Covid-19 (coronavirus) – Key information for people with criminal records

Covid-19 and the social distancing measures introduced to help control it are creating challenges for all of us. For people with criminal records, these challenges can be particularly difficult to overcome.

Since the UK went into lock-down, we’ve been contacted by many people with criminal records – those with criminal records in the community, people in prison and people who are subject to licence or community orders – concerned about what Covid-19 means in terms of their criminal record. 

We’ve produced some new information for people with a criminal record which tries to answer some of the common questions we’re coming across. We may not have all the answers – this situation is new to us too – but we will be regularly updating it to ensure it has the latest information and advice on Covid-19 and how it impacts on those with a criminal record.

We have also started to bring together the emerging issues faced by people with criminal records. These include employment, housing and education, as well as DBS checks and supervision arrangements. We are looking carefully at the policy implications of Covid-19 and the social distancing rules, and at how these might affect people with criminal records in the future. You can read more here. We will keep this page under review and update this as things change.

We want our information and policy work to accurately reflect the challenges you’re facing and we need your help to do that by completing a short survey. With this evidence, we can raise the issues and call for solutions.

Complete the survey here. 

More information

• Questions – If you have a question about this, you can contact our helpline.