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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

Category: Employment discrimination

New criminal records guide and resources for recruitment agencies

Commenting on the launch today by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) of guidance and resources for recruitment agencies, Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock, the national charity for people with convictions, said:

“Recruitment agencies are an important source of job opportunities for people with a criminal record. That’s why Unlock was pleased to work with the REC to develop these good practice resources and encourage its members to support inclusive recruitment towards people with a criminal record. Expanding the candidate pool to include under-represented groups is good for individuals, good for business and good for the community. The vast majority of people with a criminal record want to leave their past behind and move forward in a positive way. Sustainable employment is key to that, and we know that employers who recruit people with convictions find them to be loyal, hard-working and reliable employees. We look forward to continuing to work with the REC and its members to put these resources into practice and help them to make the most of the skills and experiences that people with convictions can bring.”

The criminal records guide is designed to support and advise recruiters on best practice for candidates with a criminal conviction.

You can read a blog on the REC website about the launch, as well as download a 2-page infographic and read a checklist for recruiters, as part of the resources that have been published today.

Our submission to the government’s call for evidence on the employment of people with convictions

Today we have submitted our written response to the government’s call for evidence on the employment for people with convictions.

Download our submission here.

You can find out more about the call for evidence in our recent post to encourage others to get involved.

Our submission draws on work that we’ve been doing as part of our Fair Access to Employment project.

 

Criminal record requests on application forms could be breaching GDPR

People Management has published an article that looks at a briefing recently published by Nacro that looks at data protection and the use of criminal offence data for employment and education purposes. We very much welcome the briefing by Nacro, which raises some important issues for employers. 

Speaking to People Management, Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock, said:

“GDPR and the new Data Protection Act 2018 means employers that choose to ask applicants about criminal records will need to provide clear reasons and explain their legal basis for doing so. It is likely that asking about criminal records at application stage would be very difficult to justify in light of the recent enhancements in data protection. As one of the founding members of the Ban the Box campaign in the UK, Unlock encourages employers of all sizes and in every sector to sign up and remove criminal record questions from application forms.

 

“However, fair recruitment is about more than just removing a question. Employers are required to justify why they are asking about criminal records at any stage in the process, and we encourage employers to use this opportunity to think about whether they need to ask about criminal records at all and, if they do, how they manage the process so they don’t miss out on talented and qualified applicants with previous convictions. Proactive recruiters report that employees with convictions are more productive and more loyal than average. We have developed 10 principles of fair recruitment, in collaboration with business and government, and we will be publishing practical guidance for employers on data protection, GDPR and criminal records in the coming weeks.” 

Get involved! Government consultation on employer practices towards people with criminal records

The Cabinet Office (in partnership with the Ministry of Justice) are calling for evidence on the employment for people with convictions, and they want to hear from employers about recruitment practices, employability initiatives and evidence/impact. As well as employers, the Cabinet Office want to hear from organisations or professionals who:

  • work with people with convictions through the provision of skills training, outreach, mentoring, work placements.
  • work with people with convictions to help them find employment?
  • work with or advise other organisations on creating fair recruitment practices and supporting people with convictions in the labour market
  • campaign to reduce the stigma associated with having, or hiring someone with, a criminal conviction

We’ve shared this call for evidence with our network of employers and encourage you to do the same. However, we expect that the majority of employers that respond will have a more positive view of hiring people with convictions. While this is important, it’s just as important to hear about employers with negative views of employing people with a criminal record, so please share examples – anonymised if you prefer – of both in your response to the Cabinet Office, and share them with us too to help inform our response.

Although the consultation is not directly targeted at individuals, anyone can respond to the consultation so we would encourage people with a criminal record who have evidence and experiences linked to the areas below to respond.

Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock said:

“We’re very pleased to see the Cabinet Office launch this call for evidence, and we’re keen to raise awareness of it so that it reaches as many employers as possible. We’d really like to to encourage responses from businesses that perhaps have less positive approaches approaches to applicants with a criminal record, so that the government understand what some of the barriers are for employers. Alongside a number of positive examples of where employers do this well, we know that there are widespread negative attitudes towards applicants with a criminal record, and we’ll be making sure that these are reflected in our response so that we can encourage the government to do more to help change this.”

