded services by using a digital-first strategy, which is reflected in websites such as our self-help information site and disclosure calculator – this helps us to reach the significant numbers of people that are affected by a criminal record. We combine this approach with making sure that we have staff and volunteers, all of whom have personal experience of having a conviction, at the end of a phone line, so that we’re able to provide the kind of one-to-one information and advice that people with convictions often need. We are particularly grateful to the peer volunteers that we train to help us to provide this helpline.”
“I want to thank the Helplines Partnership for their acknowledgement of our work. This award is a fantastic endorsement of our approach, which enables us to punch well above our weight given the size and resources that we have at our disposal, while making sure that at a policy level our independence allows us to challenge unfair policies, and support employers and others to develop fairer, more inclusive practices towards people with convictions.”
Notes
- Press/media
- Unlock is an independent award-winning charity, providing trusted information and advice services 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.
- A background to why Unlock was give the award is below
“Unlock helps people that are very unpopular. It does not attract any government funding. It is genuinely beneficiary led. With over 9.2 million people in the UK with a criminal record, and a quarter of people unemployed having a criminal record, the challenge is great.
The charity runs its national helpline in a particular way – its staff and volunteers (who all have convictions themselves) provide to thousands of people every year. The recent increase has been achieved by utilising email (30% of enquiries) and other ‘accessible’ routes (such as text, Skype). However, the helpline strives to achieve national impact on minimal resources by harnessing the power of innovative technology to reach as many people as possible.
In November 2013, the charity took its old, inaccessible information to launch a dedicated self-help website. unlock.devchd.com/information-and-advice/ is widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive source of practical information. In its first year, over 200,000 unique visitors used the site, with over 2,500 subscribed for email updates powered by MailChimp.
The charity turned complex disclosure legislation into a simple online tool to help people understand their rights; in the last year alone, www.disclosurecalculator.org.uk helped over 8,400 individuals. Its online peer forum provides a safe space where individuals with convictions can go, 24/7, to receive advice from others, and its online magazine provides a way for individuals to share positive stories of their successes.
It achieves all this, and more, with just two full-time staff, two part-time staff, and a small team of volunteers.”
Find out how we can help you
If you’re a front-line practitioner, or you work for an organisation that delivers services and support to people that include those with criminal convictions, download a leaflet which explains how we can help you. Continue reading “Find out how we can help you”
