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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Category: News & Media

Monthly update – April 2017

We’ve just published our update for April 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This months update includes:

  1. Some new information providing an overview of the Disclosure and Barring Service
  2. An advice post which sets out the criteria a delivery driver role would have to meet to make it eligible for an enhanced DBS check
  3. A personal view on becoming self-employed if you have a criminal record
  4. A link to a discussion on how people with convictions can be denied compensation if they have been the victim of a violent crime
  5. Examples of some of the people we’ve helped to overcome the problems they’ve faced as a result of their criminal record.

 

The full update provides a summary of:

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

 

Read the April 2017 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.

 

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:

 

Jennifer – Making a conscious decision to disclose my spent convictions still got me the job of CEO

Pheobe – Becoming a school governor with a criminal record

Terence – Helping a couple navigate the ‘disqualification by association’ regulations and the negative impact it is having

Tom – Inappropriate use of ‘disqualification by association’ regulations by a university 

William – Ineligible Disclosure and Barring Service check leads employer to withdraw job offer

 

Monthly update – March 2017

We’ve just published our update for March 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This months update includes:

  1. Some updated information on establishing what level of check an employer can carry out with links to the new online Disclosure and Barring Service eligibility tool
  2. An advice post setting out the changes the DBS are planning to introduce over the next 12 months
  3. A personal view on becoming a Scout Leader with a criminal record
  4. A link to a discussion on applying to study at university and how universities treat people with convictions
  5. Details of the work we are doing in identifying employers who carry out ineligible criminal record checks

 

The full update provides a summary of:

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

 

Read the March 2017 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.

 

Your finances in and out of prison – BBC Radio 4 Money Box live

Around 50% of offenders re-offend within a year. Lack of money for basic necessities can increase the risk of re-offending. The first few weeks after release from prison are critical.

Many prisons offer some sort of basic financial advice to help ex-offenders navigate life on the outside but recent changes mean provision can be patchy. So what can you expect? How difficult is it to get your foot back on the financial ladder with a criminal record? And could business be doing more to get ex-offenders back into employment? Also, you can work and earn a wage but where does your money go and what is there to spend it on in prison anyway?

Christopher Stacey takes part in this special Money Box phone in.

Watch our oral evidence to the Justice Committee inquiry into the disclosure of youth criminal records

Earlier today co-director, Christopher Stacey, gave evidence to the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the disclosure of youth criminal records.

You can watch the session here or below.

 

More information

  1. Posts about our work on youth criminal records can be found here.
  2. The specific details of the inquiry are here
  3. There are more general details about the work of the Justice Committee here

Do you have a conviction that will never be spent?

Unlock has long campaigned for fundamental changes to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA), legislation that governs the disclosure of criminal records to employers, educational institutions, insurers and housing providers. Changes implemented in 2014 (through the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012) focused mainly on reducing rehabilitation periods.
More than 8000 people every year receive a sentence of more than four years. As the law stands, these can never become spent meaning people will have to declare them for the rest of their life – on job applications, for housing or insurance. An unspent conviction is a lifelong barrier to moving on.
We think this should change and that’s we we’re campaigning for ROA reform. As part of our campaign, we use case studies to show why reform is necessary to help law abiding people with convictions move on.

What we need from you

If you have a conviction that can never become spent (i.e. a prison sentence of over 4 years), please contact us at policy@unlock.org.uk using the subject header ‘Call for evidence: ROA reform’. Please include:

  • Your name
  • Your date of birth
  • Contact details (email and/or telephone) and how you’d like us to contact you
  • The details of all your cautions/convictions including dates and a DBS certificate if you have one
  • The difficulties you’ve faced, recently or in the past, as a result of your criminal record not becoming spent
  • If you would be willing to contribute to any media coverage on this issue in future (this is for our reference, we won’t share your details without consent)

Any information you provide will be kept in line with our confidentiality policy. Any personal information provided to us will not be shared externally without your consent.

Find out more about how we handle your data

Find out more about our work on ROA reform.

 

Monthly update – February 2017

We’ve just published our update for February 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This months update includes:

  1. Some updated information on getting a mortgage if you have an unspent conviction
  2. An advice post setting out the eligibility for an enhanced DBS check if you work as a contractor in a school or care home
  3. A personal view on successfully securing a job in a care home with a criminal record
  4. A link to a discussion about police forces who are most likely to approve requests to come off the Sex Offenders Register and ones least likely to
  5. Christopher Stacey’s views on the Law Commission’s recommendations that there needs to be a wider review of the criminal record disclosure system.

 

The full update provides a summary of:

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

 

Read the February 2017 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.

 

Government “exploring” incentives for businesses that take on ex-offenders

Today the Work and Pensions Committee has published the Government’s response to its report on the support for ex-offenders leaving prison, which indicates that the Government has accepted the case made for many of the Committee’s recommendations and is looking for ways to take them forward, including considering a range of ways to incentive employers to take on ex-offenders leaving prison. The suggestion of offering reduced National Insurance contributions to those employers is particularly “noted with interest”.

This follows on from the Committee’s published report in December, which made recommendations after hearing evidence from organisations including Unlock.

Unlock welcomes new official open recruitment employer guide

Published by the Department for Work and Pensions in partnership with Business in the Community, the guide, Strengthening your workforce with talent from disadvantaged groups, comes after high demand from the business world for more help and support for employers to become inclusive.

Part of the See Potential campaign, it’s already been welcomed by the FSB Chairman Mike Cherry in the Telegraph’s Business pages last week and by the CBI’s President Paul Drechsler, CBE, in the Great Business Debate online. Many business organisations, such as the Institute of Directors, British Chambers of Commerce and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation are also behind the new toolkit.

See Potential infographic

With a particular section on people with criminal records, it includes 7 top tips for employers that have been drawn from our principles of fair chance recruitment and lists six useful organisations, including Unlock.

Responding to the launch of the guide, Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock, said:

“We welcome the launch of this official open recruitment guide. It’s important that companies get a consistent message about how to be more open in their recruitment, and this guide pulls together many elements of good practice that we have embedded into our principles of fair chance recruitment. It’s a much-needed resource for companies looking at how to strengthen their workforce by making sure they’re not missing out on talent pool that exists amongst people with criminal records. From here we encourage the government to not only ramp up its work in supporting employers to be more open by providing practical hands-on support, but also by directly challenging those companies that we know have unfair and discriminatory policies and procedures.”

 

More information

  1. The official guide can be downloaded from the See Potential website.
  2. Unlock has a dedicated website for employers, Recruit!, which supports employers to recruit people with convictions and deal with criminal records fairly.
  3. We have posted about the guide on our website for employers.
  4. The website includes ten principles of fair chance recruitment and practical guidance for companies.
  5. It’s part of Unlock’s fair access to employment project.

 

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