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For people with criminal records
For people with criminal records

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I’ve worked hard to be part of a system that’s now holding me back – problems with the UK criminal record disclosure system

There are many people who, as youths, picked up convictions for minor offences. However, having worked hard to gain an education and contribute to society, they find themselves in a similar situation to Tom – being judged by employers who only see them as a safeguarding risk.

 

 

As a young lad I was the class clown; the one that never went to class, never did my exams and eventually got expelled – it was classed as ‘early study leave’ at that time. With few qualifications I worked in factories for a while and then decided to go and work abroad for several months.

I really enjoyed the time I spent overseas and I started to plan for all the things I was going to do in the future. However, when I returned home I pretty much went back to my previous behaviours. It became a very common occurrence to get arrested for various ‘petty’ offences – drunk and disorderly, possession of cannabis progressing to possession of cocaine, criminal damage and battery.

For the best part of five years I never claimed a penny in benefits, was employed throughout and always paid into ‘the system’. I began to change my life around properly about 3.5 years ago when I realised that the time had come to seek help from a substance misuse service. The help I received was priceless and I soon began to volunteer for the service myself.

I really enjoyed volunteering; it helped me personally, but I was also getting some good feedback from clients that I was working with. I started to apply for trainee roles with the company and eventually I was offered an 18-month temporary contract with them.

I knew this was the field I wanted to work in, but I didn’t just want a job, I wanted a career. I went to night school to do a GCSE in English and then I enrolled for a degree course with the Open University. I’m now in my second year and considering that I’ve not done any form of studying for years and years. I’m doing OK. As well as the success in my career, I’ve now got my own place to live, I’ve got a car and even a dog and I regularly raise money for charity.

However, for all the positive stuff that I’ve done, I’ve just realised that it’s impossible to escape your past. A few days ago, I had a fantastic interview at a local care home; I’d really gelled with the manager and I was quietly confident that I’d be offered the job. I’d been asked to call into the care home to pick up some documents and I thought this was a really good sign.

When I arrived, the manager seemed a bit different to how he’d been at the interview and asked me to come into his office. He then said:

We have a problem. I’ve discussed your criminal record disclosure with HR and we’re unable to take your application any further. The company believe that you could be a safeguarding risk.”

I could feel my eyes starting to fill with tears. Even though my last conviction had been approved 9 years before, I felt embarrassed and ashamed. I’d made drastic changes to better myself and I wanted to continue to do so. I found it difficult to understand how I could be penalised for something that I’d done so long ago.

I’ve made such an effort to conform, to behave and be part of “the system” yet that system is stopping me from doing so. Because I’ve got several convictions and I want to work in regulated activity, I’m always going to need to disclose the details of my past.

It’s clear to me that the UK system of rehabilitation and criminal record disclosure isn’t working and is one that urgently needs addressing.

By Tom (name changed to protect identity)

 

Comment from Unlock

Back in January 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that two aspects of the current filtering regime were disproportionate and in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, namely the way multiple convictions and childhood cautions are dealt with.

We hope that it’s not too long before changes are made to the system and that people like Tom will be able to leave his past in the past.

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Forgiveness won’t change the past but it has improved my future – why I wasn’t added to the DBS barred list

They say it takes a strong person to say sorry, and an even stronger person to forgive. That’s certainly true in the case of Kostas and his family.

 

Prior to my conviction in 2002, I was a law-abiding citizen with an impeccable record. I’d been in the same job for 20 years and also volunteered for several charities in my spare time.

Other than my work and charity interests, my only other focus was my wife and children. I was really proud of my children, they worked hard at school and I encouraged them to do everything they could to reach their full potential. So, when one of my daughters made the decision to leave home and I later found out that she’d secretly married her boyfriend, I was in total shock.

Her behaviour was so out of character that I struggled to comprehend what had made her take the course of action she had. I went to see her new husband’s family; I thought that together we could try to get the couple to see sense. I thought they were too young to get married and I wanted my daughter to come home. However, they didn’t want to get involved.

News of my daughters marriage started to spread through my local community, and I was approached by several gentlemen who all had their own issues with my new son-in-law. They offered to help me bring my daughter home. Every night I’d see the strain on my wife’s face so worried was she about my daughter’s safety and well-being. We both felt totally helpless and unfortunately, I allowed myself to be influenced by these gentlemen.