The consultation is looking at three areas, and we’ve suggested some questions below to consider in your response:

Recruitment practices

  1. What are employers doing – if anything – to promote fair recruitment for people with a criminal record?
  2. Do employers impose restrictions and/or bans on the hiring of ex-offenders for some or all jobs – and if so, why?
  3. What incentives or support could help employers sign up to Ban the Box?
  4. Examples of employers that proactively hire people with a criminal convictions. Examples of companies that restrict or refuse employment to people with convictions.

 

Employability initiatives

  1. Which companies run employability initiatives to support recruitment of people with criminal records?
  2. What support could be offered to employers to improve prospects for people with criminal records?

 

Evidence and impact

  1. What is the impact of employment – for business, for the individual, the community and the economy?
  2. What evidence is there of impact and what evidence could be collected better?

 

How to get involved

Read the full call for evidence here and complete and return your response to aandi-socialresearch@cabinetoffice.gov.uk by 5pm on Friday 31 August 2018.

Unlock will be responding directly to the consultation too, so alongside making a response yourself, please do send us information that can help inform our response. You can email details (confidentially) to policy@unlock.org.uk.

Although the consultation is not directly targeted at individuals, anyone can respond to the consultation so we would encourage people with a criminal record who have evidence and experiences linked to the areas above to respond.

 

Blog – What will be the impact of today’s charity rule changes?

There are over 11 million people in this country with a criminal record. Many of them play a vital role in contributing to the work of charities. There are many charities, including those working with people in the criminal justice system, that are ‘user led’ or actively involve their beneficiaries at a senior level in their organisation.

Almost anyone is allowed to run a charity, but there are rules that mean some people with a criminal record are prevented from being able to unless they have clearance from the Charity Commission.

Those rules have changed today (1st August 2018). Changes to the ‘automatic disqualification’ rules mean some people with certain convictions will be prevented from being able to run a charity, unless they have clearance from the Charity Commission. The changes cover a wider range of criminal records and apply to certain senior manager roles as well as trustee positions.

Unlock has long opposed these changes – we continue to argue that they are disproportionate and an ineffective way of protecting charities. However, pragmatically we also need to make sure that both charities and individuals respond to the changes.

But worryingly, awareness of the changes is low. Research of small charities carried out by the Foundation for Social Improvement in partnership with Unlock has shown a low level of awareness and understanding of these changes amongst the voluntary sector. Of the 83 respondents to an online survey held in July 2018:

  1. 70% were not aware of the changes
  2. On a small of 1-10 on how confident charities were on understanding the impact on people involved in the charity:
    1. 34% scored 1 (the least confident)
    2. 65% scored 5 or less
    3. Only 10% scored 10 (the most confident)
  3. 4 charities had identified individuals that might be directly affected (i.e. potentially disqualified), yet none of those individuals had applied for a waiver.

It’s important that charities of all shapes and sizes get to grips with these changes, not just those that work in criminal justice. If you particularly involve people with criminal convictions in your organisation’s leadership, it is vital to understand what you can do to support people who are effected to be involved.

We published guidance, with the support of Clinks, in February of this year, to coincide with a new ‘advance’ waiver system that people could use if they were affected by the changes coming in next week. We’ve now updated the guidance, published today, to reflect the changes having fully come into force –  to help charities understand these changes and look at what steps to take to maintain and increase the involvement of people with criminal records within charities.

Two main things are now covered in the latest guidance:

  1. Advice on checking your governing documents – it’s quite common for provisions in articles that prevent people from being disqualified. Depending on how they’re worded, it can mean that a waiver from the Charity Commission has no effect. We’ve sought legal advice and advice from the Charity Commission, and included examples of where this might cause a problem, and provided suggested wording.
  2. Sample declarations for charities to use for trustees and senior managers covered by the rules

We’ve also got guidance for individuals – to help people understand if they’re affected, we’ve got a simple online tool – and also detailed guidance on applying for a waiver. In practice, people that are disqualified can apply for a waiver which, if granted, will mean they can still take up the role that they were previously disqualified from.

