Monthly summary – November 2018

Welcome to our monthly summary for November 2018.

This 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 people with a criminal record

Have you just stumbled across this? You can receive these updates direct to your inbox every month for free by signing up to our mailing list (make sure you choose to receive ‘news for people with convictions’)

Updates to our information site

Here’s a summary of the updates that we’ve made recently to the theInformationHub. There are links within each update to where you can find more information about the update. There are also links next to many of the updates, which link to threads on our online forum where you can discuss these with other people with convictions. 

Housing

• Homelessness – The Homelessness Reduction Act – The Homelessness Reduction Act came into force in England in April 2018. We’ve produced some new information which sets out the obligation that prisons now have to refer individuals to a local authority if they are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
• Homelessness – General – We’ve updated this page to set out the criteria you’ll need to meet to be deemed homeless or at risk of homelessness and what help you can expect from your local council.

Work and volunteering

• Employers with particularly negative policies towards people with convictions – We’ve updated this page to include the restaurant/pub chain Mitchells & Butler who have a blanket ban on recruiting anybody with an unspent conviction.
• Leading charities with conviction – Guidance for individuals on changes to the rules on being a trustee or a senior manager of a charity with a criminal record – Following changes made by the Charity Commission to their online waiver application form, we’ve updated our information to reflect this.

About criminal records

• Filtering of spent cautions and convictions – New links to the Disclosure and Barring Service list of offences that will never be filtered have been added to our detailed and simple filtering guides.

Important links and organisations

• People who main their innocence – We’ve provided details of two organisations who may be able to assist individuals who maintain their innocence.

theRecord posts

Below are links to recent posts to our online magazine, theRecord. These are often linked to from the practical information that we have, to help give some personal experiences.

Success – I got the link to my sexual offence conviction removed from a search engine – “I was convicted of internet related offences under the Sexual Offences Act following online contact with teenage girls. I accepted full responsibility, expressing genuine remorse for my actions. My case was reported in my local newspaper although it was exaggerated and misrepresented the facts of the case. Mercifully, the article was taken down but not before it was copied to a very unsavoury vigilante website …..”

Struggles and stigma – ‘Yes I’ve got some historic convictions but do the public really need protecting from me?’ – “I’m a teacher. I worked hard for my qualification and work damn hard at my job, mostly because I love teaching but also because deep down, I’ll always feel like I have something to prove. That’s because over 20 years ago I was a ‘persistent young offender’. Subconsciously I will probably always give that extra effort to show myself, and others, that I am a good person …..”

Success – The code to success is to make the most of every opportunity presented – how I set up my website development business – “18 weeks ago I was released from prison – a prison sentence that has changed my life. Life in prison is extremely mundane with every possible job being pretty much the same. Mind numbing boredom. I was transferred to a Cat C prison with 7 months remaining on my sentence. I went through the normal intake procedure and was given an application form with the same old jobs and courses …..”

Discussions on our online forum

Below are links to recent posts to our online forum. If you’d like to join in the discussion but are not currently a forum member, find out how you can join here.

Youtube videos  – CC has recently come across Youtube videos which appear to be displaying the names and addresses of individuals who’ve been convicted of sexual offences. He wants to know whether this is legal?

Regular meetings with probation officers – purpose?  – Star received a 12-month community order and received 100 hours unpaid work. He completed this in 4 months but still has to attend regular monthly meetings with his probation officer. He’d like to know the reason for these continued meetings. Can you help?

Other news and developments

Below are links to other news and developments that might be of interest to people with a criminal record. For more news, check out the news and media section of our main website.

Are you from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background and have a criminal record? We want to hear from you!

We’re collecting evidence that will help us to better understand the barriers that BAME groups face in terms of their criminal record and have put together a short online survey.

Book now for our Criminal Record Disclosure training on 27th February 2019

We’ll be running Criminal Record Disclosure training throughout 2019. Have a look for further details and book your place.

Unlock speaks to Radio 4’s Law in Action – Should having a past block a child’s future?

Our co-director, Christopher Stacey talks about the issues affecting those who receive criminal convictions in childhood. You can listen to the programme here.