This lack of judgement saw me convicted of conspiracy to murder my son-in-law and sentenced to time in prison.

During my time in custody, I was able to reflect on my actions and the impact it had on my daughter and son-in-law; I totally regretted what I’d done. I knuckled down and served my sentence, completing various courses and offering support and help to other prisoners who were struggling to come to terms with their sentence.

In that time, I worked hard to try and rebuild my relationship with my daughter, her husband and his family. I’m pleased to say that I now have an excellent relationship with them all and I’ve become a devoted grandfather as well. I recognise how fortunate I am that I’ve been allowed back into the family fold.

One of the downsides of my conviction is the difficulty I’ve had in finding a job. I’ve not been able to go back to my previous career and the nature of my offence makes a lot of employers deem me to be too much of a risk. After a lot of research, I made the decision to apply for a taxi licence and sent all my forms off to the local council.

Soon after I’d submitted my application I received a letter from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) informing me that they were considering putting me on the barred list. I knew that if I was barred I’d never be able to get my taxi licence and so the only thing I could do was to write to the DBS putting forward the reason why I didn’t think they should bar me.

I drafted my letter to the DBS and asked my daughter to have a read through it and let me have her thoughts (she’s really good at things like that). She gave me some valuable feedback about how I could improve my letter but the most surprising suggestion she made was to tell me that her husband (my victim) would be happy to write a letter of support!! Two families have been hugely impacted by my actions and I’ll never under-estimate the severity of what I did. The fact that my son-in-law was prepared to help me just shows how far we’ve come in rebuilding our relationship.

Not long after sending my letter to the DBS I received their response confirming that they wouldn’t be putting me on the barred list. It’s fantastic that they’ve reached this decision and I’m now just waiting for my licence to be issued.

By Kostas (name changed to protect identity)

 

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The inconsistencies of travelling when you have a sexual offence

Individuals convicted of sexual offences often have to deal with other people’s discriminatory and judgemental behaviour and it’s easy to believe that this is how they will be treated by everyone. Bruno’s story demonstrates the very different attitudes of staff working for the immigration authorities.

 

I was convicted of a sexual offence and currently have to sign the Sex Offenders Register. I believe my conviction was harsh, but I’ve accepted it and understand that every year I’ll have to sign the register and when I want to go abroad, I’ll have to inform the police.

Recently, my wife and I decided to go to France for a few days so, well in advance, as per registration rules, I informed my local police station. We travelled out via the Euro-tunnel, a journey which proved to be extremely stressful. We got through the British border with no problem at all but, when it came to the French border things were quite different.

Initially, we were told to pull over and wait. After about 40 minutes, two British police officers arrived – a male and a female. They asked to see my passport and started to question me about where we were going before walking away taking my documents with them. Another 10 minutes passed before the female officer came over to me and asked me whether I had a phone. When I said ‘Yes’ she asked to see it. She then asked me whether it had internet access and again, I said ‘Yes’. Looking at me in disgust, she called over her colleague before telling me that she’d have to take my phone away as I wasn’t allowed to have internet access.

I politely advised her that I thought she was wrong and went on to explain the full terms of my SOPO – basically that I was allowed internet enabled devices as long as I made them available to the police whenever they asked to see them. I could tell she wasn’t happy that I was disagreeing with her and she told me to wait while she went away to check. Her colleague stayed with me and was quite chatty and personable. He said that he thought there’d been a mistake, that I shouldn’t be denied internet access and not to worry.

Eventually the female officer came back and rather than apologise she said:

You’re right. Let me have your IMEI number and then you can go”.

This really wasn’t a great start to our trip and it really infuriated my wife. She wasn’t angry with me, but at the attitude of the female police officer and the delay that it had caused us.

As you can imagine, we were both dreading the trip home but it couldn’t have been more different. The border officer pulled us over and then asked me to get out of the car and open the boot. He didn’t look in the boot at all but did ask me some basic questions “Where have you been?” “Who are you travelling with?” He went on to say that he had to ask these questions but didn’t want to draw attention to me and thought it would be better to make it look like a random check. He wished me a safe journey and sent me on my way – a refreshing attitude!