Moving forward, there’s a big question about the impact of these changes. We’ve always been concerned that these changes will make it much more difficult for charities to involve people with criminal records at senior levels in their organisation.

Ultimately, it’s important that neither individuals nor charities think that these changes mean people with criminal records can’t be involved in charities – they can and they should. To help with this, we encourage charities to make a firm commitment to involving people from diverse backgrounds, including people with convictions (particularly given the strong links to over-representation of Black and Minority Ethnic groups in the criminal justice system) and recruiting people on their skills and abilities first.

We are also encouraging charities to take 4 simple steps in dealing with the rules:

  1. Work out who the new rules cover in your charity and check your governing documents
  2. Ask those people in roles covered by the new rules if they are disqualified
  3. Support any individuals disqualified
  4. Update your policies and practices for recruiting new trustees and certain senior manager positions

We expect the commission to grant waivers to people who are clearly adding value to the charities that they’re involved in, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on any decisions they make to refuse waivers. The number of waiver applications so far is small – only a handle of people with convictions have applied for a waiver since 1st February, and many are still awaiting a decision.

Over the coming months we will be supporting charities that have individuals affected, as well as supporting individuals that are applying for a waiver, and continuing our policy work with the Charity Commission.

 

 

 

More information

  1. A news post about the changes coming into force today
  2. Our updated guidance for charities
  3. Our updated guidance for individuals
  4. The charity rule changes page on our website.

New charity rules that impact on people with convictions come into force today

There are over 11 million people in this country with a criminal record. Many of them play a vital role in contributing to the work of charities. There are many charities, including those working with people in the criminal justice system, that are ‘user led’ or actively involve their beneficiaries at a senior level in their organisation.

Almost anyone is allowed to run a charity, but there are rules that mean some people with a criminal record are prevented from being able to unless they have clearance from the Charity Commission.

Those rules have changed today (1st August 2018). Changes to the ‘automatic disqualification’ rules mean some people with certain convictions will be prevented from being able to run a charity, unless they have clearance from the Charity Commission. The changes cover a wider range of criminal records and apply to certain senior manager roles as well as trustee positions.

Unlock has long opposed these changes – we continue to argue that they are disproportionate and an ineffective way of protecting charities. But in response to the implementation timetable set out by government and the Charity Commission, we published guidance for charities and individuals in February 2018, which we have now updated and published today to reflect the changes having fully come into force.

It’s important that charities of all shapes and sizes get to grips with these changes, not just those that work in criminal justice. If you particularly involve people with criminal convictions in your organisation’s leadership, it is vital to understand what you can do to support people who are affected by the new rules to be involved.

For individuals that are affected by these changes, our guidance for individuals (and online tool) is designed to help. If you think you need to apply for a waiver, or are in the process of doing so, please get in touch with our helpline so that we can support where possible.

Commenting on figures featured in news articles today in Third Sector and Civil Society, Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock, said:

“The figures that the Charity Commission has released today do not give any detail on how many of the waivers they have granted relate to people with a criminal record, and that is an important figure to being able to understand the impact of these changes and how well the waiver process is working.

 

“We know of some cases where individuals have waited months for a decision, and it’s concerning to learn that over 1 in 3 waiver applications are still being considered. Given that these decisions might have significant implications for people’s livelihoods, it’s important that the commission is making sure that it’s meeting its aim of making decisions within 21 days.

 

“Research of small charities has shown that 70% of organisations are not aware of the changes and the majority lack confidence in their understanding of the impact the changes will have on people involved in their charities. The fact that a third of the waiver applications so far were not applicable points to this lack of knowledge and confidence.

 

“Today, we’ve launched updated guidance, supported by Clinks, to help charities understand the changes and to look at what steps to take to maintain and increase the involvement of people with criminal records within charities.”

