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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Category: News & Media

Lord Ramsbotham introduces Private Members Bill to shorten rehabilitation periods

Lord Ramsbotham, Unlock’s President, has introduced a Private Members Bill into the House of Lords which would shorten the rehabilitation periods that apply under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (ROA).

The Bill, which had it’s first reading yesterday, proposes a number of changes. One of most significant elements is that sentences of over 4 years in prison would become spent 4 years after the end of the full sentence.

Although the Bill is a long way from becoming law, it’s a welcome step forward in getting further reform to the ROA back on the agenda.

More information

  1. You can follow the progress of the Bill on the Parliament website.
  2. You can find out more information about our work to get further reform to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
  3. There is practical information on how the law currently operates on our information site.

Were the effects of accepting a caution explained to you? Send us a copy of what you were given

Our helpline receives enquiries every day from individuals who have accepted cautions without feeling like they understand the effects of it.

The Home Office guidance on cautions states that ‘the significance of the admission of guilt in agreeing to accept a caution must be fully and clearly explained to the individual before they are cautioned.’

However, different police forces give different guidance and have different forms in place.

We’re interested in seeing copies of cautions that people have accepted in the last two years. This will give us a good idea of the type of written information people were given before they signed to accept the caution.

Find out more on our information site.

Monthly update – May 2016

We’ve just published our update for May 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This months update includes:

  1. A new page about information on the internet, online and through search engines like Google which includes a search engine removal request
  2. Advice on the importance of understanding how Police Certificates are used when working abroad
  3. A personal view on the experiences of working as a volunteer at Unlock
  4. A link to the details of workshops Unlock has been running on criminal records and disclosure in prisons
  5. Details of information we are seeking from people who have received a caution in the last two years

 

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. other news and developments that might be of interest to individuals with a criminal record

 

Read the May 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.

 

Timetable for implementation – Charities Act 2016

The Cabinet Office has published a timetable for implementation of the Charities Act 2016, which received Royal Assent on the 16th May 2016.

The relevant section that impacts on people with criminal records will come into force on 1st April 2017.

We’re working with the Charity Commission and there’ll be more news in the coming months. We’ll be posting updates onto our dedicated policy page.

Unlock submits evidence to review of Youth Justice

Today we have published our submission to the review of youth justice.

Our submission focuses on criminal records, disclosure and young people.

Background

  1. In September 2015, Michael Gove announced a review of the youth justice system.
  2. In February 2016, Charlie Taylor, who’s leading the review, published his interim report.
  3. In response to his particular interest in criminal records, Unlock has submitted evidence to the review.
  4. Download: Review of Youth Justice – Unlock submission

Unlock in prison!

In February 2016, we were invited by Plias Resettlement to visit Wormwood Scrubs and Pentonville prisons to present workshops on criminal records and disclosure (they deliver the National Careers Service contract there). The aim was to look at the ongoing effects of a criminal record, how this can affect a person’s ability to reintegrate into society upon release from prison, and how to overcome these.

 

‘We recommend the workshops that Unlock deliver; they are informative, relevant and provide people with convictions with up to date and accurate information that enables them to move on with their lives.’  PLIAS Resettlement, 2016 

 

Plias gave us a fairly flexible brief in running a 2-hour workshop. This is where the idea behind our Top 10 things to know about a criminal record came from (which we developed at the same time). We wanted to keep things simple, but wanted to cover some of the key areas of life that people need to be aware of.

 

Wormwood Scrubs Workshop

Our 1st workshop at Wormwood Scrubs (photograph courtesy of PLIAS with permission from the prison)

 

The result was a new ‘Moving on with Conviction’ workshop. The idea being that we would highlight 10 key areas which we think, from experience of running our helpline, are important for anybody with a criminal record to know about, with plenty of opportunity for questions.