Travelling whilst you’re on the register can be daunting and your experience will be made worse if you come across an official who shows you very little respect or is unclear about the responsibilities of their job. However, I’ve seen that there are some good guys who’ll be professional and treat you well. After our initial blip my wife and I had a great trip and we’d have no hesitation in travelling to France again.

Due to the nature of my offence, I’ve been left to deal with all sorts of problems and it’s taken me a little while to accept that I can’t change what happened in the past. For the sake of my family and friends, I try not to dwell on it and accept that in terms of other people’s attitudes, you just have to take the rough with the smooth – I feel a lot better for that.

By Bruno (name changed to protect identity)

 

Comment from Unlock

The Schengen Information System (SISII) is a European database that passes real time information from one participating country to another in the form of alerts relating to people or property. SISII alerts hold no prohibitions or punishments and the presence of an alert like this doesn’t require the Schengen country to refuse entry – this is a decision for the individual country to make as part of their own immigration policy.

Bruno was quite right to question why the police officer wanted to ‘confiscate’ his telephone. He was able to have in his possession internet enabled devices but even if he wasn’t allowed them, there would have been nothing on the SISII alert which detailed this prohibition.

Useful links

What’s the point of having a policy if an employer doesn’t bother to follow it?

Miski applied to a large, well-known employer and believed they would follow their published policy on recruiting people with criminal records. Here we look at how this employer approached asking, assessing and adhering to their own policy.

 

A couple of years ago I applied for a job at a large organisation famous for its inclusive values. Having unspent convictions for drugs-related offences, I was nervous about applying but the organisation’s online policy on recruiting people with criminal records was clear and seemed progressive. Although applicants were asked to disclose unspent convictions on their application, the policy said:

At interview, or in a separate discussion, the recruiting manager will ensure that an open and measured discussion takes place on the subject of any offences or other matter that might be relevant to the position.”

The job was a specialist role and I was well qualified so decided to apply, ticking the box for ‘unspent convictions’ and indicating that I’d discuss the details at interview. I expected to hear nothing back, so I was delighted to be invited to interview.

The interview was in two parts – a presentation, followed by a panel interview with the line manager, a director and three staff from other teams. The interview lasted for three hours in total and I travelled over 100 miles there at the employer’s expense. On arrival, an HR administrator filled out forms on my right to work and travel expenses, but at no stage was I asked about my criminal record. Naively, I thought maybe they’d decided it wasn’t relevant. The organisations people-centred approach seemed to be underlined when the senior manager explained that they aimed to let candidates know their decision within 48 hours. When I left I felt hopeful and optimistic; even if I didn’t get the job, it was good to know that some employers took an enlightened approach to applicants with criminal records. I’d heard such horror stories.

True to his word, the senior manager contacted me that evening and offered me the post. He explained that HR would be in touch to discuss salary and a start date, and that he was aware I had disclosed my conviction so there would be some additional paperwork to complete. The following day, I completed the paperwork sent by HR and then I waited.

After a week, I contacted HR and was told ‘don’t worry, we’re just doing checks.’ They didn’t say what checks. After another week, I wrote again and was told ‘no news’. A few days after that, a short email arrived with the title:

Application not progressed’

No reason was provided, and I asked several times for an explanation before receiving a response. They eventually admitted they’d done online searches. I knew what was there – the usual tabloid stuff, a link to a racist website and some local news. I never thought it would be part of a recruitment decision, especially by an organisation like this. But they were adamant:

…you may feel that material in the public domain does not contain all of the facts but we have to take into consideration how the media and public may respond to your appointment and that response will also be based on that information.”

This seemed at odds with the published policy: there had been no ‘open and measured discussion’ and the things they said they’d consider –

  • Whether the conviction is relevant to the position in question;
  • The seriousness of any offence;
  • The length of time since the offence occurred;
  • Whether the applicant has a pattern of offending behaviour;
  • Whether the applicant’s circumstances have changed since the offending behaviour, and
  • The circumstances surrounding the offence and explanation(s) offered

wasn’t mentioned at all. It seemed my criminal record was not a problem for the employer, but the fact that other people could find out about it was. I had been offered the job, and the policy was clear that:

Where a job offer has already been made, we will undertake to discuss any matter revealed with the person seeking the position before withdrawing a conditional offer of employment.”

I tried pointing this out, but was met with a wall of silence, eventually receiving a brief ‘Our decision is final. I do not intend to discuss this matter further.’