 

More information

  1. A blog by our co-director, Christopher Stacey, on the changes that came into force today
  2. Our updated guidance for charities
  3. Our updated guidance for individuals
  4. The charity rule changes page on our website.

New addition to the Unlock team

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Rachel Tynan, who has joined Unlock as our new policy and practice lead.

Rachel has previously worked in the civil service and higher education and joins us following the completion of her PhD and a stint at Open Book at Goldsmiths.

Rachel will be leading Unlock’s work in increasing the employment of people with criminal records by supporting and challenging employers to change their recruitment policies and practices, working to prevent unlawful criminal record checks, influencing government policy and working on other policy and practice issues including access to higher education.

Talking about her appointment, Rachel said:

“I’m really excited to be joining Unlock and working to improve employment and higher education opportunities for law-abiding people with convictions. Research consistently shows that re-offending is reduced where people are in sustainable employment or training, and employers and universities providing opportunities are contributing to a safer and more just society.”

Find out more about Rachel here.

Unlock comment: Ministry of Justice’s Education and Employment Strategy

Commenting on the Ministry of Justice’s Employment and Education Strategy, Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock, said:

“Unlock welcomes today’s Education and Employment Strategy from the Ministry of Justice, which includes some key measures that we support, including looking at financial incentives to encourage employers, and the civil service piloting its own scheme to directly employ people with convictions. We know that finding meaningful employment is a significant barrier for people with criminal records, and that despite some examples of proactive and positive employers, the overwhelming majority of employers take negative approaches towards people who disclose past offences.

 

“Nevertheless, the strategy doesn’t go anywhere near far enough and the Ministry of Justice has made a significant mistake by focusing solely on prisons and those released from them. It does nothing to deal with over 90% of people convicted each year who don’t go to prison but still struggle with employment because of stigma and discrimination as a result of their criminal record.

 

“Efforts in the strategy to engage with and support employers – such as a new body, the New Futures Network, and a new employer website – are positive steps forward, but will have limited success if they are not backed up by long-term joined-up strategic investment to support and challenge employers to recruit both people leaving prison and those with a criminal record in the community. The Ministry of Justice itself also seems to have missed the opportunity to lead from the front in employing people with convictions and become a beacon of good practice for other Whitehall departments to follow.

 

“Fundamentally, a criminal record is the biggest barrier to employment that most people will face when leaving the criminal justice system. Regardless of their skills and experience, people with convictions are routinely held back because of it. To genuinely improve their employment chances, the Ministry of Justice must seriously question the criminal records regime and look to reform it so that it does not act as the lifelong anchor, holding back people who have turned their lives around.”

Notes

  1. Unlock is an independent, award-winning national charity that provides a voice and support for people with convictions who are facing stigma and obstacles because of their criminal record, often long after they have served their sentence.
  2. There are over 11 million people in the UK that have a criminal record.
  3. Unlock’s website is unlock.devchd.com.
  4. Unlock submitted written evidence to the Ministry of Justice to inform the development of the strategy. Download our submission.
  5. Unlock has views on financial incentives to encourage employers – this is available here.

Unlock comment: Recruitment & Employment Confederation becomes Ban the Box employer

Commenting on today’s news that the Recruitment & Employment Confederation has become a Ban the Box employer, Christopher Stacey, co-director of Unlock, the national charity for people with convictions, said:

“Recruitment agencies are an important source of job opportunities for people with a criminal record. That’s why we’ve been working with the Recruitment & Employment Confederation in supporting agencies in taking on people with criminal records. We’re delighted that the REC is practicing what it preaches by signing up to the Ban the Box campaign to promote fair recruitment practice. We are looking forward to continuing to work with them and their members to support fairer and more inclusive practices that help recruitment agencies to make the most of the skills and experiences that people with convictions can bring.”

Blog – The answer to Oxfam’s safeguarding problems is not enhanced DBS checks

The latest blog by Christopher Stacey (published on the Huffington Post) questions the use of enhanced DBS checks as the answer to Oxfam’s safeguarding problems.

Read it here.

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