We had about 20 men come along to the classroom in the education department at Wormwood Scrubs. With a relatively small number of people, we were able to make the session very interactive with lots of questions and answers and many of the men shared their own personal experiences. Some comments after the event were:-

 

I think workshops like the one today should take place more often – enlightening

 

Very positive approach and really well presented

 

Full of confidence from the first one, we headed off to Pentonville a couple of days later. This one was quite different; it took place in the large prison chapel with around 70 men turning up. The size of the room and the number of people meant that the session had to be far more ‘controlled’ which made it difficult for too much interaction. Initially, this made it quite difficult to engage with the group.

We recognise how hard it is to take any positives out of being in prison and it’s easy to think that a criminal record will prevent you being able to move on successfully in the future. It was clear that many of the men in Pentonville felt this way.

Explaining to the group that there were may employers out there that were willing to give people a second chance and highlighting how 50% of Unlock’s staff and trustees had a criminal record seemed to endorse the positive message we were trying to put across.

From then on, the atmosphere in the room seemed to change, with the session becoming more upbeat. Comments from the men included:-

 

I understand a lot now about jobs and how to disclose

 

I felt the event was done very well under pressure

 

We are grateful to the support of Plias in covering our costs in preparing and delivering these sessions. We’ve come away with some ideas of how we might be able to do more of these in the future, as it’s clear to us that many people in prison are simply not made aware of things they need to be alert to in dealing with the impact of having a criminal record once they’re released.

 

Written by Debbie Sadler, Advice Manager

 

More information

You can find out more about our fair access to employment project here or get in touch with us.

Practical self-help information can be found on understanding your criminal record and disclosing to employers.

 

Our approach to working with other organisations

Working with other organisations is important to us. It often means we can achieve more than by working alone or we can help other organisations to achieve more themselves. For example, we:

We also provide open-access to a vast amount of information and resources through our websites. These websites are set up primarily to support people with convictions as part of the range of support we provide directly to individuals. However, we want as many people to benefit from our resources and we encourage organisations to use them as part of the delivery of their own work.

We are, however, seeing a rise in the number of enquiries from service-providers received by our helpline, which is set up and funded to provide support for individuals themselves.

That’s why we’ve published a document which explains our approach to working with other organisations. The aim is to clarify what support we can offer other organisations and how it can be accessed.

You can download our approach here.

Criminal record disclosure training endorsed by the Probation Institute

We’re delighted to announce that Unlock’s criminal record disclosure training has been endorsed by the Probation Institute. It also means that we’re now a Probation Institute Endorsed Learning Provider.

Commenting on the news, Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock, said:

“Those working in the probation sector are one of the key audiences for our criminal record disclosure training. We know that, historically, probation officers have had very little training on supporting their clients with the complex laws around criminal records and how to practically deal with disclosing their criminal record to employers and others.”

 

“The main reason we deliver training to probation providers and other organisations that deliver front-line services is so that we improve the quality of the support provided to people with convictions. We know from the feedback that we get that the training is high-quality and relevant to probation providers. We hope that this endorsement process will enable us to work with more probation services to help them to more effectively support their clients with the disclosure of their criminal records.”

 

Savas Hadjipavlou, Chief Executive of the Probation Institute, said:

“We are very pleased that the partnership between Unlock and the Probation Institute announced last October is producing results and particularly delighted that Unlock has become a Probation Institute Endorsed Learning Provider. Our endorsement arrangements support those working in probation enabling access to relevant and high quality training that can contribute to their continuing professional development”

 

More information

  1. You can find out more about our criminal record disclosure training
  2. This news has also been posted on the Probation Institute’s website
  3. You can find out more about the Probation Institute Learning Provider Endorsement Scheme
  4. Press/media enquiries

Monthly update – April 2016

We’ve just published our update for April 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This months update includes:

  1. New information on receiving a criminal record whilst you’re in employment
  2. Advice on the importance of understanding what’s on your criminal record and knowing what level of criminal record check an employer will be doing
  3. Updated information on insurance brokers and motor insurers
  4. A personal view on the consequences of a criminal record and working abroad
  5. A link to the results of an analysis and evaluation of our helpline

 

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. other news and developments that might be of interest to individuals with a criminal record

 

Read the April 2016 update in full here

 

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.

 

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