There is nothing to stop an employer discriminating against me because of an unspent conviction, but the fact they did so simply because I can be found online seems unfair. Especially when their brand is built on being inclusive. Can a big organisation really suffer reputational harm because it gave someone a second chance?

By Miski (name changed to protect identity)

 

Comment from Unlock

On the face of it, this employer had a reasonably fair approach to applicants with criminal records. Although asking on application forms is usually unnecessary, the employer does explain that applicants will have the chance for an open and measured discussion and that a conditional offer would not be withdrawn until after a discussion with the applicant. We advocate this approach in our self-disclosure guidance to employers. So what went wrong for Miski?

Asking

As our guidance on self-disclosure makes clear, applicants should only be asked about criminal records when it’s necessary and it will not usually be necessary on application. 125 companies have signed up to Ban the Box because they recognise that people with criminal records can enhance their business. For those employers, it means not asking until interview stage, or after an offer has been made. This doesn’t mean they won’t sometimes reject applicants because of a criminal record but it does mean they’ve given thought to how to deal with them fairly. Necessity will depend on the employer’s approach, but will generally be at interview or offer stage.

The employer should have avoided asking at application stage, but that made no material difference – Miski was offered an interview anyway. The problem arose when the employer failed to follow their disclosure policy and even introduced a new element – checking material in the public domain. Lots of employers do this, but they should make it clear to applicants if this is part of the recruitment process and be clear about how information is assessed and used. It may breach data protection principles (c) – as the employer acknowledges, information in the public domain may not contain all the facts so they cannot be certain it is accurate. Not every criminal case makes the news, and it is unlikely that any reports will contain all the facts. Using material in the public domain without informing applicants could also be a breach of the ‘fairness’ element of data protection principle (a).

Assessing

Applicants may sometimes disclose criminal records that make them unsuitable, but employers should consider their policy and approach to avoid situations like Miski’s. Staff time was wasted and, ultimately, the best candidate on merit – Miski – was not employed, because of the perceived reputational risk. None of the factors in the policy were considered.

Adhering

Like many organisations, the employer in this case had copied and pasted their policy form the DBS sample policy. While this means it’s legally compliant, using an off the shelf policy means an organisation has given limited thought to how it will work in practice. In Miski’s case, the policy wasn’t followed. More than that, new elements – checking of material in the public domain – were introduced. This suggests the employer had limited experience in recruiting people with convictions, and little regard for their own policies. If reputational harm is a factor in recruitment, employers should consider how best to manage disclosure and assessment. Post GDPR, they must also be clear about what information will be collected and why – use of information in the public domain could be considered excessive.

 

Volunteers Week 2019 – A shout out to Unlock’s volunteers

Volunteer Week is celebrated between 1st and 7th June every year. It’s a week in which the UK celebrates volunteers and says thank you to them for the contribution they make. The week hopefully also raises awareness of the benefits of volunteering.

As well as helping others, volunteering has been shown to have a positive impact on the lives of those who volunteer, assisting individuals to gain new skills and boost their self-esteem.

Volunteers are essential to the delivery of the support Unlock provides, and the skills and passion of our volunteers means that a small organisation like ours can make a significant impact given our size.

As Unlock’s advice manager, one of the most rewarding parts of my job is having the privilege of working with an amazingly diverse and talented group of people. I spend my time ensuring that our volunteers are happy, well-trained and feel supported in their roles whilst developing skills that will be useful to them outside of Unlock – hopefully they’d agree that’s what I do.

In 2018/19, our office-based volunteers gave 4,229 hours of their time to provide information, advice and support to people with convictions; they responded to 70% of the enquiries that our helpline received. Our team of home-based volunteers have carried out a wide range of research and content writing tasks. Their ability to convey information in a clear, concise and logical way combined with their IT and digital skills has been invaluable to us.

What do our volunteers say:

Since volunteering at Unlock I’ve become more confident about discussing my convictions. There’s no way that I’m going to keep letting my past affect my future opportunities” – Tianna

 

Sadly I had to leave Unlock last year when I moved out of Kent. When I was recently invited to an interview for a totally amazing job, I rang Debbie for some interview tips. When I was offered the job a couple of weeks later, I called her again for a reference. It means so much to know that I can keep in touch and they’ve got my back. I’ve got so many stories to tell about my time at Unlock which makes it easier to forget the bad times” – Louise

 

Before coming to Unlock, I was in a very dark place. Getting up each morning gave my life structure and purpose and meant that I could focus on something other than my own problems. Unlock literally saved my life” – Peter

A big thank you from Unlock

 

Want to give volunteering a try?

Have you been inspired by Volunteers Week? Find out more about the current volunteer vacancies at Unlock.

My life behind bars – from prisoner to bar owner

David Gauke has made it clear that he doesn’t believe that prison sentences of less than 12 months rehabilitate individuals and should only be used as a last resort. Malcolm is certain that despite having served lots of short sentences, he only started to turn his life around after he’d received one for 6 years.

 

When you’ve been in and out of prison as many times as I have (I only received short sentences), you’re always going to find it hard to find a job. When you’re 17 stone, over 6ft tall and have an arm full of tattoos – well you’re just living up to some people’s image of a criminal.

My last sentence was the longest I’d done, 6 years for a drug offence. I’ve never taken drugs myself; I’d always thought it was a bit of a mugs game to be honest but,when I found myself with no job, struggling to find somewhere affordable to live, the offer of some easy money was too good to resist. Of course, there’s no such thing as easy money and I’ve had to live with the consequences of that decision ever since.

The only good thing to come out of my last sentence was the fact that I got the chance to go to an open prison. From there, I had the opportunity to do some voluntary work and then managed to get a paid job working for a food preparation company. Although I love food, my only experience had been in the eating and not the making so this was a totally new experience for me. However, I loved the job and was always willing to work overtime or cover for colleagues if they needed time off.

As the time to leave prison drew closer, I started to give some thought to what the future might hold for me. I knew that my job was safe but I started to look at possible training courses. I didn’t think that I wanted to train to be a chef but considered that a career in management might be more my type of thing.

I signed up to do a qualification in Kitchen Management, well supported by my employers. I passed with flying colours but the best thing to come out of the course was meeting a guy called Charlie F. Charlie was working for a large pub chain as a manager and we ended up having lunch together most days. Before the course had finished, he’d convinced me to apply for a job as a trainee pub manager.

I never thought for one minute that I’d get an interview so I put off applying for another 9 months. However, to my surprise I smashed the interview and was offered a trainee management role. I did loads more training and within 4 months I had my own pub in Yorkshire. The hours were long but I loved meeting and talking to the customers; I even learnt to become a lot more tolerant of the more challenging customers, although to be honest nobody really wanted to mess with a 17 stone guy like me.

One of the benefits of managing a pub is that you get very little time to go out or spend money. You live in a pub, paying minimal rent and so for many people you can build up some substantial savings which is exactly what I did.

So now, I can begin the next part of my journey which is the opening of my own cocktail bar. This is no ordinary bar however, we’re going to be using local spirits, tonics and sodas and our drinks will be inspired by some of the herbs and flowers grown in our own garden. For a ‘bit of a lad’ like me, I bet your struggling to get your head around that. For me, it’s an ideal opportunity to experiment with flavours whilst combining this with my love of booze (only joking). I’m working with a much more discerning clientele these days who probably view me as a ‘loveable rogue’ rather than just a ‘thug’.

I’ve worked hard for what I have but I was given a lot of opportunities by people who were prepared to give me a second chance; I can’t thank them enough. I’ve always tried to do the same in my business and I’ve employed lots of people with criminal records. I’ve never been let down by any of them. My life is very different now – albeit, I’m still behind bars!

By Malcolm (name changed to protect identity)

 

Useful links

 

The difficulty trying to rehabilitate and reintegrate miles from home.

Edward was apprehensive about having to go to an Approved Premises, also known as a ‘hostel’. What he’d read about them had been far from encouraging but in Edward’s case, the hostel was also a long way from home making it difficult to re-build his relationship with his wife, family and friends.

 

After serving 10 years in prison (2/3rd’s of a 15 year sentence) I was due for automatic release on a 15 month licence last month. During my entire incarceration I have maintained my innocence of the historic allegations for which I was convicted at the age of 69. I’m now 79 with serious health problems which I didn’t have before I was sent to prison.

As I was nearing my release date, my Offender Manager stated in his report that I would need to reside in Approved Premises (a hostel) which were just a bus ride away from my home. This would have been absolutely fine as it would have meant that I’d still have had the support of my wife and friends as well as access to my GP, dentist and optician. In fact there would be very little change to what was in place prior to my going to prison.

My wife and I own our own home and we’d envisaged that we would still be able to be together for most of the day and that I would return to the hostel each night. This, unfortunately, was not to be.

On the day before my release, I was asked to attend a meeting where I was told what my licence conditions were going to be. I was horrified to discover that the Approved Premises that I thought I was going to had been changed and I would now be staying in one which was over 50 miles from my home.

On signing my release papers, I was told that I had to be there at 3pm despite not being able to leave the prison until 11am. It was made very clear to me that if I failed to get there on time, then I would be in breach of my licence and subject to recall. I’m certain I wouldn’t have got to the hostel on time (or even known how to get there) by myself. My wife (also in her 70’s and not confident in driving on motorways) drove to the prison, waited over 2 hours for me to be released and then drove me to the hostel. It was a dreadful journey, both because of the volume of motorway traffic and the fact that we had no idea where we were going.

On our eventual arrival at the hostel (only 40 minutes late) my wife wasn’t even allowed through the door but had to get straight back in the car and do the return journey alone.

That was on the Tuesday. On Thursday and again on Saturday, my wife travelled to the hostel again as she was really worried about me. This time she came by train to avoid the long drive but with two trains to catch it’s still a 2.5 hour journey each way and, of course, we have to consider the cost. She’s not going to be able to do this too often.

So here I am, stuck 50 miles from my home, where I don’t know my way around and have managed to get lost several times. Considering the Probation Service seem to view me as being a ‘risk to the public’ how does wandering aimlessly around a strange city, full of places that I’m instructed to avoid without knowing where they are, reduce risk or help integrate me back into society? If they are so worried about the risk I pose, why aren’t I able to live in a hostel where I can keep in touch with my wife, or safer still, live at home?

Probation Service Instructions state that licence conditions should be:

Preventative not punitive, necessary, proportionate and reasonable.”

I can’t see that this has been applied in my case or how my present situation benefits anyone at all.

In her final annual report, Dame Glenys Stacey, the outgoing Chief Inspector of Probation, has described the current models as ‘irredeemably flawed‘ and recommends that the Probation Service should, in future, meet the

Reasonable needs of individuals under probation supervision.”

I absolutely agree.

By Edward (name changed to protect identity)

 

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on leaving prison
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to prison on our online forum.

My caution is still showing on my check but so far it’s not held me back

Due to the nature of her offence, Jazmin’s caution for affray isn’t currently eligible for filtering. Although it hasn’t stopped her from achieving her goal to be a teacher, she does still find it difficult to talk about her experience and the circumstances surrounding her caution. 

 

Almost ten years ago, I was in the last year of university and had received a teacher training placement to start later in the year.

Not long after getting my placement, I was out one evening with my partner when we got into an argument and he ended up head butting me in the face and knocked me to the floor. I was so shocked that when I got up, I started to fight back when suddenly the police were there and we were both arrested.

The police were sure that this was a case of domestic violence and tried to get me to press charges. I loved my partner and this was just a one-off incident, so I refused. The police took the decision to caution us both for affray. I was distraught and just wanted to get away from the police station to I accepted the caution without fully understanding the implications of doing so.

The next day, I phoned the university and explained the situation to them, fully expecting to be dismissed from the course. The administrator was extremely kind and asked me to come in to discuss the matter with the head teacher. I was so ashamed and really struggled to admit the fact that my partner had assaulted me.

Thankfully, the head teacher allowed me to stay on the course and I qualified the following year. Sadly over time, the abuse from my partner escalated and I finally managed to get the courage to leave him.

I’ve been teaching for ten years now and worked in four schools. With every job I applied for I had to disclose the caution and re-tell my story. So far, every head teacher has been very understanding and I’m grateful that the very first one took a chance on me.

The fact that I’ve now been teaching for so long works in my favour and the fact that I’ve been successfully employed in schools despite this mark on my record sets a precedent. I hate that this horrible point in my life will dog me for my entire career, and every time I’m asked about it the shame and embarrassment hangs over me for weeks.

I was naive about cautions when I accepted one and I hope that one day cases like mine will be given due consideration for removal. In the meantime, I hope to raise awareness and education about cautions, particularly when domestic violence and partner abuse is involved.

My advice to anyone thinking that a caution may stop you is to swallow your pride, be honest and apply anyway.

By Jazmin (name changed to protect identity)

 

Comment from Unlock

Despite Jazmin’s previous experience of disclosure being very positive, there is little doubt that she still finds it embarrassing to talk about. The incident which led to Jazmin’s caution was approximately 10 years ago and since then, she has forged a successful career as a teacher. For many women like Jazmin, disclosure is not just about having potential employers view them as a ‘criminal’ but also about being seen as a ‘victim’.

The judges in the Supreme Court case around filtering broadly agreed that some violent offences ‘may be’ considered a serious offence and should continue to be disclosed. Unlock will continue to challenge all aspects of the filtering criteria.

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on filtering
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to filtering on our online forum
  • Our policy work – Read about the policy work we’re doing on this issue.

Home sweet home – successfully appealing a Council’s decision to take a spent conviction into account

Laura couldn’t understand how her son could be removed from the Council’s housing list after accidentally disclosing his spent convictions. However, the lack of understanding around spent/unspent convictions by Council staff surprised her even more.

 

My son Roman was aged 22 when he applied for and was accepted onto the housing register. After a year of bidding for a property, he was delighted to be offered a flat. On the day that he went along to view it with a member of staff from the Council, he was asked:

Do you have a criminal record?”

The question really confused him. If he took it literally then he’d have to answer ‘Yes’. However, his convictions were spent and so legally he didn’t need to disclose and could answer ‘No’. Assuming that the Council must be allowed to ask the question, he decided to be honest and said ‘Yes’.

Two weeks later, he received a letter from the Council stating that he was being removed from the housing list as he’d failed to declare his convictions on his original application form. He was absolutely distraught.

I was furious that the Council had asked Roman such a misleading question and that they’d not taken the time to find out more about what he’d disclosed before they decided to remove him from the housing list. I telephoned the Council and explained to one of the members of staff that as Roman’s convictions were spent, there had been no need for him to disclose them when he filled in the original application form. I was bluntly told that if we wanted to appeal the decision, we’d have to follow the appeals process. So that’s what we did.

I spent hours looking up Roman’s legal rights and found that just as I’d thought, spent convictions didn’t need to be disclosed in order to be added to a housing register. I also found a ruling from the High Court in London from a case in 2016 which I quoted in the appeal.

The Council had 42 days to reply to our appeal and during that time I rang the Housing Officer to try to find out how the appeal was going. I can’t tell you how shocked I was when he told me that the Council had obtained Roman’s criminal records from the police (without our consent) which went back to when he was 13 or 14 years old. Although the police had listed every arrest and conviction, they hadn’t set out whether they were spent or not – so not a lot of help at all. This meant that we had to wait even longer for the Council to yet again contact the police to confirm whether the convictions were indeed spent.

The police confirmed that Roman’s convictions were spent and ultimately we won the appeal. Although he was reinstated onto the housing register, the flat that he’d set his heart on had been allocated to someone else.

I understand that the Council has a criteria to follow when somebody applies to join the housing register. What I find hard to believe is how the Council did not understand the law around spent/unspent convictions; practically everybody I spoke to who worked in the housing department had no idea what I was even talking about. If they’d been trained properly, it would have saved so much time and Roman would now be living in the flat he wanted to live in.

The impact of this has caused the whole family so much unnecessary stress but at least Roman had our help and support. Not everybody has this and I wonder how many people in the same situation would just have accepted what the Council said and took it no further.

Roman is bidding for property once again and hopefully it won’t be too long before he finds a new home.

By Laura (name changed to protect identity)

 

A comment from Unlock

There are generally long waiting lists for social housing due to a lack of housing stock. This is a rising problem and people with convictions can be more badly affected, often due to their not being able to demonstrate a local connection to one particular area.

Council’s and housing associations shouldn’t be asking housing applicants about spent convictions and, where these are disclosed in error, they should be disregarded. If you believe that you’ve been discriminated against because of your spent conviction then like Laura, we’d always advise you to appeal the decision.

Useful links

  • Comment – Let us know your thoughts on this post by commenting below
  • Information – We have practical self-help information on housing
  • Discuss this issue – There are some interesting discussions related to housing on our online forum.

Thanks Unlock for being part of my journey – volunteering as a helpline advisor

Having met a member of the Unlock team during a Disclosure Workshop in prison, Reece was delighted to be able to continue this association when he secured a voluntary role as a helpline advisor.

 

It was early 2018 and I was nearing the end of my prison sentence when I was invited to attend a ‘Disclosure Workshop’ run by an organisation called Unlock. I’d never come across them before but the event looked as though it was going to cover more than just writing a disclosure statement (which indeed it did).

The first thing the speaker did was to tell us a bit about Unlock. I was surprised to hear that they were based in Kent, not too far from where I was going to be returning home to. It was weird but I almost immediately started to feel a natural affinity with this organisation – I guess when everything in prison is so strange then anything that’s familiar (in whatever way) feels good.

The Workshop was really good. It covered things I’d not come across before and dispelled some of the things you hear all the time in prison. There was plenty of time at the end to ask questions and it was obvious that the trainer knew her stuff and wasn’t thrown by any of the queries put to her. At the end of the event, I went to say thanks and mentioned that I’d be leaving prison in a couple of months and would be returning to Kent.

She asked me where in Kent I’d be living and whether I’d got a job to go to. I explained that I had no job but finding work was one of my main priorities as I couldn’t stand having no purpose to my day. She casually mentioned that Unlock took on volunteers to work as helpline advisors in their office and to get in touch when I was back home if it was something I’d be interested in.

Release day eventually arrived and I was off back to Kent – excited to be out but worried what the future might hold. I spent the first couple of weeks turning up for appointments with probation and the job centre and the more people I spoke to the more depressing the picture became:

People with convictions, especially those that have been to prison, find it virtually impossible to get jobs.

I’d realised that it was going to be harder than before my conviction, but ‘impossible’ surely not?

I went to sign on at a couple of agencies, all of whom told me that with my skills and experience, they’d have no trouble finding me work. That was until I told them that I’d just been released from prison having served just over a year of my 2.5 year sentence. After that I heard nothing.

Knowing that I had to do something to keep myself occupied, I contacted Unlock asking whether they still had any voluntary vacancies and explaining how I’d come to know about them. In all honesty, I didn’t expect to hear back from them, I doubted they even remembered me. How wrong could I be? Within a couple of hours I’d received an email back from Debbie, Unlock’s Advice Manager (and also the trainer I’d met in prison) who invited me to the Unlock office for an interview. The rest as they say is history.

I was offered a voluntary role as a helpline advisor and committed myself to two days a week. The training was intensive but from the outset, the support I got from the whole team was amazing; all of them were happy to help and share information with me.

I quickly realised that there are a lot of people out there who need the support of an organisation like Unlock. Funnily enough, not all of them had recent convictions, a lot were still having to deal with the consequences of a conviction they’d received 10 or 20 years ago! This sometimes made the job tough – listening to issues they were raising and trying not to compare their situation to my own.

On days when I was feeling a bit down, there was always somebody in the office to talk things through with and I realised that support is available, you just have to reach out for it.

My confidence and self-esteem improved hugely whilst I was at Unlock and this meant that I signed up for everything that was offered to me by the Job Centre; things I’d never considered before. My previous life had been spent working in an office but my new one is working in construction. I love seeing the results of my hard work and through the on-the-job training, I’ve gained a lot of new skills.

However, the beauty of this job is that nobody seems to care that I’ve got a criminal record. There’s a big labour shortage in the construction industry and all the site manager wants to know is that you’ve got the appropriate ‘cards’ to allow you to work on site and that you’ll pull your weight whilst you’re there. I’m earning a decent income and the physically demanding aspects of the job stop me from thinking about what could have been.

Thanks Unlock you’re an organisation that really does help people with convictions.

By Reece (name changed to protect identity)

 

A comment from Unlock

Volunteers are crucial to our helpline and come to us with a passion for Unlock and it’s mission. They give many hours of their time and provide an extraordinary service to our clients. However, volunteering is a two-way street and like Reece, many will benefit from the work they do whilst they’re with us.

If you’d be interested in volunteering for Unlock, take a look at the volunteer page on our main website.

Useful links

 

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